Perhaps I overstated the issue initially, but basically it seemed the front end of the forend seemed to cant slightly downward and to the left with the axis of the angle being right about near the rear barrel band.
The shim is slightly thicker near the bottom of the stock and on the left hand side, but not by much, a small change at that point was enough to correct the swing of the muzzle end to bring it to the point desired. I would think if you were to have a 1/8" difference in thickness near the middle of the forend this would create a much steeper angle and would pull the forend at least an inch upwards.
I probably should have taken before and after photos, but the barrel bands make for an unphotogenic muzzle end picture, and I didn't want to take off the front sight protector to get them off.
The proof is in the pudding though, whereas previously with the handguards and muzzle cap off the stock tip would only touch the barrel as shown on the below diagram, it now contacts the bottom with some upwards pressure uniformly and without interference from the nose cap. As long as that happens, and there is no contact between the receiver and that bearing point, it shouldn't really matter whether the stock has now taken on a small-v bend (although I would say the angle it was at was previously worse as there was a clear gap between the upper and lower front hand guard without the muzzle cap on.)
Attachment 96451