Set triggers

[Gil Martin]

I took a new shooter to the range and let him shoot a .50 flintlock Lyman Trade Rifle with a single trigger. He was impressed with the rapid ignition and accuracy at 50 yards. The next week we shot a T/C Hawken .50 flintlock and I went over the set trigger and the need to be on target prior to touching the front trigger. I allowed him to try the trigger arrangement by dry firing it a few times. I went on to say that on three prior occasions I observed folks go for the front trigger too soon, shoot over the earthen backstop and put a patched ball into the Blue Mountain. The chap went for the front trigger too soon and fired prematurely. I told him I had now observed four folks shoot over the earthen backstop and put a patched ball into the Blue Mountain. He now understands the functioning of a set trigger. All the best...
Gil

[BILLY D.]

gil

they are a bit persnickety and touchy......nice, but touchy.

[Adam Helmer]

Gil.

New shooters have a big learning curve and I have them fire the front trigger (unset) a time or two before I have them set the trigger. When you tell them about the "light" trigger, they nod and grin, but really do not catch on right away.

Adam

[MaIIIa]

Here’s a “safety warning” story. One time a couple years ago, I was shooting my flintlock, concentrating on my aim - time to pull the set trigger. By feel (not by sight) I put my finger on the trigger and firmly pulled, expecting to hear the “click”. Instead, of “click”, I was surprised by “boom” accompanied by the usual cloud of smoke. As you can tell, I had pulled the main trigger, not the set trigger.

Two lessons here:

Always follow the number one rule of handling guns – keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction so unexpected shots will be safe shots.

And when locating the trigger by feel, sense where BOTH triggers are and pull the one you want to pull so there will be no surprises. There should be NO unexpected shots!

Shoot safely!

[fishdoggydog]

Another story about a set trigger. Back in "92 I was on my second muzzleloader elk hunt. My rifle swelled up so badly from hunting in 3 days of rain that it was not functioning, so I started to use my brothers TC with a set trigger. I had a lot of experience shooting matches with my .36 with a set trigger so that was not a problem. I stalked a band of elk all day to get above them and around a side of rock to get in range, it was about 6 PM and the thermals were going to change as the sun went down, so I startrd to move on where they had been all day. 50 yards in front of me I see about 5 cows and calves standing , I look for the bull, he is about 75 yards down the mountain, quartering away, looking at me over his shoulder as the rifle goes to my shoulder. I pull the set trigger, line up the sights and brush the fire trigger, click. I look to the hammer, it is in position, back like it should have been, as I pulled it back as the gun went up. Try the triggers again, same click, I start to panic, try the hammer, it is back, the elk are starting to leave at a fast walk, I pull the back fire trigger with about twenty pounds of force and the gun goes off. But the bull had started to move and maybe was more than quartering away, I was also into the shakes, could barely reload. I move down the mountain looking for signs of a hit, and he stands down the mountain, in the open at about 200 yards. I sit, see him limp forward, and try to put another into him as he stands broadside. The same result with the triggers, pulling fire trigger hard sets it off. I miss, bull limps out of sight, and over a pass, it starts to rain, it gets dark and I head to camp, but next day back with help we do not come up with him, that night it is back home. The trigger had a set screw to adjust the sear, it had backed out in days of riding over rough roads, the set trigger was trying to tap the sear from tumbler, but it was buried in it, hence the twenty pound trigger pull. Two years later same camp, two MO men pull in, said they intend to hunt same country, we talk of the past hunts we all had been on in that spot. They ask if one of us had wounded a big bull with muzzleloader two years prior, and I said yes. They had been in there first rifle season, the one guy killed a big 6X6 with a limp, he said my ball had entered shoulder, broke through the blade at thick part and stopped on a rib. I do not hunt with a rifle that has set triggers now.

[Rustywreck]

I have problems going from my ml with a set trigger to a regular rifle w/0 a set trigger. I have prematurely fired rifle by forgetting there wasn't a set trigger. Thankfully, I followed all the general safety rules and nobody noticed (the gun was to my shoulder, but I hadn't yet put my cheek to the stock). Very scary though.