doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca NID single trigger ca. 1926

The Hunter One Trigger is just like any other trigger...the relationship or distance between the top tang and the trigger strap is critical...also, the slightest sliver of wood or dried oils that ran down the firing pin holes will cause the inertia block to stick or hang up...I've never had a problem with a Hunter One Trigger and I own three at the moment...two of which I shoot rather abusively...With Smith's, I can usually tell if there is a single trigger problem just by looking at the top tang screw behind the safety...before I buy it

Robert, Hunter One-Triggers work fine, but if you do have a problem you better be prepared to be frustrated on fixing it, and like I said most gunsmiths won't touch it. You are correct in the tang screw, too tight and it won't function. That is why it is best to try it as you tighten this screw before putting on the trigger guard.




I replaced a stock on a 16 ga Field Grade FW E with the Hunter One-Trigger, the new stock was from a 16 ga Ideal Grade with double triggers. The only problem I have now that it has a heavy trigger pull, any ideas?

I also have a Hunter One Trigger selectable on my LC FWE 12g. it has worked flawlessly for several seasons. But, I wouldn't want to have to work on it. The trigger is on the opposite end of complexity compared to the Miller/Ithaca/Howland design. I haven't seen a trigger more complex than the Hunter. Anyone else?

The Hunter is complex but usually works fine if unmessed with & clean, properly inletted & hasn't been 'adjusted' by someone trying to improve the system. It's the other half of the mechanism,,the sears,, that must be adjusted correctly. Specificly the sear arms that contact the trigger assembly have to be in the exact correct placement and spaced perfectly above the triggers contact points. Too low to the pads and they may double or make the selector not operable. Too high and you may have an overly long trigger pull or not enough trigger pull length to even get the thing to fire. Plus, too high over the pads and the interupter will prevent the barrel selected from fireing at all. Other things figure into it too,,a long heavy sear nose engagement will make the interupter engage on the selected barrel before the trigger breaks and prevent fireing. The sear arms must also clear the trigger engagement pads after fireing to allow the interupter to disengage and the second barrel to be fired. Lots going on in there thats not necessarily inside the Hunter trigger mechanism itself. The shotguns tang screws should be properly tightened down. The final adjustment to getting the trigger working properly (assuming the trigger mechanism is in itself working correctly!) is in the tweeking of the sears, the placement of their arms, the sear engagement. Getting the trigger to function by backing off on the tang screws is actually telling you what the final corrections should be done.
It should not be the way to just 'make it work'. A loose stock and fit up will result over time and even more problems result if the gun is an actual using shotgun.

I agree with Kutter to a point...I've never been good at tuning a sear, so I can't offer any help there...the most I ever do is stone all surfaces to remore any burrs...also try cycling the trigger with the stock off as sometimes the tail end of the sear lever can drag on the stock during travel...a quick way to tell if the sear levers are touching the stock is, using a small model paint brush, cut off 1/3 of the bristles, and use it to apply a thin, sort of uniform coat of bright red lipstick to the outside surfaces of the rear part of the sear levers...assemble the gun, cycle the trigger, then remove the stock again...any areas that are red need another shave with the palm chisel...re-paint, re-assemble, and repeat...

Hi,

I realize that this topic hasn't been added to for a couple of years, but a while back, I bought a trigger that was advertized as being for a rifle. I thought it was some sort of fancy single set trigger, but the pictures were poor and the price was cheap, so I bought it. It has been sitting around for a while and I was
trying to avoid thinking about something so I decided to try to research it. I think it is a Miller type trigger of some form and wondered if anyone could recognize it.

PhysDoc,

You have a non-selective Miller "type" trigger set up to fire right bbl first. I say Miller "type" because being unmarked we can't be certain that it was made by the Miller company. I'm not sure what brand of gun your trigger was made for but I can say with some certainty that it wasn't for a Parker, Fox, Ithaca or L.C. Smith. The Millers adapted their trigger to many different guns so it is just about impossible to say for sure.

Also, to add to the commentary of this original thread, I have had some experience working with both Miller made and Ithaca "Howland" triggers in Ithaca guns. The only real difference I can find in them is that the "Howland" trigger uses a two-piece main trigger body whereas the Miller had a more simple one-piece trigger body. I surmise that this was the only "difference" relating to the new patent. The two-piece is also inferior as it necessitates milling a wider slot in the trigger post which results in the sides becoming quite thin. I recently had to repair a Howland trigger that had broken in this area due to being thin. I haven't researched the actual Howland patent that closely but this is what I have observed first-hand working on the triggers.

Hope this helps.

Dan

Thanks Dan for the great information.
Best wishes,
PhysDoc

Howard Miller seemed to be attached to small diameter music wire for his switching springs and in at least one case, used it as a cam.

If some think the Hunter One Trigger looks complicated, which it isn't, look at an Infallible trigger.