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Mike, is that Win brass "out of the bag" or is it sorted by weight and otherwise prepped?
I haven't used Lapua brass but I do use Norma. I'm sure Lapua is about the same. While my accuracy has been excellent, the real advantage I find, worth the price alone for me, is consistency and lack of prep needed. They all start the same length, already sized, very close in weight.
I bought a bag of Win brass for 270WSM and found I'd need extensive prep and weight sorting just to get 10 or 15 cases within a good weight distribution out of the 50 that would match the Norma.
Based on the number of cases with a consistent weight, divided by the price, the Win cases cost about the same as Norma.
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I don't buy Norma brass, unless I get a smokin' deal on loaded ammo. (It's good stuff, in good brass.
) I just don't like how soft their brass is. I've never had good case life with Norma.
I have
used a fair amount of Norma brass, and I
do buy Lapua brass. (just placed an order for 200 more cases, in fact)
My experience is pretty much the same....
Out-of-the-box, Norma and Lapua are very consistent and require essentially zero case prep.
But... "lesser" brands can be brought up to the same standards, if you have the time and motivation. You may have to declare some of the cases "unsatisfactory", though.
As I've discussed many times in the past, I very much dislike the current trash coming out of the Olin plant(s). I haven't bought Winchester brass for a long time, because it is so incredibly inconsistent and so frequently has uneven neck thickness, crooked case necks, and crooked case mouths. But, I do buy R-P brass in bulk. The drawback is that I have to figure on at least 25-35% of the cases being "unsatisfactory" for loads with high quality standards.
If I want 100 R-P cases prepped to "Lapua standards", I buy 150 or 200 cases to start with.
As I neck size for uniformity, I'll find abnormalities.
As I trim to a consistent length, I'll find thick or thin rims and cases that are unusually short.
As I chamfer and deburr, I sometimes find neck splits (or folds*) that I missed while neck sizing.
As I deburr flash holes, I might find a defect in the primer pocket, a shallow primer pocket, or indications of a thin web.
If I find the neck walls to be uneven, I may even neck-turn the cases for consistency (.243 Win only - for now).
While weight-sorting, I usually find 2 distinct clusters with their own "bell curves", that will make up the "good" brass.
Once the that is done, I'll check some of the previous rejects for weight, and they're almost always in the "extreme weights" category - very light, or very heavy, compared to the primary clusters.
By then, at least 25-30% of the cases have been culled as complete trash (cracks/folds in the neck, etc), or fall into the "extreme weights" category.
(I may take the brass after its first firing and further sort the "good" brass by volume, but not very often. If I do, another 5-10% gets pushed into the "extreme weights" category.)
By the time I'm done with 200 cases, I'll have about 120-140 pieces of "good" brass that will keep right up with Lapua and Norma, about 40-60 pieces of "extreme weights" (good enough to shoot, but not for load development or loads with high standards), and the remainder go in the recycle bin or "What the...?" bin.
Even then, it's still cheaper than buying premium brass, to start with. It's just a matter of time and motivation. (I know most reloaders don't have either... at least when it comes to brass prep.
)
The only real exception to the 'rule': .243 Winchester.
For some reason, R-P .243 brass is far more consistent than most other cases they draw. I almost never get folds in the neck, thick or thin rims, and the weights are much more consistent. I just prepped and sorted some on Wednesday or Thursday, and had: 2% culls (cracks, thin web, primer pocket defect). 16% extreme weights. 82% "good". I actually had to pull some "good" brass and put it in the extreme weights category, to even out the numbers for packaging (20 round boxes).
*Brass folded over before forming the neck on bottleneck cartridges is an issue I have only had to deal with on R-P brass. I've never found a different brand of brass with that particular issue. It's quite annoying, but (sadly) I still consider R-P rifle brass to be "the best of the cheap".
Damn me and my long posts....