Miller,
No. It is not recoil that sets the extractor hook, it is tripping the sear. The extractor plate, in the barrels, is spring loaded, and raises unfired cartridges as the breech slides back, the top or verticle bolt doesn't have anything to do with that. That spring loaded plate is also what supports the breech face when the gun is dry fired, although, as previously discussed, it is far less important for that in the case of your gun, due to the plate being dovetailed into the breech instead of being retained with screws, as they are on the newer guns.
I like Darnes. Not to the exclusion of anything else, however. I have never really had any design of gun that had ammunition hang up in the chamber, and, I suspect that since plastic hulls became common, say since 1960, or so, spent rounds stuck in a chamber is likely much less common a problem than it once was. My Father, who spent a lot of time in New Orleans in the USMC, told me the Browning A5 was considered superior as a duck gun because it had twin extractor hooks, compared to the Remington model 11, and Ithaca 37s single hook. I've owned all three and never had an extraction problem. I wasn't hunting, there, in the early 1950s, and can't comment.
Maybe wet paper hulls were the culprit.
Be Well, Sir.
Best,
Ted
