Book

[holsterguy]

Anybody know of a book that deals with tuning colt opentops?
Picked up a Man With No Name conversion. Something not quite right with the timing. Not sure if the hand wasn’t fitted right, or if its the bolt, or a combination of the two.
Thanks

[Bent Ramrod]

I’ve noticed nothing specific to timing cartridge conversions, or cap-and-ball revolvers in general, but Jerry Kuhnhausen’s book on the Colt Single Action revolvers covers timing issues on the same mechanism for cartridge guns.

The only problem I’ve found in extrapolating the book to black powder revolvers is that whereas the cylinder window on a SAA is straight, and you can see the bolt pop up and catch (or not) the detent in the cylinder, Colt-style black powder frames are dished or scooped and the bolt can’t be seen from the side. Maybe a clamp arrangement on the arbor, to replace the barrel, would allow viewing from the front.