I understand, it sucks when stupid people make stupid rules to stop other stupid people from doing stupid things.
I used to work at a gun range and I've actually seen people walk forward of the firing line while it was still hot - it's amazing how some people have lived as long as they have.
If you look at the Hodgdon online reloading data you'll notice that they show powder charge recommendations for both the Barnes 168gr TTSX and the Sierra 168gr HPBT, notice that they have different max powder charges, this is because of differences in the dimensions and materials of the bullet. This is why I recommend using the reloading manual of the company that produced your bullet, differences in the bullets (even of the same weight) will produce differences in the pressures. A lot of people complain that Hornady produces lighter loads, that's because most of Hornady's bullets are shaped in such a way that they produce higher pressures. Usually you'll find that a Hornady bullet has more of it inside the case when it's seated to the same cartridge length as another brand of bullet. Quite often Hornady bullets have longer shanks (the straight area along the bullet's profile that is full diameter) and that increases the friction between the bullet and whatever it contacts.
Then there are differences in case volume that will have an effect on the pressure. I've seen a lot of people claim that volume doesn't make much difference but that all depends upon the kind of shooting you're doing. If you want very hot, long range loads that are built for accuracy then it's very important to be aware of case volume, on the other hand, if you're just a plinker that likes to blast away at cans from time to time then who cares, build a nice middle of the road load that works reliably and you'll be happy.
Also the chamber of the rifle will have an effect on the pressure, that's the hard part with QuickLoad, it can't predict the chamber dimensions and you will always have some variation between the real world and what the software predicts. I have a new 30-06 that I'm starting to work with and I always get 50 to 100 fps of error in my load predictions, I haven't figured out if it's the powder or the rifle's chamber but something is giving me higher pressure. I can adjust QuickLoad to match up with the real world chronograph numbers but it's a surprise when I can usually get predictions that are within a 25 fps for my semi-auto rifles. That's why I was careful to not say what your pressures were, I don't know how far off QuickLoad is, if your velocities are 100 fps slower than it is predicting then you might have a top end load but not exceed the SAAMI max, on the other hand you could have a load that is 100 fps faster and then you'd have pressures that were dangerously high.
I don't trust reading the primer, it works when you are really experienced with your rifle and know what to expect because you've compared what you see to pressure and velocity info that was verified but when you are simply comparing what you see to pictures that others have shown then I'd be cautious. Bolts and firing pins are different and they will create different impressions on the brass, extrusions on the brass around the firing pin indent can be created by a firing pin hole that is too large but it can also be mistaken for extrusion due to a hot load.