doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Francotte Trigger conversion

I am looking at a nice Francotte subgauge sideplated boxlock from the 20s that suffers from only one shortcoming - it was equipped with a Miller single trigger. I have nothing against Miller triggers, other than they are one trigger short of a load, so I am looking into converting the gun to a DT.

Apparently the slot is a standard DT slot, so there should be room for DTs. However, there may be an issue with the trigger bow being too short for two triggers, and I need to locate two triggers. Any ideas on how to source triggers for this gun - do they need to be Francotte triggers?

Making the triggers seems like a potentially expensive undertaking, plus new triggers on a 85-year old gun would stand out like a sore thumb, I would think.

What would be a reasonable estimate for the conversion work, assuming the original trigger guard can be used and spare part triggers can be found?

Thanks in advance, Doverham

I believe there is more to it than just installing triggers. The sears were altered when the Miller trigger was installed, also the trigger slot was changed to use their trigger. My experience with the Miller trigger is that they are probably the best.

I would pay a Premium for a Miller SST. Converting it back, and it may not be a conversion at all, would be quite expensive. I might think that the conversion would be as expensive as a Francotte 20E . One might think of selling the gun and buying a two trigger gun. I'd bet you would be far ahead on money.

Yup, the sear legs were heated and bent. Someone would love that gun as it is.

If it was converted from a double trigger to a single has the bow been altered as well or is it as it was originally ?
Having converted a few guns to double trigger mainly to get rid of a troublesome non functional single trigger it is a lot easier than doing it the other way round .Being a box lock makes the job a lot more straight forward than if it were a side lock. All jobs like this would need to be well looked at first to ascertain any problems ,how much wood has been removed ,will the safe work correctly etc, before committing .

Thanks for the responses - just to be clear, I have not bought the gun yet. The gun is a VL&D and was sold originally with the Miller trigger. But I don't know if that means it was made in Belgium with DTs and converted when imported, or if the Miller trigger was installed when the gun was made in Belgium. Sounds like that could be an important distinction. To my eye, the trigger bow looks like a DT, which would suggest it was converted when imported and not installed by the maker.

In either event, it sounds like it needs to go to a gunsmith for an evaluation.

Doverham,

Just my $.02 but I've finally come around to where I prefer double triggers on my shotguns after paying extra $$ for the privilege of having single triggers on my guns for years.

That said, I still own & shoot guns with single triggers & if I found a gun I really liked in all respects except for a "good" single trigger such as a Miller I surely would not let that keep me from owning it & using it with the single trigger. I have shot several guns with Millers & the triggers are excellent once you get past the look of the trigger with "MILLER" stamped on it.

I'm on the same page with Brittany Man.

Converting it back to double triggers is not an impossible task. In addition to the obviously needed triggers, the trigger plate has to be restored by welding up the trigger plate to a 2 slot arrangement as well as possibly adding the trigger fulcrums for the hinge pins of the triggers. Then like Bill said, the sears need to be straightened and maybe built up depending on how much metal might have been removed. If the trigger guard is too small, that's another issue.

You gotta want double triggers on this particular gun pretty badly to either do this yourself or pay to have it done. I'm guessing you're gonna run into costs exceeding what it costs to put in a Miller trigger today, if a reputable gunsmith does the work.

Hah - if I tried to do this, we'd end up with the top lever firing the barrels and the triggers opening the action, plus a lot of duct tape all over the place.

Clearly this is not the simple conversion I was hoping for. If I were to go the ST route, Miller seems like a very reliable choice. I am just too hooked on DTs.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Are you referring to this gun?





Adam