When a primer is fired in a live round, the explosion inside the primer cup usually causes it to back out of the case slightly. However, immediately afterward, the powder inside of the round is ignited, and the casing is forced rearward as the bullet begins to move forward. This rearward motion of the case re-seats the primer in the primer pocket.

When you fire a primed case with no gunpowder or bullet, there is no secondary recoil effect on the case, so the primer backs out of the pocket until it hits the breech of the slide (in an autoloader) or the recoil shield (in a revolver), and stays there. Because it was pushed out with a fair amount of force, it usually will interfere with the normal unlocking action of the barrel/slide in an autoloader, and can also seize-up or prevent the rotation of the cylinder in a revolver. If your gun allows you to pull the trigger again without cycling the slide, the second firing pin/striker blow will usually re-seat the primer enough to allow operation of the slide. Won't work in a Glock unless you have enough slide movement to re-cock the stirker, though. Heck, now that I think about it, without the case-rebound effect, the striker in a Glock might even stay in the full-forward position, more-or-less "embedded" in the primer, until the slide is retracted; that may have contributed to the jam, as you might have had to force the barrel w/casing to slide down against the breechface of the slide with the striker still stuck in the primer dent. If so, the primer may still show a wipe mark from the striker tip when it was forced to move; if you still have it, you could check and see.

A side note: if, in a similar situation to the above, you are afraid that the "pop" of the primer might wake your sleeping wife, and so you push the muzzle against the carpet to quiet the noise, you should know that the force and flame of a magnum large pistol primer fired in a 4" barreled revolver will remove all the carpet fibers from the area directly under the muzzle as well as scorching the area around the muzzle black for about one-half inch. Some day I may tell you how I know this...

Yea... I never would have thought of all that but it for sure makes sense. Thaks for the reply!

Originally Posted by DJ Niner

A side note: if, in a similar situation to the above, you are afraid that the "pop" of the primer might wake your sleeping wife, and so you push the muzzle against the carpet to quiet the noise, you should know that the force and flame of a magnum large pistol primer fired in a 4" barreled revolver will remove all the carpet fibers from the area directly under the muzzle as well as scorching the area around the muzzle black for about one-half inch. Some day I may tell you how I know this...

Does one's wife find out about the hole in the carpet that night, or does she sleep through the excitement?

Didn't even twitch. It actually does muffle the noise quite a bit. But that burned plastic smell....yuck.

hahaha

this isnt exactly gun or glock related, but it is burning hole in carpet related:

I decided it would be a good idea to try and take a apart an old ipod shuffle, so I shoved a screwdriver in the case, in order to pry it open, but what I did, was short the battery, it wound up catching fire, shooting sparks and smokes out the usb port, I dropped the ipod, and it scorched the carpet, there was a black streak about 4 inches long on the carpet, i guess I'm lucky I didn't burn down the house