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dromia wrote:BTW have you chronographed those loads?

Tried to but the chronograph did not like them, it is very old and does not like overcast days.

I am surprised that you had problems with PPU brass as I have found it to be very good indeed in fact better than one batch of Lapua cases that I had. I was told some time ago by someone who delves into these things that PPU actually source their brass from the same place as Lapua do to manufacture their cases but I cannot confirm that.
It sounds to me that you haven't quite got your reloading right yet and that there was actually nothing wrong with the PPU cases.

I know it is far from scientific however Lapua brass does not feel the same as PPV, Federal also has a slightly different feel to it.

I'd be very interested in the velocity, you are only 2/10ths of a grain short of maximum with that load.

What load did you work up from and were the cases sticking at the start load?

Also are you getting pressure signs? 223 is not traditionally hard on cases & can usually be reloaded plenty of times. How did the PPU cases fail?
It would also be a good idea to check headspace lengths of ammo & rifle as you seem to be overworking the brass somehow.
I rarely neck size - usually full length and recently have started to anneal brass after a couple of firings to extend case life & improve neck tension control.
My 308 brass started to crack after quite a few reloads & that prompted me to get into annealing (me being tight fisted & not liking to spend cash).
If you have a neck sizer you will work the brass less. You should only need to neck size, trim & chamfer new cases.
Don't expect expensive brass to last longer than the cheaper PPU it may or may not - all brass work hardens on firing / resizing - your problems are probably down to work hardening rather than brass manufacturer.
I'm currently annealing & full length resizing all my brass as some is newer than others, some is once fired in other rifles etc. Only a couple of thousand to do so am looking at making an automatic annealer to speed it up.

I finally got the loads over a chrono and they a a wee bit quick at 3440fps.

So I will work the load up again working up from 22.4 to 24.0 at 0.2 grn intervals as that should keep me under 3280 fps.