# Could you really open a locked door by shooting the lock? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542 "2017-05-13T16:35:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/21 "2017-05-14T18:52:15Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > As for the car trunk lock mentioned in the anecdote above… I bet that ten people could fire twenty rounds each at ten cars and only one of them might pop open. Hence each bullet has a chance of success of maybe 1 in 200. I doubt I’ll ever get another chance to shoot up a car:(, but I’d really like to try again. We had used a shotgun on much of the glass, a .22 all over the car, and a .38 handgun trying to hit/blow out the tires. On the trunk it just took one shot with a scoped deer rifle (?30-06) to punch out the lock mechanism and then the trunk swung up a bit. Other than a spare tire and jack, the trunk was empty. Beginner’s lock luck? ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/22 "2017-05-14T19:10:11Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I doubt I’ll ever get another chance to shoot up a car:(, but I’d really like to try again. I would recommend you do not try. By your own words the car you shot up was on another persons property, not yours. So that is trespassing, and destruction of property, possibly some firearms violations depending on where you live since you discharged firearms on property that does not belong to you in what could be construed as a malicious manner. We have not even mentioned the environmental mess you just made and did not clean up. Now you could say “what ever” about the prospect of going to jail, but how about the prospect of dying from a gunshot wound? You are on someone else’s property, armed, and opening fire. Property owner would be within his rights to return fire on you. No special luck on the trunk popping open, the latch is just made of cheap stamped steel, almost anything can shoot them off, and then if the trunk lid is sprung properly it will pop open a bit ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/23 "2017-05-14T20:28:23Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > If it was stolen, then you could have reported it to the police, so that they could investigate it. I highly doubt someone would just leave a car lying around like that, so if there was a empty car sitting out in the middle of nowhere, I’d still report it to the authorities. What if it was a lost hiker that drove out to the forest, went for a stroll but got injured and couldn’t make it back to his car? Or what if a murder had taken place? > > Even if none of that happened, you’re not supposed to just shoot and ransack at other people’s property just because no one had used it for ages. Maybe the owner had just gone long-term camping in the forest or something. Dude…buzz kill! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/24 "2017-05-14T20:42:05Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Dude…buzz kill! ☹ Yep. My twenties would have been far less enjoyable if dude robert had been around then (I’m guessing he had not yet been conceived then). ---
**Author:** ![westhou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f1d935/32.png) [@westhou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/westhou)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/25 "2017-05-15T00:50:01Z")
He forgot to add that you could put your eye out ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/26 "2017-05-15T15:28:19Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > Speaking as a Certified Master Locksmith, it’s highly unlikely that a lock would pop open from being shot with a bullet. I’ll just leave this here: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9UNzLN7gR0) ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/27 "2017-05-15T20:24:19Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > \>Originally Posted by sbunny8 > \>Speaking as a Certified Master Locksmith, it’s highly unlikely > \>that a lock would pop open from being shot with a bullet. > > I’ll just leave this here: > [https://youtu.be/Z9UNzLN7gR0](https://youtu.be/Z9UNzLN7gR0) Interesting, popping a door open with a specially equipped shotgun at point-blank range. It’s still not the same as shooting the lock with a bullet. Although it does come close to matching what I said about shattering the lock and/or taking a chunk out of the door. One of the examples shown in that video is an antique door knob which doesn’t have a deadlatch feature. The other is a cheap residential deadbolt where the strike plate has been destroyed, along with a chunk of the door frame. I wonder if they also kicked the door, when the camera wasn’t rolling. I still say it’s highly unlikely. What I mean is that, given an average gun, firing an average bullet, at an average lock, the chances that the door would just pop open are less than 1%. Of course, if you take a specially modified gun, in the hands of a trained professional, firing at a below-average lock, then the chances improve dramatically. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/28 "2017-05-16T18:08:27Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > I wonder if they also kicked the door, when the camera wasn’t rolling. REALLY unlikely. It’s a commonly-trained tactical entry techinique, used by US and other nations soldiers, as well as police tactical teams. I know some of these people personally. More lilely that you’re just unaware of the state of the art in violent entry. > [@](#): > > Of course, if you take a specially modified gun, in the hands of a trained professional, firing at a below-average lock, then the chances improve dramatically. The substandard locks in that video were because condemned buildings, thus available for live training - And crappy locks would be expected. But here, observe: A [veritable plethora](https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=shotgun+breaching+training&spf=1494957150802) of training resources on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/29 "2017-05-16T18:42:47Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > How about a gas operated cow stunner bolt gun? It might work, it might not… Just flip a coin. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542/30 "2017-05-16T19:19:11Z")
You’d be better off shooting up the door jam where the latch slides into, so it would have nothing securing it in place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-really-open-a-locked-door-by-shooting-the-lock/786542.md?page=1)