actually, I'm not arguing, just giving an account of my experience this past weekend:
when I installed my LP gas block (troy), I, too thought it needed to be set out from the shoulder the equivalent of the thickness of the handguard cap...when I installed it this way, it short-stroked...once I set the gass block against the shoulder, I've yet to have another feeding problem (although I've only put an additional 40 rounds through it, but still, no failures.
an armorer friend of mine told me that the holes in the LP gas block are designed to "match up" to the hole in the barrel when the block is seated against the shoulder (they assume that if you're installing a LP gas block, there most likely will not be a handguard cap present), at least this very much seems to be the case with the Troy LP gas block