This is correct. It's not the rimless cases that are the problem. Rifle cartridges are long and slender, which makes them easy to feed. Pistol cartridges are shorter and fatter, which makes feeding them properly much more difficult.There are 1000s of manual actions that are chambered in rimless cartages. That feed perfect.
In general, you want the cartridge to be controlled by the mag feed lips until the bullet is in or very close to the rear of the chamber. This minimizes the chances of a round not going into the chamber properly. Achieving this with pistol cartridges requires the mag be very close to the chamber, with short feed ramps. For whatever reason, not many manual action PCC's have been made this way and the bolt action conversions that have been made seem to always place the mag well away from the chamber, leading to the various feeding problems mentioned.
Mark