ya got me on that one bud, i honestly dont know.
were the BM LL's better? i dont know, my 975 went all the way to the side (like it shouldnt do...) but lock up was still solid, i was gonna send it to BM but got the I&I and one of my buds had to have the 975 (i told him about the LL) so i sold it, AFAIK he still carries it and hasnt had any issues with it, & i also had a couple of 970's but they were both 100%, i've had a lot more EKI's with exactly one knife having LL issues, a SOCFK (which EKI fixed).
i guess maybe a lotta the EKI's were commanders or waved models and the waving is hard on 'em, but i remember a lotta folks complaining about '7s too and most of them werent waved then,
i dont know, i just always found it strange lol.