"My question: Is there any reliability to a publication by a person who states they personally viewed records and took pictures at a specific location and the published said information?"

The info in Kreggs book is what is on the USPC records.

Many maybe most USPC chips were shipped to distributors who had taken orders for them. They would have sent them on to buyers. Without distributors records it takes people like Rich Hanover to identify where they ended up.

Generics like the FL Palms could have been shipped and used in many locations. Trying to put a certain generic in a certain club is impossible, IMO.