Gunsmiths of Grenville County.

[huntinguy]

So, I wish I had this book before I even thought about starting a build...

I am looking at the pictures of some of the original rifles and I notice some dramatic trigger differences.

Some are in what I would call the "normal" angle and others are swept back, these are not set triggers but rather single trigger guns.

The question... Why? trigger pull? style? manufacturing tolerances?

More questions to come as I read the book.

(also, Green Mountain Barrel Co. Are they out of the BP barrel business or ?)

[pathfinder]

Set triggers are of a later period and not common on guns before @1780 or 90 or so.

And from what I've heard,not gosple,is they are concentrating on modern barrel's these day's. Too bad,they had a good product,but,M/L in general seem's too be in a decline.

[Hank in WV]

I think I read somewhere that GM was concentrating on filling gov't contracts for now.

[Captchee]

thats what i was told by GM , hank , when i called about a barrel .
Supposedly, there are plans to start  turning out BP barrels again after the first of the year .
   So if  a GM barrel is what someone is after  they should be able to  get one soon .
As to the trigger differences.

 Early triggers  are a two piece set up .
a) the trigger
b) the trigger plate

 The trigger pivot pin  is  placed into the stock  and located   under the lock .
. The tang bolt comes down and  threads into the trigger plate .
 When the trigger is place into the stock ,  it must first be slipped through the trigger plate . Then its slid into the stock and the pivot pin placed.
 Now the trigger plate is secured to the stock .

Ok so , that info is probably all a given that most folks know .

BUT what a lot don’t seem to realize is there are more things at play .

 One consideration is   how the trigger bar engages the sear . How that engagement effects trigger pull .  
Some builders like to have an angled approach to the trigger and sear engagement.  In doing so you can get a back angled trigger  . Others like to have a high pinned trigger. They then solve the  engagement issue by  filing on the trigger bar.

 Next is the stop  of the trigger … if the trigger doesn’t have a stop  or its bar is not longer then the slit in the trigger plate ,  what will happen is you will have a lot of slop in the trigger pull , prior to the trigger engaging the sear . The trigger will also be able to pivot all the way forward allowing the trigger bar to drop below the trigger plate. .

 The fix for this can still be seen today  in original  Muzzle loading SXS and early Breech loading SXS..
  If you look at these , what you will find is that  there is a type of pull stop  .  Most common is the  finger plate of the trigger . Its filed so as to not allow the shooter to  over pull the trigger . IE you can only pull the trigger so far and  finger plate contacts the  trigger plate .
 With the trigger then pinned low in the lock mortise, you end up with an angle rear trigger . That is in a natural arc of the  sear and trigger  rotation . As such the bottom of the trigger bar is then filed away  tell the trigger plate can be set to its inlet properly . While at the same time  giving full contact of the trigger to the sear , when at the full cock ..
 When done properly you get a better geometry  to the  trigger pull , that’s light and fast  with little to no slop .. With out  dealing with angles  of engagement of a higher pinned trigger .

 Now I have seen a couple very early originals with what I would call , match lock type triggers . Im not sure what those were all about  other then an  they were on rifles with very little drop . So it may  have been a builders way of  allowing for a softer squeezing trigger.

As to the timeframe of set triggers   and single triggers of both back and forward placements  . A quick look through  both Volume 1 and 2 of rifles of Colonial America . Will yield some  very interesting documentation .
 You will find double sets  being shown on 18th century Jaegers’  and even a couple on 18 to 19 century  long rifles  that date right around the turn of the century .
 If you go slow , and look closely , you will also find a few  with single set triggers . often time the set trigger isnt mentioned . Yet having a feather screw ,showing in the photos , tells the tail .
If one really takes the time and studies the rifles profiled . Looking specifically at the triggers . You can see  how different makers  made the stops for their pinned triggers .  a lot of the time the fancy scrolls  are nothing more then a dressed up trigger stop .

 Another thing I recommend to people  to do when they are  looking at photos of originals guns like in the RCA . Use a magnifying glass or a pair of Loupes  to study the photos .
 You will be surprised at the small details  that  are visible under magnification . But not visible to the eye