IIRC a number of hostage rescue teams and other special forces use what is sometimes referred to as a “12 gauge lockpick” for quick entry into locked rooms. I can imagine situations where you have to open a door extremely quickly with no room for error. In this case lockpicks, hydraulic openers, battering rams, etc. might be too slow or unable to deal with something like a barred door. Per Una’s description one round from a shotgun makes the entire lock (or a hinge) evaporate and you’re in. If you use fine shot then the chance of accidentally killing someone on the other side of the door would be much lower (compared to pumping .44 slugs into the door).
I’ve got some fun video of SWAT teams practicing with door breaching charges which look even more effective than a shotgun - the whole door just vanishes so there’s nothing to push out of the way when entering the room.
Okay, I am much enlightened, and better equipped to comport myself creditably in my future career as a macho detective.
I am utterly amazed at the reports of the power of a shotgun. I had no idea… I mean, the main thing I’ve associated them with is bringing down little birdies, and how much killing power can that take?
Why are shotgun blasts that much more destructive/effective than a handgun or rifle? Is it something as simple as there’s more gunpowder in a shotgun shell?
I don’t have my firearm data books onhand but if I recall correctly the muzzle energy of a load of 12ga 00 buckshot is something on the order of 1500-2000 ft-pounds. Compare that to the 350-400 ft-pounds of a good sized pistol round (9mm, .45 ACP, .40) and you can see one reason right there.
In addition to the much larger amount of energy that a shotgun shell dumps on target, the multiple pellets affect a larger area. If you’re trying to blow a lock apart, you can’t just punch a single hole right through it, you have to really destroy the whole thing, blow the bolt right out of the wood, etc.
There used to be a thing that the FBI used, that was downright nifty to watch.
It is a four inch iron pipe inside a slightly larger pipe. Both together about three feet long. At the back of the outer one is a tube where a shotgun shell without any shot is loaded. The end of the inner pipe has a big flat square plate over. The outer pipe has four handles on it. Two big guys swing it back, and hit the door right between the hinges. When it hits, the shotgun shell goes off, and it pretty much blows the door in backwards.
Thanks for that information. It works differently to what I imagined but the sequence on TV was very brief and shot in poor light but that does seem to be the tool they were using.
