[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best tool for breaking window? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/22/2009 6:47:23 AM EDT
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Two weeks ago today I was sitting in an outdoor mall parking lot here in Orlando when I noticed a guy walking around his crew cab pickup truck looking in the widows. It looked pretty obvious like the guy locked himself out. He happened to look up and see me sitting in my truck and made the hand motion of a phone. So he walked over and asked if I had a cell phone he could use to call someone. I let him use my phone and he attempted to call a couple of numbers a few times without any success. He seemed a little embarrassed and concerned, as if he was going to be late for something. So without any luck of anyone answering he said thanks and went back over to his truck. I found it a bit odd he did not call a tow truck or locksmith. At that point I decided it was time to move on to my next stop and started slowly pulling forward in the parking lot across several empty lanes and eventually coming parallel to this guy's truck. I still had my window down from when he came over to borrow my phone when I noticed his truck was running. He happened to look up again at me, so I stopped my truck and he asked if I had anything to break the window. I glanced back at the truck cab and noticed through the tinted windows there was a little girl inside the truck! He said she just turned off the AC in the truck! The situation instantly turned a bit more serious than I had initially realized. I never asked how exactly it happened but apparently his little (2 year old??) girl locked the doors to the truck and wouldn't unlock them for daddy or just didn't know how. To make matters worse she turned off the AC in a Florida summer heat. Luckily I have a nice large blue crowbar in my truck. That I lent to the guy to bust a rear window. Surprisingly to me it hook him maybe 12 swings to break the window. The little girl was fine. But this leads me to the point of the thread. What is the proper tool to quickly break a window? Preferably something that wont shoot glass everywhere like the crowbar did.  Effective but messy, and may not work on the first swing. |
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Automatic center punch http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.generaltools.com/Images/machinist/77L.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.generaltools.com/Products/Automatic-Center-Punch__77.aspx&usg=__RpmnMLM0SEg2AH5K5eEqrjlNHUM=&h=300&w=250&sz=27&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=VXnaB9jSgXPX3M:&tbnh=116&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dautomatic%2Bcenter%2Bpunch%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 Firemen and other rescue personnel use them, no swinging or hammering needed, just push down and it will snap the point and shatter the glass. |
| An old spark plug works as well as a spring-loaded punch. We used to have an ex-convict named "Stanley" who we'd bring in to teach part of our Methods of Entry law enforcement class. It started out as part of his community service and then we later just paid him to come teach for a day or two. He taught us to palm a spark plug and then throw it top-first (wire connection top first) into the lowest corner of a car passenger window, prefereably a rear window away from any occupants. Very little mess because most of the glass falls straight down into the door. |
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Quoted:
They sell break out tools with a hard point for busting windows if you get trapped in the car or it becomes submerged. You could always buy a CMMG Vortex with the breaker spikes on it and mount it on your trunk gun. That'd get some looks. these dont work, i used it on my wreaked civic. |
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Center Punch will only work on tempered glass..... Place in lower corner of the glass near the B-post and push.... A lot of the center punches we're getting now a days are like everything else, cheap chinese junk and sometimes take two or more pushes..... But a crow bar, pair of pliers, small hammer will take care of temp too.... Heck I've even seen the tip/end of a vehicle antenna take it out
This would be the ultimate tool to have.... As we keep these on our engines.... The GlasMaster.... With this you can take care of Tempered & laminated glass. They are kinda high dollor 'tho. 
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The junkies around here use spark plugs to bust side windows. Works really well. I used a hallagan tool once. That also worked pretty well. Thats normally what I use.... My hallagan.... works everytime... Don't have to work about week ass non working spings in a center punch made in asia. 
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Absolutely Can you still buy those in california....  
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| If the radio antenna can screw off it can be used. The idea is to put as much energy as possible into the smallest area, so bigger is not always better. The BB type point of the antenna works perfect. You can swing it to hit the window, or you can place it against the vehicle and pull back on the BB tip and let it go letting the spring action break the window. Spring loaded center punch, which is about 3-5 bucks, is the easiest tool. If you have to use the Glas-Master then you are extricating someone form a crash. You'll need a lot more than that to complete the extrication. |
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The junkies around here use spark plugs to bust side windows. Works really well. I used a hallagan tool once. That also worked pretty well. Thats normally what I use.... My hallagan.... works everytime... Don't have to work about week ass non working spings in a center punch made in asia. Nothing like a several pound steel missile bouncing around the car in a T/A. It's worthless in the trunk and depending on location, SOME cops might construe it as a weapon.
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in my fire academy training, we practiced on a few cars for auto extrication.
an 8lb sledge hammer bounces off of tempered glass windows. center punches FTW! or you can use a long flat screw driver and swing the point into the window hard and fast. the key with tempered glass is the point of entry into the glass has to be very small, sharp, and hard. |
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The junkies around here use spark plugs to bust side windows. Works really well. I used a hallagan tool once. That also worked pretty well. Thats normally what I use.... My hallagan.... works everytime... Don't have to work about week ass non working spings in a center punch made in asia. Nothing like a several pound steel missile bouncing around the car in a T/A. It's worthless in the trunk and depending on location, SOME cops might construe it as a weapon.
I'm talking about from a work aspect....Fire engines/trucks don't have trunks......
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A roll of duct tape is handy to have also when doing this.
Tape the WHOLE window except one tiny spot before using the center punch on the tiny spot. All the broken glass will now be attached to the tape and can be discarded in a trash can rather than you sitting on it because it's all over the interior of your car. |
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An old spark plug works as well as a spring-loaded punch. We used to have an ex-convict named "Stanley" who we'd bring in to teach part of our Methods of Entry law enforcement class. It started out as part of his community service and then we later just paid him to come teach for a day or two. He taught us to palm a spark plug and then throw it top-first (wire connection top first) into the lowest corner of a car passenger window, prefereably a rear window away from any occupants. Very little mess because most of the glass falls straight down into the door. try just throwing a chard of the white part of a broken spark plug at a window. it won't break a front windshield, but it will shatter all of the others. just a tiny piece, like the size of a bb. -frank |
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When I was a kid in Germany all the city buses had these little red plastic hammers near the windows, and were for opening the emergency exit (the window). They worked very well, with almost no effort at all a tiny little tap will cause a safety glass window to bust into a bazillion pieces.
I have always called them bus hammers, but I have seen them for sale here, I seem to recall seeing them in drug stores. |
 found this from some cop selling a product called bust a cap. its a glass breaking end cap for mag lights and ASP Baton. This was the video to illustrate how hard glass is to break without using the proper tool. Be sure to watch all the way to the end. had the guy in green at 1:30ish fired his weapon he could have easily hit the other cop. |
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As a firefighter, we respond on calls like that all the time.
If it is summer, and a kid is in the car, we immediately break the window. We usually use an axe. Tape the window and pull it out in one piece. If it is winter, or the A/C is running, we have tools to break into the car without breaking anything. I have broken out hundreds of car windows. I don't know anybody that uses a centerpunch. I bought one years ago, but it fell apart. They do work very good on the side windows that are made of tempered glass. The front windshild is made of laminated glass. If we need to cut out the windshield we use a Sawzall or an axe. We had a class the other day saying that the side windows of new cars is now going to be made of laminated glass, so the centerpunch will no longer work. The guy in the original story should have broken a side window (made of tempered glass) |
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As a firefighter, we respond on calls like that all the time. If it is summer, and a kid is in the car, we immediately break the window. We usually use an axe. Tape the window and pull it out in one piece. If it is winter, or the A/C is running, we have tools to break into the car without breaking anything. I have broken out hundreds of car windows. I think that the axe may be one of the most under used and appreciated tools around. There are just so many cool excuses to use an axe. The world needs more axe action, thank you firemen for not forgetting this wonderful tool. |
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Quoted: Sounds like a slim jim would do you better. Why break their windows when you can jimmy open the lock? don't know how to use them really. I suppose it wouldn't be hard to learn, but i've heard you need different types for different cars. Also the whole being caught with a burglar tool and all that |
I've got one of these that lives in my truck. Cheap and it works. about 8" long http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&style=FE334&utm_source=081109-home&utm_medium=ga-homepage&utm_campaign=Secondary_FE334_081109 |
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An old spark plug works as well as a spring-loaded punch. We used to have an ex-convict named "Stanley" who we'd bring in to teach part of our Methods of Entry law enforcement class. It started out as part of his community service and then we later just paid him to come teach for a day or two. He taught us to palm a spark plug and then throw it top-first (wire connection top first) into the lowest corner of a car passenger window, prefereably a rear window away from any occupants. Very little mess because most of the glass falls straight down into the door. try just throwing a chard of the white part of a broken spark plug at a window. it won't break a front windshield, but it will shatter all of the others. just a tiny piece, like the size of a bb. -frank THESE You can pitch a small chunk of the insulator at a window and it will shatter. Very quietly too. Verified by me multiple times at the local junkyard (on cars that were just about to go in the crusher). Spring loaded centerpunch works well too. (also verified). Like someone else said, the chinese made ones fall apart and don't work. |
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I wouldn't mind buying one but I don't think I can justify the expense for the amount of use I would ever get out of it. |