Brian, am not sure what the answer to that is, but one of the benefits of the mid lock and front lock over the back lock is that they place the lockbar pivot ahead of, rather than behind the blade kick, when the blade is closed.
In a back lock pressure on the spine of the blade with the knife closed lifts the front of the lockbar, allowing the edge of blade to contact "something". Depending on the design, this "something" will be either the rear portion of the lockbar itself, the lock spring, or the backspacer/spring carrier. Such contact is never good. At the very least, it will dull the edge and can even roll or chip it depending on what it strikes. This happens because the front portion of the lockbar is free to move upward, and rear portion (behind the pivot) is free to move "downward".
In contrast, with a front or mid lock, because the kick presses the lock bar behind the lockbar pivot, you would bes trying to force the rear of the lockbar upward, and the front downward. This is impossible to do, because the front of the lockbar is resting on the blade tang. So there is no danger of "crashing" the edge against the lock.