Magic, you ever seen a OC grenade? One of these bad boys thru the open passenger window as the crime is being committed might have some future deterrent value. [>Q]

Dont lead them as much ;)

M.

I'd strongly urge you to act like a security guard, "observe and report," take pictures if you can. Unfortunately any further action might cause yourself problems. If you are in a rural area I'm sure the parents will only be too happy to take care of the problem themselves and grateful to you for alerting them. If they won't or can't then that's why your developer offers double prints. Law enforcement should be only too happy to have evidence in hand.

Any action you take can be used against you in a court of law, to modify a phrase. If you use a paint ball gun or paint balloons to mark the car they could claim you tried to maim sweet Johnny. Dead man switches (exploding, squirting or electrified mailboxes) are illegal in at least most states.

Keep yourself in the clear and them in the wrong.

Personally I like the brake fluid suggestions but can't recommend it.

Be careful with getting them "busted" one of my buddies had the displeasure of being the 27th kid to knock over some guys mail box.

The guys mail box had been knocked over so many times they, the secret service I believe, set up a video camera inside a bird feeder across the street set to a motion detecter.

Lets just say he got a felony conviction and can't owe guns, ever.

Most crimes, if committed before the age of 21 can be sponged off a record in this state.  Over 21 he deserved what he got.  

Cover your mailbox in Razor wire and Barb wire, if that doesnt work get a grenade and stick it in the ground without the pin making sure to keep your and wrapped around the saftey level and put that lever right against the stake in the ground, if it gets kicked over the little lever flies off the side and it blows up.

Steyr AUG - AKA Quint, from the movie JAWS.

LMAO

Tyler

Yep, this is the ticket.  A fellow near me took that very approach.  Big mailbox with smaller one inside, with concrete lining in between.  Just as you described, the thing sits on a very stout metal post which slips inside of the top two or three coils of an automotive coil spring.  The bottom of the coil is welded to another length of metal post, which is set in a concrete footing.

If someone takes a swing at it, it moves - a little.  Mostly, the concrete lining prevents significant denting and the spring allows it to flex if a car hits it.  It must work, it's been set up like that for about fifteen years.

What about a baby food jar of 80% nitroglycerine gel stashed in the mailbox every Friday and Saturday night. You might even think about sitting the jar in the middle of a big box of 10 penny nails for a shrapnel effect. Feel free to use in conjunction with the camera idea, then post the pics here. I'm sure many here would love to see them.

Use the steel box on steel pole.  Weld to a 15inch wheel, no tire.

Dig hole 16" diameter, 8" deep. Plant mailbox without fill dirt on top. Maybe place potted flowers on top for roadside beautification effect.

In Bat Action:
Bat barely moves swatted box, desired effect.

In Auto Run Down Action:
Car stops shortly down road, minus oil pan/inflated tire. Desired effect. Damn hard to explain to parents.

Perp owes you one mailbox mounting system.

Don't ask. Wasn't me, can't prove a thing...[8D]


Later,
JC

 As much fun as it would be to exact some revenge the end result in Texas would be time in court. The local Texas Department of Transportation office can fill you in on this. Anytime you put anything in the highway right of way it has to be breakaway approved, or you will be both criminally and financally  responsible. Go with the camcorder, preferably digital so you can get good quality stills, go to the law and the parents.  I really love the paint guns and spike strips anyway.

Garand Shooter I like your idea. Its worthy of Wile E. Coyote. Of coures Wile E. Coyote is a combat engineer. Maybe I could suggest putting to eye bolts in rear of mailbox and then wrapping some bungee cords through trigger guard and back with each hook in a eye bolt. The aspiring professional baseball players will get a spray when they whack at the bill box.

No Slack!

PAINTBALL!!!!!!!!!

A Mate of mine who lives at Kangaroo Point in Sydney's south had the same problem except it was his light post. These arsehole 'boys' would drink beer and party on til all hours, he lived at the base of the road, right near the water, where there was a small park.

His light post was stolen about 4 times, then one night he hid in some near by bushes, armed with his wrist rocket sling shot, and a pocket full of ball bearings, and lead fishing weights, and as their rap music blasted into the night air, he discreetly blew holes in all their back windows, and left some nasty dents in the doors and fendors, then stealthy dissappeared into the night.

All new daddys Holden Commodores and Ford Falcon Ghias etc. Expensive cars! They never returned, and his light pole has not been fu*ked with since.

So, Mate, be discreet, and don't tell anyone. No one gets hurt.

how about this camera.  

[img]http://www.angola.npaid.org/images/Landmine_database/m18a13.jpg[/img]

this one can be operated manually or an auto function called a "Tripwire",  a large field commonly known as "Kill Zone".  However, this only has one shot film in it.

Guaranteed to get a picture of dumbass kids trying to destroy your mailbox.

[:P]

Do what my dad did: dig a hole, pour concrete into the hole, sink a railroad tie into it, put the mailbox on top of that. Nice, efficient, strong.

Any law that says you can't make your mailbox as strong as you want is a bad law :P As long as it's on your property, you should be fine (if it isn't, move the thing back a few steps.)

I just got off mailbox patrol.  I feel kind of evil sitting there in the bushes. [dracula]

You will feel better when you nail those bastards!  You might even laugh at what they do when you surprise them.  Get pics!

Going about it all wrong!

1. Get a cast iron pipe and fill it with concrete.

2. Get a welding shop to make you a box(heavy duty steel) slightly smaller than a regular tin style box.

3. Attach it to the pipe and place in the ground.

4. Cut the tin box and put it around the steel one.(Incognito)

5. Sit back and watch either...
a. them break their hands
b. the bat will bounce back and hit their car

6. Laugh ass off!!!!!


This was how I solved my parents problem!!

Just a thought!
ASO544

We used to have some kids come and hit our garbage cans once a week.  Just drive by and clip them at 35mph.

So we took the large plastic garbage cans, and filled them up with about 400 pounds of bricks.  Then, put a half used bucket of paint on top, with the lid layed on top loose, and a piece of newspaper laying over that to make it look just like a normal full garbage can.

Then the kids came by, and instead of the normal smack and sound og garbage flying, there was more of a BOOM, and the card skidded to a halt, with a crunched in quarter panel and one headlight busted, and half a gallon of latex paint all over the front half of the car.

Needless to say it never happened again.  What was cool was that there was nothing they could do about it.  We did not put anything hazerdous in the road where someone could hit it, you had to go partly onto our driveway and over part of the lawn to hit the cans.

There is no law against storing bricks and paint in a garbage can on your own property.  hehehe

Get a 12-volt flashlight battery (the big rectangular things), 3 pieces of electrical wire approximately 6 inches in length, a small piece of copper plate, and a pound of ten penny nails.  Attach the copper plate to the right side of the interior of the mailbox.  Place the battery all the way to the rear of the box.  Splice 2 pieces of the wire together (stripping off most of the insulation and attach to the copper plate.  Attach the the opposite end of the longer wire to the positive head on the battery.  Take the third piece of wire and attach to the negative head, suspend exposed opposite end of wire approximately 1/2 inch from the copper plate.  Now take a one pound canister of GOEX FFFg and place it in the box just in front of the battery.  Place the spliced positive wire in the top of the canister until it touches the powder.  

Lastly, place the one pound bag of nails in the box and carefully close the box door.

Most of the blast should dissipate into the vehicle of the offender.

[grenade]

If you live in Texas you can lawfully use deadly force for any crime commited on your property during night time hours.

rg00red,
Do you know where I can get the best price on these 1 pound canisters?

First of all, most of the mailboxes in Texas are on public property.Second, how could you justify using possible lethal force against kids just out for fun? While we all agree this must stop, the death or injury of someone, even an idiot, is not the answer. We were all young and stupid once, so just take it easy. Go for the paintballs and pictures, then have fun with them.   fullclip

Kmart or Wally World in the fall, right before muzzleloader season.  Expect to pay about 10-15 bucks.

Recipe for a "kid proof" mailbox.

1 - railroad tie for the post
1 - large mailbox
1 - small mailbox
2 - 90lb sacks of concrete

Set the small mailbox inside the large one and fill the space around the small one inside the large one with concrete.

Mount the big box/small box on top of a railroad tie sunk a minimum of 2 feet, deeper if you can.

GUARANTEED LOUISVILLE SLUGGER PROOF.  Splinters them quite nicely.

The railroad tie fights back against cars that want to run over your mailbox.  I had that problem as well (3 times).

Making the mailbox "stealth" by painting it flat black helps as well.

Good luck.

My granfather had the same problem.  He got a huge piece of wood. It may have been a railroad tie.  Old people have a knack of finding strange stuff.  It was big enough that he hollowed out an area so the the mailbox would fit inside.  He took the flag off and put it on the outside. Then he buried it to the correct height.  The box was always safe.  If they hit the tie he didnt care.  He also put these two huge rocks on either side and planted flowers around them.

True story. I responded to an injury traffic accident where a couple of local youth tried to play mail box baseball with a mailbox that had been made of 1/2 plate and that was secured to the ground with 15 bags of concrete. The passenger hung out the window and smacked the mail box as they drove past.  The bat bounced back and smashed the rear passenger window to the Astrovan he was in. The window breaking caused the driver to divert his already impaired  attention and ended up crashing and completely destroying his mom's ride. The owner of the mail box explained to me that he was sick of kids doing this and that he felt his design was successful. The following week when I drove past the mail box the gentleman had painted an Astrovan on the side in the same manner as modern day pilots do after getting a "kill". There is some justice sometime.[:D]  

years ago dad had the same thing happen. all the mailboxes on the rural road were getting smashed. he caught the mailman one day and asked if there would be a problem if he put it on the other side of the road. the mailman came back that way when he was done anyway. it would just be delivered a little later in the day. painted it black and has not been touched for at least 25 years now.

HAHAH.  I love it.

Reminds me when I was talking to a Harrier pilot about 10 years ago at Andrews AFB.   I asked, whats that bird painted on the side of your plane for?  He said he nailed it one day and it ripped off 1/3 of his wing.  Barely made it back safe to land.  His quote.  "A kill's a kill"

Get some good quality livestock poop from a local farmer.  Find a few M-80 fireworks with a cardboard body.  Put M-80s arranged behind poop with model rocket igniters for the spark. Use a mercury switch in the mailbox.  A toggle switch disconnect would be a good idea so you won't have your mail carrier full of s%&#!.      

WTF?  The word must have gotten out that I was out for revenge on my mailbox.  It has been 3 GD weeks and nary a fly has landed on my mailbox.  These little bastards were knocking it down every weekend for 3 months, now nothing.  This is even more irritating than having my mailbox knocked down.  

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, Could it be a user on Ar-15.com? Maybe someone who responded to this particular post perhaps.

Alex[;)]

a bouncing betty (or whatever the current name is) paint grenade for playing paintball. I'll try to find a link

[url]http://www.iisports.com/iisports/paintballstore/grenades.html[/url]

I had a problem with my mailbox getting knocked down repeatedly several years back.  I thought it was kids, too.  Every time I'd put the darned thing back up, it would get knocked over again.  I got tired of buying new boxes and putting them back up again, so I said to heck with it and got a PO box.  My mailbox never got knocked down again.  Turns out it was the mail carrier running over it!!  Guess he couldn't drive worth a diddly!  [:P]

We used to have that problem where I used to live, but when we moved here, We found that our mailbox is surrounded on all sides by 2 feet of brick, 5 feet high. We have 4 columns in our yard, and one of them conceals the mailbox. Sure it's dangerous to speeding morons, but the posted speed limit on my road is 30. If some idiot is goin 75 like usual, they deserve what they get. One of the columns is a little off the base, but that's just where a truck hit it before we moved here. The really bad part about the columns, is that we used to have 5, not 4. One of them somehow ended up in a ditch down the road, probably by a speeder, again before we moved here. My suggestion, start scoping out the mailbox from a distance, enough to where you can see the tag number, a vehicle description, how many kids, etc. and when you get what you need, go to the LEOs and give it to them. Best not to take the law into your own hands. We know, we shoot tires.

Stick a bunch of exploding targets to the outside of the impact zone, drill holes to provide reliable ignition, paint, fill with non lethal but attention getting material of your choice.  Perhaps a shaped charge of dogshit or dead fish...

Disclaimer: this is for educational purposes only.  Do not actually do Anything that could get them hurt.  In this society, you know you would be on the short end of the stick.  

Vidio tape looks like the most prudent course of action, but not nearly as satisfying as beating them at there own game.

Here area fw ideas that have worked well in the past.  I grew up in rural Indiana, where Mailbox Baseball used to be a problem...

1) Get large balloon.  Fill with oil paint.  GENTLY place balloon in mailbox before dark, leave door down 1/2-way.  Don't forget to remove in the AM before postman comes by (get the most hideous hot pink you can get for this one!)

2) Go to local Streets and Highways department and get 18" or 24" spare or round footer form.  Dig hole for form, leave about 48" above ground level.  Make sure footer is BEHIND fenceline, out of right-of-way.  I find that 48" up and 36-48" down works well.
Make mailbox blank to create void in footer, pour cement.  Strip footer, install mailbox, put flag on outside of footer. Stencil "DANGER" on all sides in letters AT LEAST 6" high, in Safety Orange or Yellow.  This one stood up in court nicely...

3) Go to steelyard and get large I-beam or structural square form - large enough to enclose mailbox side-to-side (box can protrude from rear.)  Otherwise, execute as (2) - including stencils.

4) Put steel plate with STRONG spring on right side (as facing) of mailbox post, protecting mailbox.  Causes nice rebound effect with baseball bat, can use in existing location.

5) Get 12-ga blank tripwire device.  Install with tripwires being broken whenever mailbox tampered with FROM SIDES.  Can use power blanks or 12ga popflares, birdbombs, or what-have-you.

I'd have to find my notebook for more, but these methods have all been used, tested, and stood up in court!  Make sure anything you do that has a risk of physical damage (posts, spring plates, etc...) has "DANGER" stencilled on it r has DANGER sign posted - and make sure it is reflective.  It will likely not deter your miscreants, but will save your a$$ when you get drug into court.  (Logic - while I have had to take means to protect my property in a passive manner, I have also posted that there was an attendant risk in tampering with the property so protected.  Therefore, vandals were either a) Ignoring posted "DANGER" signage or b) driving about at night with their lights off, thus demonstrating diminished judgement, contempt of the laws of the roadways, and a definite intent to cause harm under cover of the night...)

FFZ

Not exactly what you are looking for, but I remember a guy who was on somebodys sh*t list and found a rattlesnake in his mailbox one day. He got bitten, but I don't remember the outcome. I would not recomend this route.

Why don't you just go and get about 12 cheap mailboxes and set them all up at once in staggard row a few feet apart from each other. This is sure to cunfuse them, the mailman, you, and probably everyone else. If they insist on "taking out" all the boxes surely they will make enough noise for you to hear them or get tired and just pass out in your lawn.

BMB    

We have a street here is town that this happens all the time. Most of the residents have made a brick tower to enclose their mailbox in. The others sunk railroad ties in the ground to make a support for the mailbox.

Video tape your mail box(catch the kids in the act), go over and show the parents of the kids, then decide if you need to go to the police.
You can always become evil later and damage some of their belongings.
DA

While Texas has some of the most liberal gun laws in the nation, you can't quite go that far. After dark you have to believe your personal property or yourself are in danger. There have been several repo agents shot for repoing cars at night,while the owners thought the cars were being stolen. No charges.