Are you certain the wheel is moving exactly as the crankshaft moves and not slipping? Dial indicator probe centered firmly (and straight!) in the lifter cup and reading movement as soon as the lifter moves with no hiccups? Lifter planted firmly on the cam lobe?
If everything checks out--all that's really left that I can think of is the set is marked wrong or you're not reading it at the right spot.
Starting with the wheel at zero, on TDC compression stroke, that valve will be on the back of the lobe, so zero on the dial. It will stay at zero until you come all the way around to approaching TDC on the exhaust stroke (cam sprocket dot at 6:00) and as you get close to TDC that's when the dial should start moving. So! If that's what you're seeing, but it's still off that many degrees at the .050" lift my money's on a mis-marked sprocket...advance the cam a tooth and re-do. Yeah you'll have to start over, but....
Remember it's where the timing ends up that matters, not how the dots are or aren't lined up..
Keep at it!
