Goin thru a pile of traps i bought over the last few years that need springs,baseplates, pans drilled, chains ect…. Found a couple of these mixed in amongst a bunch of square jawed 3’s. Notice the dogs are basically none existent, pretty much just part of the pan. I think i could still get a nightlatch in there and bend the frame holding the dog in a few mm to make it work. Ive heard these low levers are risky for coyotes. Would putting on a pair of #3 music wire springs help or should i just not bother messing with these?

Get some levers for a #3 bridger and swap them out. They allow a higher lock up point on the jaws. The music wire springs would help too.

That is my favorite common trap. If you know the trick to make them lock up, they are lightning fast and. combined with a dogless set up, they are. a superior coyote trap. If you want to sell them, let me know!

One has to ask himself...did Woodstream ever field test these traps? And if so how extensively?
I believe this trap and some other commonly used coils were one the reasons why trap modifications began....

#3 victor sj one my favorite traps.

No doubt about that, Mike. At least that's why I started fooling around with them. The old montgomerys were worse yet, but all those traps can be brought up to a very good trap with mods.