RE: cases bulging
Sounds like headspacing. Without proper tools for diagnosing its hard to tell. I use a head and shoulders gauge, and I compare the headspace of fired cartridges to ones your having hard time chambering. Another on here used a sharpie to color the shoulders and see if its getting contact with the chamber on the ones that are hard to chamber..
Rarely the case, but also could be a oval chamber, short chamber.