Timing and pefection and theory.
Model-P:
I certainly understand the revolver is supposed to work the way it should work and that it should accept and peform with some degree of "standard timing". I agree that there is a standard and acceptable timing for an 1858 New Army model Remington revolver. The way this is described might be different by some.
If the bolt drops onto the cylinder just before the notch's leading edge, that's good in most books as it is NOT peening the edges of the cylinder notches and should drop right into the notch in a safe and consistent manner no matter how hard one yanks the hammer back. And one can go further and carefully stone the surface of the bolt to make it as smooth as possible so that it marks the cylinder as little as possible as it slides over the surface of the cylinder just before dropping over the leading edge of the cylinder notch.
There are many anecdotal stories from the Civil War and the old west that describe some REALLY wild things that were done with these pieces to great effect. More often than not I think most of them are just that though ... stories.
ClemBert has even told me that small grenades can be launched from the Remington revolver and I learned this after he corrected me. I thought small nuclear devices could be launched from them, but it seems that was just a story. The smaller grenades seem much more plausible ... but back to this timing issue.
I think because of the generally simple, basic design of these revolvers, (and I am still a newbie and still learning), I think these Remmies allow for a very flexible setup. And because of the very real variances in fitting tolerances, (and some quality control inherent in the effort to maintain a historically correct design - and manufacturerer issues), nearly every one of these revolvers could be set up just a hair differently and in the extreme, very differently.
Some of these revolvers that firingline members have gotten, (which would be unacceptable for me), are viewed almost as if they are stray dogs, good dogs ... and hurt ... puppies, thrown out of the back of a truck on a dirt road. Some members take pride in nursing them back to health with many different creative remedies.
So an 83 year old member of thefiringline.com with 70 years of guns under his fingernails might fix a broken puppy and proclaim the action has 5.843 clicks ...
... and whose to say it ain't a SHOOTER pardner!
Now on to theory ... Visualize with me the, (pointed or longer), or "high side" of the bolt beginning to drop or fall onto the cylinder. Let's suppose that the cylinder is very near the index point for the chamber so that the bolt is never going to make contact with the exterior surface of the cylinder. Perhaps the hand is a bit short and the notch is arriving relatively late. So the bolt may have the opportunity to just drop into the "open space" presented by the notch because the cylinder notch is just coming into its index position when the bolt drops.
So that high side - the point of it - is dropping into about the middle of the cylinder notch. In a perfect instance of what I'm describing, the outer side or lead edge of the bolt, (the "high edge" of the bolt), is striking the following inner edge of the cylinder notch at the SAME TIME that the top of the bolt is striking the bottom of the notch. If that were happening, the leading edge of the cylinder notch would not be touched because the short side of the bolt would be falling behind the inner edge of the leading notch.
The last point of contact would be the inside edge of the leading edge of the notch. And is this a fantasy, some perfect timing fantasy?
If the bolt is cut properly, (and I'm trying to figure this out myself), then it seems the point of the top of the high side of the bolt will be inside the open space of the notch and would therefore prevent any overturn of the cylinder as the following edge, (interior edge), of the notch strikes the surface of the bolt's high side.
Here's an animation I've prepared to try and demonstrate what might be absolutely perfect timing. However, I don't think that the tolerances exhibited in most of the revolvers I have seen, (and that have been discussed here), would allow for this type of perfect gun smithing. But I hope I'm wrong.
So this might be a "two-click" piece.
