Well now DEE a 1978 Buick Regal ? those things were better armored than some Tanks in some third world country's were.
I just never could do the Cocked and locked thing ,having grown up on the Colt SAA ,a little voice always says NO in the back of my head.
I know totally different Bla, Bla ,but a hammer back is just that ,a Hammer back and i have two 1911s.
Now i can stand a Double action auto , i carry a .40 Baby Eagle and i love it , also i have thing for steel receivers.
And i am not that old , 48 ,im just a Texan what can i say.
Well actually phalanx, the 78 Regals were just as thin as the rest of the cars back then. But you really can't expect ANY bullet to be very reliable shooting into cars.
On the cocked and locked thing, a single action army is far, far different from a 1911. Just as some don't know that a Glock has a striker rather than a hammer, and it is partially cocked after each round, and when in carry mode with a round chambered. So there goes your double action auto theory.
SO! depending on your forty calibers parentage, you may be carrying a double action only that is when a round is chambered, is on half cock to lighten the next trigger pull. Wouldn't that be something if you were going around half cocked all the time and didn't even know it"?
Just kidding now.
The SSA if it is an original Colt has no safety rather than either an empty chamber, or carrying the hammer down between chambers which was a method used in by gone years. Hollyweird changed that.
The Series 70 1911s have a thumb safety, and grip safety, and can be carried cocked and locked. Whether the hammer is "up or down" if dropped on the muzzle it CAN go off, but it must hit on the barrel portion not the slide, as the slide will crack it slightly out of battery, and it may or may not go off. I have never had this happen, and don't know anyone whom has.
The Series 80s have a thumb safety, a grip safety, AND a drop safety.
I too have a thing about aluminum receivers in lue of all steel receivers depending on how much volume a pistol or revolver is fired. The aluminum of the past CAN stress crack, but the newer ones? Not likely.
I am not that old either, just 59, and have been a Texan for those 59 years. What can "I" say.