New seat post, right size & VERY tight
 

I am putting a new 27.2mm seat post in the frame and it's very tight. The frame had an older 27.2 post in it that fit just right.
I used plenty of grease and spread the seat tube a bit with a large screwdriver.

I can probably force it in the 4" it needs to go but it just doesn't seem right and I'd rather not scratch the crap out of a new Ultegra post even though it's below the insertion line.
I guess all posts are not created the same.

Is this common or just an anomaly? It's an '85 Trek Reynolds steel frame.
Thanks

All posts are not created the same. I've found American Classic a little fatter than Thomson. If you have a real good caliper and a shop where you can check a few, do it.

Put the seat-post in your freezer for an hour. And use a hair-dryer (or anything you can think of) to warm the seat-tube on your cycle near the top - close to when your seat-post is nicely frozen. Grease and Bonzai!

I thought about freezing it but realized that if it needed to be moved it might be a real PITA.

I did some careful and aggressive spreading of the seat tube and got it in there. Thanks for the suggestions.