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I would like to hear back on this as well. My knife is currently unusable since it doesn't lock reliably. It's actually rather difficult to lock, and I've barely carried it or used it at all. It currently sits under a stack of mail being useless, so I would love to do anything with it (get it fixed, replaced, or refunded).
-Alex
What you have is 'early' lockup and is generally considered a preferable trait. You should see some higher end production pieces, especially russian made and hinderers, the lockup is so early that people are afraid to touch the knife. For the most part the early lockup is just as strong as a 50% lockup regardless of how it looks. There is a limit of course and it's obvious if you can just push the blade and have it jump off the lock.
The lock geometry is more critical than the amount of contact between lockbag and tang. This is outlined by Bob Terzuola in his book: The Tactical Folding Knife. The three points of contact are the stop pin, pivot pin and the contact point between tang and lockface. The shape it creates is a triangle, the strongest shape for load bearing. The tolerances are very tight and critical for an effective lock. The book says the lockface angle should be between 7.5 and 8.5 degrees, more than 10 and it will start slipping off, less than 5 degrees and the lock will jam. Then there is the radius of the lock face, which shouldn't exceed 10 degrees or apparently the lock will start to slip-which has been called lock rolling. Any knife manufacturer not getting sued into oblivion should know all about it.
All locks and the geometries are different and the makers decide the best application for each design. A knife with great lock geometry that locks up solid at 5-10% is better than a poorly made lock with geometries outside acceptable range that locks up at 85%. I have knives that lock up bank vault solid at 5% that I beat the hell out of them. You would probably look at it and think there is no way it's safe, but it is.