fixed it

[Elijah Gunn]

The bolt on my Whitney would not stay down in the half cock position. So what I did was to slightly bend the "leg" on the bolt so that it could engage the cam on the hammer. Now it stays down at half cock like it's supposed to.
Anyone else ever have to do this? I was going to get a new bolt, but when I took the gun apart it just seemed like all the bolt needed was to be bent towards the cam on the hammer a little.

[simonkenton]

That is what is fun about the old pistols, it is easy to gunsmith 'em.
A screwdriver and a hammer and you are ready to go!

If all else fails I get out the Sawzall.

[Elijah Gunn]

Yeah, LOL! When I was finished with the Whitney I picked up my 1851 Navy and noticed that it was about to have the same problem so I took it apart and did the same to it.
simonkenton, did you used to post at the old shooters.com?

[madcratebuilder]

A slight bending of the bolt leg is the common way of effecting the timing.  Some times you need to tweak the cam.  Italian cap and ball revolvers, making gunsmiths out of American shooters since 1958.