Thank you for the suggestions. The bolt operates smoothly with no cartridges at all. It chambers fine with loaded Federal Match ammo. It shoots reliably and then the bolt handle lifts okay. This time (using Federal Match) I could pull the bolt to the rear alright and ejection is fine. I fired eight rounds without issue. The action is far from buttery smooth and to chamber a round and to pull back the bolt to eject a round pretty much requires that the rifle come off my shoulder and I hold the butt to my hip -- but at least I am not getting any cartridges stuck in the chamber now.