Hughes "retro fit" lifter not pumping up!

Any company can have production issues. I don't disassemble any lifters ahead of assembling and I've never had a bad one from any manfacturer. However it's reality that at some point I will, and production parts can have issues. Marland surely had a defective one which given his history is unfortunate. But one bad one, even a few reports of bad ones in todays well-connected world, should not make anybody run screaming. I don't like or use Hughes for anything - not since the 90s because of attitude. The parts I bought then are still on the shelf as a matter of fact. But, they do sell product that is no worse than similar price point parts on the market. If you have them, set them up properly, mock things up to make sure they are set up properly, and then run them. Marland had two out of 16 bad (one really but they're riveted in pairs). That's still only a 6% failure rate using only his engine as the model. Based on a 94% positive result I'd still run them if I had them rather than pay a restocking fee and buying another set.