Shapefile won't allow long integer with precision >5

[AmeliaNewsam]

Suddenly I am unable to create a long integer field with precision greater than 5.  I've tried multiple times, and sometimes when I'm in ArcCatalog it will show 8 as the precision, but when I open in ArcMap, it shows 5 (and allows only 5 when I try to enter more).  Any ideas?  (I'm using shapefiles instead of a geodatabase because my employer requires it.)  Thanks!

[DarrenWiens2]

allows only 5 when I try to enter more

Do you mean it will revert to the number 5 for precision, or it actually truncates data values to precision 5?

I was under the impression that precision is ignored in everything except RDBMSes, so I think you can rest easy, but if it's limiting your data values, that would be a problematic bug.

[AmeliaNewsam]

Sorry, I partly solved this (I was accessing the wrong shapefile in ArcCatalog), but there is still an issue with long integer fields sometimes not allowing more than 5 or 6 digits.  

[DarrenWiens2]

The only thing I can think of is to double-check that the field isn't 'short integer' (which would be 5 digits max), but you specifically mention 'long integer', so I assume you've done that already.

[AmeliaNewsam]

Yes - it actually truncates the digits. Yes, it is long integer, not short.