I've never liked the Colt style percussion revolvers, I don't shoot them as good as the Remington NMA's. All I want is for someone to make repros of the 5 shot, .36 caliber New Model Police. IMO, there aren't enough 5 shot percussion revolvers in "serious" calibers. Sure, there are .31's, but those are extremely weak and conical bullets/molds for .31 aren't easy to find. The .36 you can find them easy. If Pedersoli ends up being the company to give me what I want, I have no problem paying the Pedersoli price for them.
To build on the comment that Europeans are willing to pay more for percussion guns... that's true in some countries, I read that Poland has a substantial black powder community as muzzleloaders, cap & ball, and replicas made before 1885 are not subject to any regulations. Great Gun in Czech Republic make an over/under percussion derringer in a variety of calibers (one being .54
) and they're apparently popular enough that the company makes them in a variety of barrel lengths too.
So, the market is definitely there for smaller, lighter black powder handguns. I would think by now the prospect of a smaller, lighter 5 shot 1858 style revolver would get a lot of support, but none of the manufacturers seem interested.
How the Colt 1862 exists beats me, my guess is because it uses the same frame as the 1849 does, that's the reason Uberti offers them. All it takes is a different cylinder and barrel.