New mb550s

.

1....no both fox and coons have been held.
2.... Two coil is how I roll...no paw damage
3....use pan screens instead of under all's and it will trip with a direct step...
4....2 coil is all I use and the off set jaws will hold the Titanic afloat!

Off set 2 coil.

I never saw a need for a 4 coil trap in all my days. Two coil traps will hold everything that is caught well. Have caught a lot of coyotes and fox with them.
Just the facts. Four coiling is over kill in my opinion.

I have both types of mb550's. Both style traps work well. Off sets are required equipment in some states so check with your state regs before purchasing them.

I prefer closed jaws for cats. Other then that either style is good in my experience. I have been using the 550's since they have been produced.

What would be wrong with using offset jaws for bobcats?

Cats are more prone to toe catches then other animals and I have had enough that I have lost using offset traps over the years that pullout on the approach. Offsets are good traps but with some toe catches you will lose some that you might hold with closed jaws.

When you trap enough cats it will make more sense to you.

So I prefer closed jaws if legal to use in the state I am trapping. A good foot catch wont generally slip out. But there are always those circumstances that cant be explained, things just happen.

I run MB 550, 2 coiled with offset jaws exclusively. They are a tank of a trap, ready to go right out of the box and will hold anything that steps on the pan.

Hard to beat the 550s and 650s. I agree.

Agree with two coil over four, But not so much as for holding, Over the years, I've seen where an early season cold would crust the ground just enough to have a lot of misses with two coil traps, slower ? Never had a problem with two coils for nuisance work in warm weather.

If the ground is too frosted to allow the pan to drop enough to fire it wont matter how many coils you have on a trap. Totally pancaked crusted sifted dirt cover over a trap usually will disable any type of trap from firing as intended. Anti freeze or better trap covering material will help fix that problem for most cases. We all get caught by mother natures surprises. Moisture is a trappers worst friend.

Pan tension to some degree is always a good thing for predators in my experience. Like I stated prior cats have extreme response skills to circumstances they feel that they need to react too. So toe catches seem to be more common on them when compared to canines.

I get some good foot catches on cats particularly on trail sets but on stall sets I do get a higher percentage of toe catches it seems at times even with pan tension. Guiding helps a great deal but getting that centered perfectly foot placement can be a roll of the dice. That's just trapping.

We don't post those types of photos on this site for obvious reasons.

650 has adjustable pan tension. So out of the box they could be 2, 3,4 even 5lbs. Just depends how tight they got the bolt the day mtp built the trap.

I'm an overkill trap fan. Why? No good reason. I ran a few 550 two coil offsets this season just because I had them. Verdict: coyotes that weren't going anywhere.

I feel MTP is very consistent.

Zero damage

I've had coon pull out of off-set 550.