1851 Navy and Confederate Copies: Pin-And-Ball Lever Catch Q

[sourdough]

Prologue: I have a Pietta 1851 Navy Steel .36 (date code [CM]: 2014) and my newly-ordered Pietta Griswold and Gunnison Brasser should be here in a couple of days (date code [CN]: 2015). I want to use both pistols to mix/match parts to create as many as 14 different versions of an 1851 and its cousins (with the addition of a squareback TG).  5 will be somewhat accurate modern day copies of 150-year-old pistols: 1851 Navy 2nd and 3rd Models, Leech and Rigdon, Griswold and Gunnison, & Schneider and Glassick. The balance will be "fantasy" pistols.

Sorry to be so long winded.

Trying to be as historically accurate in appearance to the originals using replica pistols, I have researched many online sites and print books, and I keep finding a reference to a "pin-and-ball" lever catch (almost always on historical sites for L&R, G&G, and S&G), but no reference to any other type of catch. I have scoured Swayze's " '51 Colt Navies" and unless I completely missed something, I see no reference to a pin-and-ball catch and no other type, except for different dimensions on (IIRC) lug thicknesses and latch widths/depths. The same can be said for Shumaker's treatise on 1848/1848 Pockets.

What am I missing, and do the Piettas have the pin-and-ball latch?

And Hawg: I am really looking forward to see the difference between the backstraps on the Pietta 1851 and the Pietta G&G. For some reason, I can't believe that Pietta went the extra step to re-design the backstrap/grip differently than their 1851 Navy models. We shall see, but I'll probably end up deferring to you, sir.

Jim

[Hawg]

I think you've probably seen the pics of my G&G and there's some steel Pietta backstraps on ebay that are the same. So I'm assuming they've switched all of them but it may be awhile before Cabela's old stock is cleared out. The L&R had a different latch release but the G&G used the Colt style. The front sight was further back on the L&R but we get what we can.

[sourdough]

Cabela's may be waiting to see if Bass Pro Shop buys them out (and their stock) in one fashion or another. Been to both places and would be sorry to see Cabela's go under. Went to a BPS store in Tacoma last May (opened 2 months earlier) and they still had NO BP firearms on the shelves and weren't expecting any for a few months. Their gun prices were not anything to rave about and the personnel behind the counter seemed not to have a clue when asked pertinent questions about the guns on display. Very disappointed.

I dread Cabela's demise in the same way I saw Herter's in Waseca MN go away decades ago. My Dad and I used to pore over their catalogs in the '60's. Wish we had bought some of their firearms BY MAIL before the '68 GCA happened.

Sorry to be off topic.

Jim

[Hewy]

Any news on your G&G .
I'm ready to order one , saw pic of Hawg's just need another look.
Hewy