There is still another extension or "ear" scenario which seems to me important for safety: Breech closings may jam with varying amounts of casing exposed. At about 1/4 inch from closure, the sear picks up the firing pin lug and starts the cocking stroke. At the same breech position, the sear plunger gets back under the trigger lever, so the gun will try to fire if the trigger is pulled. Suppose the breech jams with, say, 1/8 inch to go and the user, not knowing, tries to fire the next shot. The partially cocked firing pin will be released and try to hit the primer, but the ear will catch it. This will be true all the way down to 0.050 inch from full closure. So the blowback accident, although it could happen, can't occur with significant brass exposed, thanks to the ear.
Unspellable, your study of snubbing should be interesting. Did you mean Henrotin's article? (See my message to you, 6th up from here). He illustrates his discussion with photos supposedly showing impressions where the firing pin retainer head has hit the frame. He calls that normal and says it's an indicator of how much a Luger has been fired. Evidently the sides of the head reach around the spring coupling link, via the groove in the head, to make contact. I don't see any other possibility.
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