doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com articulated trigger

Anyone have one on their guns? I have had a Merkel 200E in 16 gauge for a while and only noticed the other day that the front trigger was articulated. Wondered how common it was and whether any american classic guns had them.

More often found on Continental make guns. Occasionally on British guns. Don't know about USA made guns.

DDA

My Merkel 203E (double trigger) and many AyA models (my No 1 has it). Common on the higher grade Spanish models. I haven't seen it on English guns, but I believe it occasionally features.

"tut," I own a circa 1882, 20-bore Westley Richards best quality boxlock that has an original and beautifully finished articulated front-trigger, which of course mechanically assists firing the right barrel when so positioned. It is an original attribute and not a later refinement to the gun.

This particular early boxlock gun, based on the justly famous 1875 Anson & Deeley patent, has just the one forward lug to engage the hinge pin and is secured when closed by a single top-bolt and the top-rib's doll's-head extension seated in its mortise atop the action body at the breech. This apparently long-inventoried gun, which was initially intended to be a 16-bore gun (Measured from their respective centers, the firing pin holes are exactly 1-inch apart, proving the point.), was sold by Westley Richards to Lord Alfred Douglas in 1889, after being finished and nitro-proofed as a 20-bore gun with 3-inch chambers, according to their period business records.

The unintentionally wobbly photograph below is a right-side profile of the aforementioned 20-bore's action body that shows, if you look very carefully, the delicate and barely perceivable line of the joint for the articulated front-trigger blade:



Immediately below is a close-up of the same articulated front-trigger blade being personally manipulated forward. The glare of the flash and bad focusing cause the mechanism and surrounds to appear somewhat crude, while the constituent parts are in reality Swiss watch-like finely made, almost delicate, and very refined in true physical appearance. The articulation of the hinged and pinned parts is enabled by a petite flat spring housed and hidden from view amongst the mechanical systems associated with the trigger-plate extending from the action body:



There probably are other Westley Richards guns in use that feature an articulated front-trigger too; although, this is the first and only one where I have seen the subject feature incorporated with an early U.K. boxlock gun, especially that fitted to an antique or a vintage small-bore gun.


Regards,

Edwardian

My Spanish 16 gauge from the city of Elgoibar (but otherwise, of indeterminate origin) has one.

I have two guns with articulated triggers.

All of my Spanish sidelocks have articulated triggers. Some high grade Parkers have them.

I have a rather nice 1926 Belgian no name sle that has the hinged trigger.
franc

My Parker Repro has articulated triggers.

I have such a trigger on a Beretta. I think it's cool, but there has never been a moment when I thought, "Wow, that hinged trigger really saved my finger from a beating."