I had a partial case head separation using a 1.8oz buffer

[LRRPF52]

Both of you are making assumptions.

Ninny,

You are assuming the quality and percentage of brass alloy is the same across manufacturers. Cartridge brass varies in quality and mix (Copper/Zinc). Here's an article from Accurateshooter.com that includes spectroscopy findings. Bottom line, thinner brass can be stronger.

Lazy,

Now, you are assuming both manufacturers cartridges went off in battery, and Lapua failed because it is inherently weaker. None of us know it was in or out of battery. Lapua's weakness, if any, is not common knowledge in the shooting community - quite the opposite. Shooters would quickly figure it out if there were more catastrophic Lapua failures such as this.

Yup. Lapua metallurgy is superior to Hornady’s. People have posted images of sectioned .270 Winchester brass, .338 LM, SAUM, WSM, 5.56, etc. where the thicker cases were assumed to be the higher pressure-tolerant samples, but the opposite was true due to metallurgy.

Companies with lesser strength brass alloy compensate for that with more mass at the web a lot of the time, which can also reduce the case volume.

Concluding that Lapua brass is only worthy of scrap is really one of the most misinformed things I think I’ve seen in a while.

In 6.5 Grendel, Lapua brass is the last to lose primer pocket tightness, for example. I have yet to see a case that will get more loads than Lapua.

This isn’t just true with 6.5 Grendel, but with many other popular cartridges. Here’s an example of a study on .223 brass where the sample sizes were biased against Lapua by a factor of 2-5: