LEE lists IMR4895's VMD at 0.0728 cc/grain, at 26.5gr, that's 1.93 cc's. The case capacity of .223 is around 1.9-1.95cc, so you're at just under full capacity and will need to compress to seat a bullet. So that matches with your observations, nothing unexpected going on there. FWIW, Hogdon's online manual lists 26.4 as max load for 223/53 gr and denotes it as "C" for compressed load. I'd back off to minimum load (24.5gr, according to Hogdon) and go up until you run out of room instead of the other way around. That's better practice anyway, since if something fluky happens, you start seeing signs of overpressure before you add more powder.
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