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Congrats on finding the brass.

Agreed that 300 grain .458 bullets are plenty for any deer or African Leopard for that matter.

My 1886 and DR .45-90 both shoot NF 350 SS very well and should kill over their weight.

I really like Starline 45-90 brass.

I have shot a lot of 300 grain .458" jacketed bullets. Still do. I tried the Remington but found that it comes apart at my 45-70 Marln/Ruger loads of 2060 fps. Even in our PA whitetails. The Hornady does a better job at staying together.

In conventional cup and core styles you’ll find 350gr pills generally tougher than 400gr pills.

The 350gr Hornady (FN or RN) or Speer 350gr FN have thicker jackets and core locking features compared to Speer, Win, Rem 400-405gr FN bullets. The 400gr pills have thin jackets and soft cores, however kept within their performance envelope there is nothing wrong with the 400gr pills.

The 350gr Speer FN and 350gr Hornady RN were originally designed for the 458 Win Mag and can withstand higher velocity. The longer nose to crimp of the Speer may be a problem in a 45/90. I’d suggest the 350gr Hornady FN pill if you have a choice.

Any experience with Barnes .458 / 45-70 300 Grain Triple-Shock X Flat Nose ?

WStrayer,
The 300 grain Remington at 1850 fps MV worked well for me on deer, pronghorn, and such. Rifle is 1886 .45-90.
My longest shot was under 200 yards.

I have seen them used on buffalo in the NT and the results were not good. A lot of them pancaked on the thick skin but those that entered via the thinner skin behind the shoulder worked fine. Some people seem to think that because it’s a 45 caliber it will work on anything. Those bullets were simply not designed for that purpose. Based on their performance on thick skinned game, I expect they will work well on most thin skinned game but have no idea what max velocity will work best.

Most of the conventional cup and core styles in 300 and 400 gr weights will work fine as long as you don’t push them much over 1800 fps. Most were designed to perform at Trapdoor level velocities.

I found enough bullets in my reloading room to keep me busy for a while:
Barnes 250 grain TSX flat nose
Speer 350 grain hot core flat nose
Speer 400 grain - suspect these might be to fragile at higher velocities.

What is the C.O.L. for the 45-90? One search said 2.88 inches but I am unable to confirm.

You will see it quoted between 2.80-2.88”. In some conversions, smiths recommend 2.75”. I would start by loading one cartridge at 2.80” and see how that cycles in your rifle. You can see what the loaded cartridge needs to clear as the cartridge clears the mag. This is easy to follow in a top eject levergun. A stuck shell will likely mean magazine disassembly and is something to be avoided.

Congrats on the rifle. I have one myself. Had little (if none) issues finding dies/brass and our own FlyBoy Flem casts some outstanding 325gr hard cast pills for me.

From my accumulated 45-90 references the COL is:

Min = 2.815 inch
Max= 2.880 inch

Spent some time in the reloading room today experimenting. Seated the following bullets at the crimping groove and the COL follows:
Speer hot core 350 gr, #2478, 3.20 COL
Speer 400 gr, #2479, 2.86 COL
Barnes TSX 250 gr flat nose, 2.70 COL

I suspect this Barnes bullet would work:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010413730?pid=702258

Spent some time in the reloading room today experimenting."

Now the real fun begins!