Miller Triggers

[Autumn Daze]

Thanks for clearing that up Bill.I had thought that the tang mounted safety was a Miller variation now I know thats it's an Infallable trigger.

[Austin W Hogan]

Miller began as a one man operation and continued as a two man operation. We will probably continue to find different versions as additional Miller equipped guns appear. Miller equipped guns often have unusual dimensions and configurations because they were used by very competitive shooters. I have a Miller equipped 32 inch , BTFE, straight grip, VHE with no safety. The safety filler has PH like engraving hiding the patch. The barrels are .740 diameter with chambers and forcing cones more like a Super Fox than a Parker. The stock has had its Monte Carlo removed and replaced; it has also been repitched at least twice. There is a threaded hole in the trigger gaurd where a pistol grip was once attached.
I think that recent events indicate that a significant collecting niche is developing involving the connection of unique ( and ordinary) guns to distinguished shooters. Many of these were fitted with Miller triggers.
Fitting a Miller trigger requires welding the mounting stud to the floorplate, and bending the sear levers. Few parts would be recoverable when converting to a double trigger.

Best, Austin

[Dick Miller]

Bill,
The non-selective trigger found on Ithaca NID's is a Howland, identified as such on my Field Skeet 20 by Walt (you saw this gun at the Vintagers). As I recall from a conversation with Walt this trigger was designed by Howland, who was an employee of Ithaca.

[Drew Hause]

Harry Howland of Ithaca Gun Co. applied for a patent of the Miller copy "Ithaca Selective Single Trigger" in June 1928 and was granted Ptd.# 1,818,852 Aug. 11 1931; and a non-selective trigger Pat #1,889,049 in 1932 and #1,987,402 in 1935.



Infallible



Pics of several single trigger variants are here, along with one not yet IDd
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22972484

[Autumn Daze]

With out getting too far off topic here.I just converted my VHE 16 gauge"Hot Rod"skeet gun to double triggers after the Parker single trigger proved to be too far gone.And I love double triggers. We fitted a 1 frame double trigger floor plate and replaced the sears with standard double trigger sears as Austin has mentioned and off I went.I shot it this past weekend at Ernie's and other than the fact that the stock is really too high for sporting it performed great.

PS.....I kept all the original parts so the gun could be converted back in the future...

[Harry Collins]

Here are a few photo's of Uncle Bill's VH 16's Miller Trigger:

[Bill Murphy]

I won't say any more about the pre Howland single triggers in Ithaca guns until Dave Noreen checks in.

[Dan May]

Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement. Ken and I are very excited to be able to carry on Elmer and Howard Miller's legacy. We are going to try to make them proud! Doug Turnbull deserves our thanks as well for his work with the Miller system, he put a lot of effort into modernizing it and making it even better.

As for the selector question, there were only two systems. The original patents located the selector on the tang safety and the 1962 patent established the rocker type selector mounted on the front of the trigger body. The Miller's definitely felt this was an improvement as it was a sturdier, simpler system and was less apt to give trouble. Many feel that it is less convenient for fast selection in the field and it is surely an arguable point. At this time, we are only going to be installing selective systems based on the 1962 patent. If there is enough interest, we may consider reverse engineering the earlier style for production in the future.

I really enjoyed the conversation at Hausmann's this past weekend. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet many of the members here and look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Best regards,

Dan