I've already assembled the bottom end so can't do that. Also the machinist said they hone after shot peening the block. He also said he recently had to let a guy go so that guy might have slacked off on my job and not done a good job on the lifter bores.
I just now went out, chose a bore that isn't hanging up, stuck the ball in and pushed and it slid in to about the bottom. Then I had to push a little harder and it popped right out the bottom. I was able to just pull it back out.
So where I kept thinking I would be "banging it through" in reality it's going to be more like "tickling it through with a tiny little hammer"
There was something it kind of caught on but I wasn't looking to notice if it was the opening to the galley or not. I'll do the rest of them soon; there were 4 holes that were hanging up.
Like I have said all along, if it does nothing but give me peace of mind, it's worth the price.
I've got a 440 on deck to build too, and this fits BB, SB, or /6.