Originally Posted by Muley Gil

Well, once I got the 1851, I decided to replace a BP revolver that I sold a number of years ago, so I bought a 1862 Pocket Police.

Not counting the Root revolvers, Colt made basically three frames in their percussion revolver line. The 1849 was the most common revolver sold and was chambered in .31 caliber and was the smallest. Next in size was the 1851 in .36. Colt took the same frame and used a rebated cylinder to create the 1860 Army in .44. The largest frame was the Walker/Dragoon in .44.

Colt decided to build another small frame revolver, but instead of .31, it was built in .36, using the same type of rebated cylinder as the 1860 Army. The streamlined barrel assembly is a downsized 1860 as well.

Think of the 1862 Pocket Police as the Chief's Special/Detective Special of the percussion era.