Posted: 12/21/2007 3:14:25 PM EDT
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Anybody here could post about the do's and dont's of breaching with a shotgun. Angles, door knob vs. hitting the hinges. Ammo selections. Shotgun vs. Ram vs. Explosive breach (Det. cord) vs. "Window Crashing?" and how the situation dictates the selection of said method. And most of all, is it as fun as it looks  Questions, comments, but most of all, actual experiences please. 
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Powdered lead bags for the shotgun. Down ward on the lock, lower hinge, and up ward on the upper hinge. Ram hits the area right next to the door knob. If after a few hits the door does not give you hit the hinges. Doors that open out reguire the halligan tool. Plant, ram, leverage. Halligan tool on windows. Explosive charges attached to a cardboard cut out. You have it preset, place on the door, clear and blow. Being the ram is ok but you end up being the last man in and pull rear security. You also have to carry the damn thing around. Most guys who like it, love it, let them do it, same with shield guys. |
I saw a stainless steel doorknob with a huge dent in it from a ram once. Your description means the guys using it must have "missed" at least once. When I heard and felt it happening, they hit the door/doorknob at least three times to get it open. |
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For explosive breaching I always recommended using IV bags for tamping, It uses alot less det cord, and is safer since there is less explosive. It will not work on reinforced doors. But it does wonders on hollow core, and plywood doors. I will be happy to explain this technique in detial if you IM me. Other than that the detcord on the card board works well but it is a lot of detcord 20 ft+ compared to 8 ft, that creates alot of shards and other saftey issues. On reinforced doors just a 1/4 block of c-4 does wonders. Shottys I was taught tho go after the door knob first down and away from the jam if that fails hinges next. Rams are to heavy to move quickly and to much time in the funnel If you can't kick it down blow it down. just my experience |
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We use magnesium breaching rounds in our breaching shotguns. We shoot at a downward 45* angle slightly into the door frame for safety reasons. Last thing you want if you are doing a knock and announce is for someone to be near the door when you do the breach. Therefore the angle and direction. We teach going for the throw or the actual bolt. If you shoot enough doors you will find that it is easier to defeat the throw or bolt where it meets the frame or jamb. Often you can actually blow out the wood door frame that houses the female portion for the throw or bolt. If you go for the handle or lock mechanism, often times you can blow out the lock mechanism itself but the bolt or throw will remain intact. Secondary is the hinges. Very large thick industrial hinges have shown to take the full brunt of several rounds and still held tough. As far as the Door Buster (DB) or Ram is concerned we teach to use the door knob or dead bolt lock as an aim point. Nothing like hitting a door and having the ram bust a nice hole in the door. Solid exterior doors are not too bad but a hollow core or an old door can end up looking like Swiss cheese. I have been exposed to it but we do not have an explosive breaching policy, therefore we do not use it, so I don't feel qualified to comment on that. We seldom have the need to do pulls. We will do rake and brakes on windows for diversion or to get immediate guns in a room. This needs to be a well practiced technique as it can be cause serious issues for entry teams as well as the rake and break guys. |
I don't know if this topic should be discussed in open forum...sure much of it is already out there on the internet...but still, I am not sure it should be recycled. I have done numerous live breaches, mostly explosive...& yes, the door knob certainly becomes a missle hazard on th opposite side of the door. 
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I agree |
I like to use the bumper of my truck (I hope I didn't give away any OPSEC) 
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As far as the Halligan tool goes? Watch out when you buy them. Frank Brannigan, the master of forcible entry (FDNY for a bazillion years) made th follwoing observations which I agree with after years of using these tools: Lots of folks get these:  Take a look at the heads. They're pinned on. In adition, the fork end looks more like a wedge than a prybar. They're shit. They're normally referred to as "hooligan" tools, but that's not always a 100% indicator. You want to get one that looks like this:  The fork should curve like the natural angle of your hand and taper gently. The "pin on's" are too sharp an angle to get into jambs effectively - thus requiring more pounding and prying effort - work. You can get Halligans in Ti too.  Unfortunately, IIRC they're around $400  |
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The professional techniques discussed here are certainly worthy of discussion. Here is some expedient advice. I can assure you that just about any interior door can be easily kicked with a well placed stomp right next to the knob. Hollow core doors will simply snap in half from a good stiff two handed shove. As far as exterior home doors are concerned, the boot works well there too. One kick should do it for the spring latch. Two or three may be needed if there is a deadbolt. Many homes have the bolt mounted directly above the latch. These are easier to breach than if the bolt is mounted higher. (note to homeowners) Shouldering a door is easy too. If you need to do it quietly, hold the knob firmly while you apply force with your upper body. That will keep the door from flying inward when it gives way. The running start shit is for the movies. Don't attempt it unless you are desperate. In my experience, it is usually the jamb that gives way long before the lock or the door. These are useful techniques if you don't have tools or explosives. When attempting this type of brute force breach, it helps a lot if you are large, angry or both. |
Using a "mule kick" (face away from the door, lift the strong leg up until the thigh is parallel to the ground, then swing the leg back to plant the whole sole of the foot on the door) is the best way - your partner's shoulder/ vest/ LBE can give you something to stabilize you while you're kicking and since he's facing inwards he can watch your back. Gotta be careful using the ol' shoulder... I've seen cops and firefighters have to out out with shoulder separations after the door fought back. And I've seen smaller folks just bounce off. (lmao)  Another option that folks forget on apartment buildings... what's the stuff the walls are made out of? Drywall. Drywall fails a lot easier (and more quietly) than woods doors and frames. Just stay away from the stud space immediately adjacent to the knob side (where they tend to put things like light switches).
Word.  
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| Besides being dangerous as far as injury goes, using a shoulder to open a door or a forward kick is tactically unsound. Often times the person breaching the door will also have some type of limited penetration into the room and will often times have a less than ideal platform after this happens. They have a far greater chance of putting themselves in jeopardy and a far greater chance of holding up the guys set up for the entry. As far as hollow core doors go, I have seen many a person fail to defeat the jamb or the locking mechanism and have their foot go right through the door and get hung up. More bad juju. As mentioned a mule kick is a better kicking option. |
Kind of like OJ in one of the Naked Gun movies.
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Generally, yes and I believe that's due to municipal fire codes pertaining to commercial structures. It usually applies to marked public fire exits and not all doors. I have encountered many exceptions to this rule. It may also seem obvious but if you have a second to examine the door and the situation allows it, check to see if it is unlocked. That may seem dumb shit obvious, non-policy or not nearly as dramatic as a dynamic entry but I have seen a situation where a stacked team rammed an unlocked door. I'll reiterate that without tools, training or tactics, most inward opening residential doors are easily bulled. |
BTST. 
Agreed. One of the first mantras of forcible entry for the FD is "Try before you pry". But hey... it doesn't look as kewl or macho to simply walk up and open the door... 
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Any tactical entry team(s) worth anything will have their hux and ram guys near the breach point. Generally it is the hux guys job to check the status of the door and relay this info to the team leader and the team. This is pretty much status quo. Breaching an unlocked door isn't quite a white whale. Anyone who spends any good amount of time on tactical teams will experience this. Probably more than once or twice. And no I am not gonna explain that one. And no this isn't anymore opsec voodoo being negligently spread on the intarweb. |
  Somebody got carried away. Guy 1. "You think thats enough? Guy 2. "how much you got left?" Guy 1. "Not much." Guy 2. "Might as well use the rest of it then." |
Yeah, for me, the disappointing part is that they didn't continue with the breach after the blast. |
Fun stuff. I'm book edjimicayted on it, but lack range time. To do it right you need to do a lot of range time, and practice on different setups (steel door v. wood, etc) I gotta get my card renewed.
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You could ask a certain Remington MPD rep about destroying a sand house with a rather hefty charge on a military range. Well, so I hear. Water impulse charges are great, especially if you've got some hydrogel. On the other hand, minimum safe distance for 3 wraps of det is only about 12 feet. Look up hatten rounds. There are a lot of good breaching rounds out there. You might want to peruse the ALS Technologies website a while. If your team needs a place to train, let me know. We're cleared to 40 pounds on most ranges and have a breach wall with multiple doors that's good tgo 5 pounds a shot. |
I'm not sure but the building they're in looks an awful lot like the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy . If it is I'll bet the Academy staff loved that! lol |
That brings back fond memories.  Tried to tell my fire chief that 5 gallons of straight gasoline in a 12x12 three story smoke building was way to much. I still remember the laughs when the truck arrived and there was a 100x100 building pad encircled with flaming black spruce trees.  Sean |