Evolution of the trigger guard?

[rabjr]

Is there a reason for the way trigger guards looked and were made way back when? Pardon my ignorance but I often wondered why Lancaster and many other style trigger guards were made the way they are. Why does the bow keep your fingers off the wrist of the stock? And your unable to put your fingers inside the bow because theres not enough room. Was their form purely cosmetic or did they have a purpose I'm not seeing?

 

[musketman]

:imo:
The function of the trigger guard is:

1. To protect the trigger(s)...
2. To keep from accidentally firing the gun if the trigger area is brushed against something...

Now, other than those two reasons, the shape is a merely signature of the gunsmith and/or school...

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Many trigger guards do function as a piece of functional furniture and act as a modified pistol grip. The Lancaster style trigger guards offered today do not act as such and I in fact find mine to be a bit awkward, being neither fish nor fowl.

It seems when someone in position of authority writes that "THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS" there is no changing of impressionable minds. I am certain Isaac Haines did not produce only one style of rifle and use only one style furniture when he built all his long guns. But, thanks to there being no other known contradictory pieces, everyone slavishly reproduces replica copies of the known in turn.