another try...
Sorta last gasp effort--I was resigned to taking the gun apart again--but then tried an experiment on an old Brownells mag. They are among the simplest and cheapest out there--but I've found them to be one of the versatile as well. My goal is if I can get 5 successive shots with no functional issues--then it's worth keeping together.
I tried two new things today, I put a couple of layers tape on the inside ribs to narrow the profile of the magazine (temporary adjustment) and I also sanded in a taper towards the outside of the magazine on the top of the follower--this seemed to counteract the propensity for the cartridges to "toe" inward and then cause other issues with rims hooking and the cartridge tilting so that the bolt failed to catch them. I also did a front cut-out which allows a COL of about 2.925" and still cycle no problem. This should theoretically get me around 3,000 fps with a 150 gr bullet out of my AR.
I loaded up some 162 gr sst's seated to nearly 2.93" to test today and found that the magazine still swelled--but allowed me to get 4 cartridges in with no issues. Thus, with one pre-loaded into the chamber I could get 5 consecutive shots off.
I'm happy to say that everything worked perfectly (at least for this outing) no hang ups or jams and normal lock-back of bolt upon the last shot. So now I'm back in the "maybe this has practical hope after all mode.