(Cross-posted from CastBoolits)

Well, I just started working with this one.  It took 4 different dies to rough out some cases for fireforming from parent case .50-90 Sharps.  Final case length 1.92"   I did a chamber cast.  Bore mikes around .462" just ahead of the chamber on the casting.  Fireformed with 60 gr Scheutzen 2F under a .459 405gr HB (original trapdoor bullet from an NEI mold).  Reasonable accuracy (roughly 6" group for a dozen shots mixed bench and offhand at about 75 yards) considering cases were not fully pre-formed.  The rifle is a Providence Tool Co. Romanian Peabody, dating from 1868.  Excellent bore with a couple very small areas of light pitting.  Arsenal load supposedly is 77gr bp with a 380 gr grooved bullet.  I'll probably stick with the 405gr as I like the small hollow base to assist bump-up to bore diameter.
I'm impressed with the "modern" nature of the design.  Minimal body taper yielding lower rearward thrust, short sharp shoulder, reasonable neck length for good bullet support (compared to the 1870 Italian Vetterli 10.4mm, a near contemporary, with almost no neck and a greatly-tapered body--just worked with that one recently)  Hard to see why this cartridge didn't have more contemporary imitators.  AFAIK, never chambered for any other firearm anywhere in the world.  Prov Tool made 25,000, though apparently not all were delivered to Romania.

Here's a pic of a couple cases and the chamber cast.

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Currently .50-90 brass seems to be in the "unobtanium" class.  I used up the ones I had on hand and decided to pay through the nose for some preformed by BA after they told me that the .50-90's had been backordered for two years!!!  I hope theirs are well-done.    .50-70's work too, but end up about .150" too short.

Thanks for the offer, George.  I've got three boxes of Bell 50 Basic, and a bunch of Bell already trimmed/formed to .50-90, but I believe case necks are thicker, and there's actually very little room in the chamber for extra wall thickness with a .459" bullet aboard.  The Starline .50-90 has thinner walls at the mouth.  (And the formed BA stuff which I already ordered is about the same price anyhow.)  Thanks much for the offer anyhow!!  Us Peabody guys gotta stick together!!

Related to Henry O.  ?

Just did a mild trigger tune on the Romanian and annealed the cases I formed and the ones that just arrived from BA Co.  May shoot again tomorrow, a bit more formally.