Forged vs stamp steel rear dropouts

[froze]

I had a car sideswipe me while on my touring bike that sent me into a curb and bent my fork on my very low miles almost new condition 85 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe and the fork is toast, but somehow the front wheel survived as well as me even after flipping over the handlebars and landing on concrete.  The dude took off of course, so much for the 3 foot Indiana law.

So now my question.  I am now looking at touring bikes.  I had my mind made up to get a Masi Giramondo 700c because it ticked all my boxes when others didn't, even had the best gearing for climbing steep grades loaded, and plenty of water bottle mounts...but then I discovered a problem and not sure if I want to pull the trigger now.  The rear dropouts are just plain stamped steel and not forged, I contacted Masi about it and they responded quickly and said their dropouts have never failed even when heavily loaded, of course they're going to say that!  So I'm wondering what some you think of this situation?

[zerodish]

This depends on how heavy you are. I managed to deform a set of 4130 steel dropouts after 100000 miles. The back wheel had between 165 to 190 pounds. You are certainly better off with steel than aluminum. 

[DaveB]

The dropout itself, whether forged or stamped, is unlikely to fail and the method of manufacture is not important.   The welded or brazed joint connecting it to the chainstay is the more likely weak point.  If you like the bike you can buy it with confidence.

BTW, what were the dropouts on your dearly departed Schwinn?  I expect they were stamped too. 

[froze]

my 85 Le tour luxe had Centeny (that is spelled correctly) dropouts with stainless steel faces, not exactly sure what that means there is no definition on the internet, but it looks like a stamped dropout with a stainless steel inlay that is thicker than the dropout.  My Voyager uses the same dropout.

As far as my weight goes I'm 175 pounds, and would carry about 45 to 50 pounds of gear including 3 full water bottles, plus the bike.