@obsolesce Right, I am having to add a group of computers to the printers' security permissions with allow printing enabled to get the GPP to actually deploy the printer to the user.
UNC pathing to the printer by a member of the PrintersChecksUsers (while the user is logged in) allows them to install and print to the printer.
The GPO shows as applied in the RSOP, but with item level targeting, I don't see any info on why it wasn't actually installed/applied. Maybe it shows it somewhere else.
The key is the shared printer's security tab on the print server, itself. That is where I have to allow the specific group of computers, as well as the specific group of users. I need both, the computers and users groups to have at least printing allowed.