FOREST AND STREAM. 
The Singfle-Tfi^gfef Shotgtm. 
New York.— Editor Forest and Stream; In reviewing the de> 
velopment of the modern double-barrel breechloading shotgun, 
nothing has puzzled inventive genius more than a practical, perfect 
single-trigger device, and no improvement since the days of flint locks 
can show up so many rank failures and disappointments as the 
single-trigger idea. On no other single improvement has so much 
money been expended without satisfactory results as on single- 
trigger experiments. 
Although well nigh perfect work is being done by experts with 
the modern two-trigger breechloader, it is an undeniable fact that 
a perfect single trigger would prove one of the greatest of all 
recent improvements in a double-barrel shotgun, and the hundreds 
of patents and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in the at- 
leading gun makers having adopted the same under royalties, and 
a considerable percentage of orders for finer guns are coming in 
with the B. & J. single trigger. 
The following description of the B. & J. single trigger will give 
your readers an idea of its simple mechanical construction: 
A lever, "D," (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4) is attached to the right sear. 
"C." This lever "D" has on the forward end a stud (D 2 ) and 
on the rear end an extension (D 1 ), which goes through and pro- 
trudes on the inner side of the sear arm (C 1 ). The left sear C 
has a shoulder lug (C 2 , Fig. 4). 
Fig. 1 shows the lock mechanism when cocked and set to pull 
right-hand lock first. Upon pulling the trigger the sear of the 
right lock is pressed upward, lifting the sear point out of the 
cock notch and relieving the hammer. The sear then goes down 
by the force of the sear spring, and the lever D jumps under the 
Fltchbwrg Rifle and Gun Club, 
Fitch burg, Mass., March 27.— The annual meeting of the Fitch- 
burg Rifle and Gun Club was held Monday evening, March 10. 
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, 
I. O. Converse; Vice-President, J. B. Austin; Secretary, E. W. 
Gilson; Treasurer, M. A. Cutler. Directors at Large: H. A. 
Estabrook, Dr. Russell Bingham, S. W. Putnam 3d, Prof. E. A. 
Kirkpatrick, J. G. Donovan. 
Reports were made by the different committees, including the 
membership, fish and game, range, trap, pistol shooting, and 
tempts to put a perfect single trigger on the market, and the years 
of hard work and ever-repeated attempts after costly failures, show 
that the manufacturers, as well as the sportsmen, are wide awake 
as to the importance of a perfect single trigger. 
The merit of a single trigger for a double barrel gun is self- 
evident. Every practical shooter knows the importance of a perfectly 
fitting gun, a difference in the length of a stock, of as little as %in. 
is often noticed and insisted upon, and every amateur will do 
better with a proper length of stock than otherwise. A quarter of 
an inch, more or less, difference in length of stock is often fatal 
for best work. Still when shooting a double-barrel two-trigger 
gun, we continually shorten or lengthen our stock about an inch 
as the case may be, beside having to fully release our grip on the 
gun shooting right and left barrel, which all accounts to a great 
extent for the often comparatively poor work of the second barrel 
as well as other undesirable features, such as unpleasant punish- 
ment on account of recoil of gun, etc. 
All this will be done away with when shooting a single-trigger 
gun. 
What constitutes a perfect single trigger? In my opinion several 
shoulder lug C 2 of the left sear (C) by the force of the lever 
spring D s . . 
The right barrel has now been discharged, and upon again pull- 
ing the trigger both sears, the right one free and the left sear set 
in cock notch of hammer, are lifted and the left barrel is dis- 
charged. 
To reverse the lock action from right and left to left and right, 
it is only necessary to shift the button E 1 in trigger E by pressing 
same in from right side to the left side of trigger. This brings the 
sear lifting pin E 2 from under the right to under the left sear "C," 
and upon pulling the trigger the left lock will be discharged first 
and next the right lock. 
The above describes the mechanical trigger and lock-shifting 
mechanism, which, in itself, is mechanically complete and correct 
but not practical without additional safeguards against "doubling. 
To render "doubling" or a simultaneous discharge of both bar- 
rels impossible, a weight or counterbalance, F, has been attached 
to the rear of the trigger, which acts like a "timer" or block, and 
which is in most striking contrast, mechanically speaking, to the 
many most complicated and often wholly unreliable patented de- 
Jgb Egg] 
handicap. Seven new members were elected to the club. The or- 
ganization is in a good financial condition, as the report of the 
treasurer showed, and its present membership is in the vicinity of 
125 members. 
Much information was gathered from the reports of the differ- 
ent committees, especially the committee on fish and game protec- 
tion. The result of their labors speaks for itself. With the work 
of two game wardens, both members of the club, the game laws 
have been enforced very rigidly this past season. The outlook for 
game this coming season seems very good, owing to an open 
winter and other favorable conditions. The quail which were 
liberated by the club last spring did finely, and a good number 
were left over for seed. 
We get good reports occasionally from the pheasants which have 
requirements are absolutely necessary for any single trigger to 
become popular enough to come into general use. 
First. — A trigger mechanism which is easily reversible from 
right and left to left and right. 
Second. — Which is absolutely proof against "doubling"; that is, 
firing both barrels simultaneously through either fault of the 
mechanisrn, difference in recoil of cartridges, peculiarity of shooter 
in holding his gun or involuntary pull, caused by the recoil of the 
first fired cartridge. 
Third. — A mechanism which allows of as smooth, easy and light 
a pull-off, devoid of all drag of the trigger, as the two trigger 
locks. 
Fourth. — A simple, strong and purely mechanically positive 
device which can be cheaply constructed, easily understood, and 
which is not dependent upon any recoil of the gun. 
In looking over the gradual development of the single trigger, 
the first attempts did not allow of shifting from right and left to 
left and right. Again, thousands of single-trigger guns have been 
put upon the market, and a good many are in use to-day, mostly 
in England, which are not proof against "doubling" and may be 
"doubled" by so-called tricks pretty regularly. 
Still others have such shortcomings as a hard, stiff of creepy 
pull-off, while the one or two single triggers which have been 
vices for preventing doubling in single-trigger guns. 
The counterbalance or "timer" is mechanical simplicity in itself, 
is inexpensive and absolute in its functions. 
Upon pressing the trigger, the first time and discharging the 
first barrel, the counterbalance F is forced downward upon or. 
toward the trigger plate. Upon releasing the trigger, the counter- 
balance is raised again to a position slightly more elevated than 
before the first pull of the trigger, thus allowing the sear to make 
its downward movement and the stud or extension, D 1 , on lever 
D to slip under or over the lug C, as the case may be, and couple 
or connect the other sear. 
The under-bolt or breech-bolt, by means of a projection. A, Fig. 
2, presses against the extension D 2 of the lever D when the gun 
is being opened, and places both sears in a normal position as in 
Fig. 1. 
The above mechanism is easily applied to most hammerless 
leck constructions. 
For hammer guns the B. & J. single trigger is still more simple. 
The transposer is done away with, and instead of the rear projec- 
tion on breech-bolt A, Fig. 2, we have a stud "A," Fig. 6, on the 
tumbler. 
In cocking the gun the stud "A" slips under the lever D, Fig. 6, 
so that the stud D 1 on the forward end of lever D is pressed in 
been liberated by the club in the last three years, and we expect 
them to become quite plentiful in a few seasons. 
Action will soon be taken to prevent certain mill owners in this 
vicinity from polluting streams with sawdust and other foreign 
matter injurious to the breeding of fish. 
The outlook for trapshooting is very bright for the coming sea- 
son, and a first class team will again represent the club. The 
record made by last year's team will stand for some time. The 
team in competition at Winchester, N. H., broke 119 out of a pos- 
sible 125 birds, a very good record for amateurs and a hard one 
for the professionals to beat. 
Pistol shooting has become quite popular among the members, 
and several are intending to take up this line of sport this spring 
tried and can fairly lay claim to not having the first three objec- 
tions are so complicated as to make them possible on the highest 
grades of guns only. The finest and most expensive workmanship 
only would admit of their construction, the cost of which would 
equal that of the cost of our most popular guns. . 
The above history of the single trigger development during the 
last eight or ten years is correct, and is well known to all close 
observers of the many different actions patented, found correct 
theoreticallv. manufactured, practically tried and soon found 
wanting. Nearly every important European manufacturer has had 
his fingers burned on one or more single-trigger mechanisms, as 
theory and practice seemed bound to run counter and riot with 
each other. 
I plead guilty; I was one of the burnt ones, and was one of 
the most disgusted of the single-trigger theorists, and was perfectly 
willing to let others go ahead and do the experimenting. Many 
other practical shooters and men in the business did likewise. 
My faith in the absolute practicability of a single trigger began 
*o return only when I saw Mr. Charles Francotte, a leading ex- 
pert; among the practical gun makers of Europe, give his un- 
qualified indorsement and praise for the improved Bittiner and 
Jaeger single trigger, an American invention. The Bittiner and 
Jaeger idea has stood all practical tests, and is taking like wild- 
fire in Germany, France, England and Belgium, dozens of the 
the groove C 1 of the sear C. 
Upon pressing the trigger and releasing the right hammer, the 
tumbler is forced upward, releasing the sear C and the lever D, 
and the action thereafter corresponds with that of the hammerless 
lock. 
The left barrel may be fired continuously without firing the right 
by cocking the left hammer only. In this wise the stud D will 
always slip under the shoulders of the left sear, and the pressing 
of the trigger will lift both sears. When both hammers are cocked 
the gun will shoot right and left. When only either right or left 
hammer is cocked it will fire the respective barrel continuously. 
The counterbalance of timer F performs the same functions of 
preventing a possibility of doubling or firing both barrels invol- 
untarily, as in the hammerless gun. 
I predict that American sportsmen and gun makers will not be 
far behind their European cousins in recognizing the practical 
advantages of a simple, sound, purely mechanical, cheap and thor- 
oughly reliable single trigger for double-barrel guns. 
Justus von Lengerke. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
At a later date the directors held a meeting and elected the 
various committees for the year, a member of the board acting as 
chairman of each committee. The personnel of the various com- 
mittees includes some of the best workers in the club, and a suc- 
cessful season is anticipated. E. W. Gilson, Sec'y- 
The following formidable delegation of wing shots and sportsmen 
left New York on Saturday in a special car, bound for Kansas City, 
whither they journey to compete in the Grand American Handicap: 
Messrs. B. Leroy Woodard, A. C. Burrel, Sim Glover, C. Morris, 
D. S Daudt, H. C. Koegel, O. R. Dickey, E. C. Griffith, Geo. 
Thorpe, J. A. H. Dressel, S. M. Van Allen, H. H. Stevens, T. W. 
Morfey, A. W. Money. 
The Ossining, N. Y., Gun Club and the Schenectady Gun Club 
are to shoot a match between teams of eight men from, each club 
on some Saturday in April. The date is to be decided later. 
