I answered as fast as I could... And I'm pretty certain that I know I'm right. And TCA probably found errors not inherent in the design, but in the critical welding of the lug and placement of the hinge pin hole which create headspace variables in relation to the breechface. Absolutely NOTHING wrong with the Encore frame design, but the tolerances have to be tight on the barrel manufacture.
You can fix excessive headspace in an Encore by loading the bullet long to touch the lands, which blows the shoulder forward (and minimizes case head stretching.) In your example that would only exacerbate the problem of the frame not closing because you have insufficient headspace. To fix your issue you would need to run the reamer deeper so the that rim of the case (which sets headspace on a .357 Max) seats flush to the back of the barrel. You could also still have the issue of too large of a frame/barrel gap due to improper lug placement which would affect the headspace as well, but if the lugs never fully engage because the round won't drop into the chamber all the way you have a minimum headspace (or less than) condition, not excessive headspace. Check out Mike Bellm's site as he does a much better job of explaining it than I am, but I assure you that your headspace wasn't excessive if your case never fully entered the chamber...
