Received my alpha brass last Thursday. Ordered three hundo to try out, bc hey even solid gold pussy gets old after a while.
Spent a bit of time going through the first 100 and checking dimensions case to case, then alpha against lapua, and finally doing a case capacity test. There was a .4gr difference between alpha and lapua, with the larger capacity going to lapua.
Next I FL sized with the same .266 bushing I use on all other dasher cases. Did the standard chamfer/deburr, then threw some powder.
Dropped 32.0-32.6 Varget into 5 cases for each weight, using the new alpha and the once fired lapua. Wanting all things to be equal, my goal was a head to head comparison. Same primers, same charge weights, same bullets, shot from the same barrel, on the same bench, at the same targets, same day.
What I came up with was this:
All are averages of the 5x rounds ran over a ohler 35p.
105 Hybrids
450’s
No turn neck
32.0- alpha 2820, lapua 2824
32.1- 2839, 2845
32.2- 2853, 2858
32.3- 2876, 2879
32.4- 2912, 2920
32.5- 2933, 2942
32.6- 2969, 2970
Group sizes were on par with what I had previously shot through load work ups so no surprises there. No real discernible difference between the two brands. About the only thing I noticed as being different was es/sd’s were slightly more stable across the board. IMO, these two brands are both excellent and the alpha is on par with lapua for quality and consistentcy. I’m looking forward to doing some more testing, but for now I’m happy to not have to pay to have hydro formed. That cuts $40 off a hundred, which in my twisted mind equals one more box of 105 hybrids.
Hope this info helps someone on the fence make up their mind about buying alpha brass. I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase again if I needed to restock my supply. After the wait list of course.