If you pushed the bullet forward until it stopped, you were likely hitting the driving bands on the body of the bullet. One of the secrets of the Absolutes and their speed is the modified ogive design of the bullet. On most bullets, the ogive gets to caliber diameter much further down the bullet toward the nose. The earlier engraving contributes to variations in BC from barrel to barrel and rifle to rifle. The design of the Absolute was an attempt to reduce this BC variation from rifle to rifle. The amount of increase in speed obtainable was somewhat of a surprise and very pleasant to Steve and Brian. With less bullet engraving the lands plus the parabolic drag reduction bands, Absolutes frequently achieve 200+ fps increase over standard construction bullets of like weight.
It would be good to read all of the post on "Introducing the Absolute Hammer." A full description of this bullet design and explanation of reloading quirks can be found there. It's a long post, but should be required reading for anyone attempting to load either regular Hammers or certainly the Absolute Hammers. These bullets do not behave like traditional bullets and require different loading techniques.
Regarding seating depth, many/most people seat the bullets so the base of the bullet (intersection of the body and boat tail) is at the bottom of the case neck. Once seated there, the only variable is powder charge. Hammers don't exhibit much preference to seating depth like cup and core bullets can.
We don't have data for a 7 mag and Deadblow Hammers. The SAUM is closest in capacity. R26 gave slightly more velocity in that cartridge with your bullet weight. We do have a data sheet on the 2nd post in the thread Absolute Hammer Load Data- I assume you are familiar with it?
