doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 1938 ITHACA SXS Trap

Agree, Chuck. Anyone that runs down sst's because they don't offer "instant" selection of either barrel is chasing windmills. I shot double triggers for years and maybe used the front trigger first six or eight times. It's highly overrated.
JR

Once in a great while when hunting I find a perceived situation where the more tightly choked barrel appears to be called for, and that is most easily accomplished by dropping into the back trigger on a double trigger gun. The only place I've used the selective feature on a single trigger gun is sitting on my stool Dove shooting.

Appologies to 49NORTH for dragging this thread away from the No. 5E Ithaca.

Back onto 49NORTH's topic (to make amends):

This picture is of my Ithaca factory copy of the Miller trigger. It has the identical tang stamping (including font, from what I can see in your pic).


IMO, the debate over selection of barrels being quicker on DT's vs SST's is a red herring. I think the real issue is reliability of DT's vs SST's/ST's. There's some traction there. But, when a ST works well, I find they are an aid to me when quail hunting.

Here's the other side

Thanks for all the info, the gun has an appointment to go to a gunsmith for a once over and a tune up.He is confident that he can sort it out for me

That looks like the ugly bent sears of a Miller trigger. I guess Ithaca may have swiped the Miller idea. Can we see an opened up Miller next to an Ithaca trigger with Miller type selector?

Hello all!

There is no doubt that the Ithaca Single Selective Trigger was a direct copy of the Miller. The Ithaca version was known as the "Howland" trigger (named after their designer Harry Howland). The only difference that I can find between the two is that the Howland trigger has a two-piece trigger body as opposed to the Miller's one-piece. There is absolutely no reason for this design difference as far as function goes and I feel it is superfluous and weakens the design. The Howland is still a great trigger though because it is essentially a Miller (but I'm admittedly biased)!

The Millers designed their second generation style of selector because they felt that the safety based selector was a weak design and prone to problems. The reason for this is that the barrel selection is accomplished via a long, thin section of piano wire that ran from the rebound guide to the transverse oscillating trip. If this wire weakens, it can cause the trip to not fully move to its left or right position which can cause reset problems or in the worst case, doubling. The second generation selector (which is a rocker switch located on the front of the trigger body itself) was fully mechanical in operation and very robust. Selection is positive and once moved, it stays locked in position with a ball detent. There is still a section of wire connecting the selector to the trip, but it is much shorter and straight, making it last indefinitely. Admittedly, it takes a little getting used to and is not as easy to select as the safety mounted selector. We just finished a repair of a Howland trigger that was malfunctioning due to the aforementioned spring wire becoming weak. In this case, it was preventing proper reset to the second barrel.

It is nearly impossible to diagnose single trigger problems without getting inside to see what is going on. The problems vary from changes in wood to metal relationships, spring failures and mechanical functions getting out of tune. Many times it is a combination. Our worst nightmares come from well-meaning but unfamiliar gunsmiths "taking a crack at it". Especially when they try to "fix" it by changing the sear angles to increase pull weight to "prevent doubling". Sear relationships are rarely the culprit unless they have been messed with.

We're happy to help with any Ithaca or Miller single trigger problems and we're pretty good with Parker singles and Hunter One triggers as well.

Best to everyone,

Dan

That reminds me, I have to send that Ithaca 20 ga to you, Dan. I'll get it boxed up maybe next week.

Sounds good! We'll fix 'er up.....

Best, Dan