NOOB with a TIMING light gun

Ok so.... CYLINDER PRESSURE. His stock engine can easily have more cylinder pressure than a high compression engine during start up because of the effect of camshaft profiles. My engine had relatively low "static compression" and cylinder pressure but was still not happy starting with 19 degrees initial but I had no sloppy springs in the distributor and was at 3600 Ft ASL which should have actually helped one would think.