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So it seems the smith never test fired it then

I suggested that to the smith, he said it wouldn't work. But brand new brass did

Ive struck a very similar issue where fired brass was very hard to extract from chamber, bolt had to be taped rearward to pull out brass from chamber.

The issue was the new barrel had been...

Almost sounds like a lack of primary extraction.

Was the brass brand new or has it been fired in another barrel?