Make sure you get a .36 and a .31 on your list as well. Those pocket guns have their own appeal as well.
Hey, bro: I'm a noob also. Bought my Pietta 1851 Navy steel .36 last Christmas for ~$200 and promptly proceeded to purchase better wood from an ebay seller for $35, and purchased a brass Pietta squareback TG from Taylors & Co. for $25.
While this is not a pocket gun as is the 1862 Pocket Navy .36 (with octagonal barrel and rebated .36 cylinder), the Pocket Navies were produced with barrel lengths 1/2" longer than the Pocket models in .31 cal. I am a great lover of squareback trigger guards, and if I can ever find a spare 1848/1849 squareback to apply to an 1862 Pocket Navy .36, I will surely do it, even if it not a correct rendition. I just think it would be a wonderful looking pistol. You all might a different idea.
I also recently won in an online auction an 1848 Pocket .31 6" barrel with load lever and squareback TG (ASM from 1963 XIX). At 52 years old and unknown care, it needs work, but that is not a problem. My neighbor is a master machinist and succeeded in removing a badly cross threaded backstrap-to-TG screw and is proceeding to re-tap the TG hole for a larger 1851 screw I had on hand and turn down the head diameter to fit the original 1848 backstrap recess. Also note that the load lever rammer and load lever screws enter from the right as opposed to the norm: from the left, BUT... that is an anomaly represented below.
I would advise you to obtain a copy of P.L. Shumaker's treatise on the 1848/1849 Pocket Pistols (fairly inexpensive) and Nathan L. Swayze's copy of 1851 Navies (~$90... ouch!) and study before you make any decisions, even with replicas.
Very good info contained in both books.
Seriously - it's good to have a list of maybe a half dozen cap and ball revolvers you like the looks of, and be aware of what a good price is, and then when Cabelas runs a big Christmas sale sometimes those things are just a day or two for each model and you can jump on it.