mauser06

i know nothing about muzzleloading except NEVER use smokeless powder in one and thats about it....i plan to buy a flintlock soon.....(read other post)...and i like the look of a nice new hawken...but what in the world does it have 2 triggers for? it only has one barrel!! i think maybe to release something or something i really dont know.....do i need to use both triggers while hunting or what? thanx.....i know thats a pretty low question but i know nothing....but would love to learn.....it looks so fun....

LeeinVa1

ok, here is your answer. there are two triggers there for a reason, the rear one sets the front on into a hair trigger. you can fire the gun by pulling just the front trigger, but it will travel about half an inch before it fires. by pulling the rear one first, then pulling the front one, the gun goes off immediately. by the way, they make a replace for this setup that only has one trigger and eliminates one very noisy click. hope this helps. by the way, there are no dumb questions, maybe dumb answers.

mauser06

thanx alot.....instead of getting al fancy and getting the nicest newest flintlock i can find i think ill find a hawken in my hand......just becuase i like the look of wood..and jeramhia johnson of course.....i will either replace the trigger or learn to shot it somehow...im sure clicking the first one off and waiting for a deer is unsafe like taking a saftey off your modern rifle right? but thats the style of gun i like and think thats what i will get....well see....thanx alot....now that i know what the 2 triggers is for.....

eldeguello

The double-set trigger is by far the best trigger possible on a hunting rifle, PROVIDED YOU ARE WILLING TO PRACTICE WITH IT TO THE POINT OF USING IT INSTINCTIVELY!!! I have had them on several Mausers and Mannlicher-Schoenauers in modern HP rifle calibers, and believe me, they can' t be beat for hunting, because they allow you to fire your rifle at the exact instant that you want it to fire, as opposed to squeezing a trigger until the gun decides to go off!! BUT, these triggers require you to practice until you become very used to the way it works. Fortunately, with a properly made and hardened double-set trigger, you can dry fire forever just by setting the trigger without having to operate the hammer or striker mechanism-you just set the trigger, aim, and touch it! Tick!! Your deer is down!!

Your question is ceratinly not dumb. However, get yourself a copy of the Gun Digest to look at the pictures of the Sharps rifles. Many of them had double-set triggers also. As a matter of fact, prior to the advent of modern repeating rifles, the DST was the predominant trigger type used in the USA, as well as Europe. The first set triggers appeared on medieval crossbows, and were brought to this country by the German gunsmiths who created the Pennsylvania (Kentucky) rifle, and most such rifles had ' em!!

Underclocked

What eldeguello said. And, look at http://www.austinhalleck.com/AH-Mountain.html

RKenSparc

mauser06 you said something about a safety issue. Double set triggers are not a safety device. The front trigger will always fire your gun. My Hawkins sytle gun has a DST and I perfer them both from a historical perspective, and I like the " hair" trigger effect when hunting. You just have to pratice, and get used to it.

mauser06

thanx guys......i guess it wasnt too dumb...they are a little more complecated then i thought it would be...they sound like something id like.....i like light triggers...when i squeeze a heavy one i have a tendancy to move the gun.....i plan to practice as much as i can...from now until october will be the first season i hunt with it...thanx alot guys...

benhuntin

I loved the double set trigger on my TC Renegade. It made for alot better accuracy. I never had a deer spook from the click.

cayugad

I have to agree with the others. Both my sidelocks, a Renegade and a Hawkins have the double triggers, and I use them all the time. When target shooting and hunting, as eldeguello said, once you learn them, that gun will fire and right now. When I am on a stand and I watch a nice deer headed towards me, I will often times, cock the rifle, and hit the set trigger. That way when I decide to shoot, that rifle is ready right now. As the others said, practice with them. Learn when they will fire, and how to un-cock the rifle as well, with the set trigger on. It is not hard to do. And once you are used to them you will wonder what you would do without them.

vERN

Have DST on my Renegade and love it for target shooting. There is a set screw in the trigger guard that you can adjust for how light a pull you want. You don' t have to cock the hammer to make the setting, just set the trigger and test. For hunting I will use the front trigger most of the time, but have used the DST trigger a couple of times. I then have it set at its heaviest setting. I have had one deer spook from the click of setting the trigger (but got it in mid jump because I could touch it off just when the sights were on), and my son has had two misses because he had set the trigger and set it off (gloves on and not feeling he was touching it). This easy to do if your hands are cold and/or you are using gloves so you don' t have the " feel" of the trigger.