The bigger question, in my opinion, is how could the EGC be connected to the ungrounded conductor at the receptacle and have the breaker not trip, as in David’s original post?
I was thinking about that too but trying to address one question at a time. The only possible answer is if that cable was actually three functioning conductors a hot, a neutral, and an EGC that the black wire is the neutral. The EGC connected to the neutral would not trip the OCPD unless it was an AFCI or GFCI type.
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I tried to address that in my post above, but was quickly shot down. The OP doesn’t seem to have any diagnostic skills. Go ahead flag me, I’ll just repost it.
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That is the equivalent of my original question: why was it not a dead short (which would cause the breaker to trip).
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Nope. The black wire was the hot, as I had theorized. (TBH, the Klein ET-310 even “told” me so). And it was proven when the new receptacle was tested and operated.
So how do you explain how an EGC connected directly to an ungrounded conductor didnt trip the circuit breaker?
Faulty breaker or some voo doo on the circuit? 
Anything is possible but I asked twice for clarification on the conductors and didn’t get any so I’m sitting the rest of this one out for now.
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The wire would be glowing red hot right before it or the breaker melted. You guys got sucked into a wabbit hole.
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That was my original question, although phrased somewhat differently. Title of this post: “How is This Even Possible?”
I have seen miswired circuits. The person doing the wiring bonds the equipment with a bare conductor to the nearest plumbing pipe as the EGC and feeds off a live circuit cable. If the feed is 30 ampacity, so be it.
Did you try to trace the receptacle circuit back to the breaker in the panel?
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No, I haven’t traced the circuit back yet. I intended to do that today but I was sidetracked.
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