Here's the definition of `cons` for caches:

clojure.lang.IPersistentCollection
(cons _# elem#
(clojure.core/cons ~base-field elem#))

This seems wrong to me. Note first that the arguments to `clojure.core/cons` are in the wrong order. As a result, the result of (for example) conj is incorrect. Consider this:

user=> (def starts-with-a (cache/fifo-cache-factory {:a 1} :threshold 3))

#'user/starts-with-a
user=> starts-with-a
{:a 1}
user=> (conj starts-with-a [:c 3])
({:a 1} :c 3)

Even if the argument order was correct, the result would still be a sequence rather than the type of the base field. I think you want something more like

clojure.lang.IPersistentCollection
(cons this# elem#
(apply assoc this# elem#))

After all, this particular collection is an IPersistentMap, so its `conj` and `into` behavior should be the same as other objects for which `map?` is true.