?? Anybody Know Lifters 101 ??

as a few of you know i have been having lifter issues. heres a little background. i put a new hydraulic cam and lifter kit in my 360. before i installed the new lifters , i manually pumped them up in a cup of oil. my first mistake was cheapin out with a summit brand cam kit, but too late now. anyways, after 50 miles and 30 hours of run time, i start to get a loud ticking. i stop everything. i pull the intake , covers and valve train. i start to pull lifters. in no specific order, i have,

10 that are rock hard
4 that i can plunge half way with my finger
2 that i can plunge all the down with no effort at all

the two im sure are collapsed.

what is the rule here? should these all be rock hard?
somewhat plungable?
these things are brand new

when i install my new ones, should they be installed dry ?
in all my days i have had ZERO problems with lifters

please any and comments and opinions on this subject, please school me .. thanks