Breaching tools

[SCSU74]

Soooo had a welfare check the other night that ended up with me kicking the door in. It was a metal apartment door with two deadbolts. I ended up hurting my knee in the process and am now looking for input on other ways of forcing entry through an inward opening door (these are the majority that I've come across). I was thinking a sledge would get the job done, but wanted to see what y'all thought. Thanks in advance!

[mookster]

Ample amounts of C4 works for breaching. Or, blackhawk sells a breaching tool kit. Breaching, I feel like a SWAT guy with as many times as I said breaching in this post.

[SCSU74]

Haha. Could rename it better way to smash down a door without injury. Breaching seemed easier

[Resq14]

The Fire Department

[jnhdrac]

For the first 20 years of my career I was involved in 2 exigent circumstance forced enties. Over the last 4 years, it has been 2 per year. The big problem is that in my agency, we receive basically no training on how to get through doors. There seems to be an assumption that patrol officers do not need to be able to do this. We actually have some breaching tools in the district, and as of last month, a few guys were actually taken out and trained how to use them, which is a better situation than existed previously, but not by much.

[Kieth M.]

If your department is cash-strapped (and who isn't these days?) breaching tools have also been available, at times, on the DLA (DRMO) government surplus website. Otherwise, raid your evidence/property room for sledgehammers, crowbars, bolt-cuttters, etc.

[KenW.]

I used to serve evictions a few years ago. There was no door that could keep me, and my sledge hammer out.

[SCSU74]

I used to serve evictions a few years ago. There was no door that could keep me, and my sledge hammer out.

What kind/size hammer did you use? I'm leaning towards a 12#. We force 2-3 doors a month, wears on the knees haha

[SCSU74]

The Fire Department

Good lord, be waiting all night for them to finish their dinner and video games

[KenW.]

What kind/size hammer did you use? I'm leaning towards a 12#. We force 2-3 doors a month, wears on the knees haha

I don't know. 8-10 lbs maybe? Got more use from my Stanley Fubar demolition hammer. easier to carry too.

For doors without deadbolts, knock off the knob and manipulate the bolt with your multitool.
if you have deadbolts, hit it really hard with the sledge and splinter the jamb.

My court orders usually said to "enter the dwelling using the least detructive means necessary".

The plaintiff would often spring for a locksmith. Then you have to consider their safety when someone might be barricaded inside to keep from being kicked out. Good times!

[Seventy2002]

The New York Fire Department's Forcible Entry Reference Guide will tell you what you need.

[adeutch]

The problem I've run into with sledgehammers is where you're in a space too tight to get a decent sideways swing.

[Krell]

Halligan Bar



Not just for firefighters. See if your agency has one, could be convinced to get one, or at the very least get one yourself and talk to the firefighters on how to use one to make entry. You'd be surprised how much quicker you can get in a door when you're pulling it with the metal duckbill pry as opposed to simply pounding at it.

[Rush817]

I keep a Blackhawk ram and a halligan bar in my Tahoe. I encourage all my guys to keep some type of breaching tool in their vehicle. You'd be surprised at what you can get from the property clerk if you just asked. Stuff the would just get tossed anyways.

[merlin436]

I've seen some pretty impressive "homemade" battering rams.

It's fairly low tech...all you need is a good chuck of heavy steel about 30 inches long or so, a head on one or both ends, and some handles to pick the thing up with. Any decent metalworker ought to be able to weld one up.

[SCSU74]

Halligan Bar



Not just for firefighters. See if your agency has one, could be convinced to get one, or at the very least get one yourself and talk to the firefighters on how to use one to make entry. You'd be surprised how much quicker you can get in a door when you're pulling it with the metal duckbill pry as opposed to simply pounding at it.

all our FD crews have one, they wont come up/in until the scene is secure though. they generally stage down the street. Aren't the halligans pretty pricey?

[halfacop]

I've seen some pretty impressive "homemade" battering rams.

It's fairly low tech...all you need is a good chuck of heavy steel about 30 inches long or so, a head on one or both ends, and some handles to pick the thing up with. Any decent metalworker ought to be able to weld one up.

Fence Post Driver from the Tractor Supply or local DIY Store.



Small bag of concrete to fill the tube and your GTG. Works great and is cheap and easy to manufacture - ask me how I know... : )

[Krell]

all our FD crews have one, they wont come up/in until the scene is secure though. they generally stage down the street. Aren't the halligans pretty pricey?

http://www.thefirestore.com/store/ca...ans-Pry-Tools/

High-end ones around $400 but you can get some for less than $200

[merlin436]

I saw an impressive "homemade" ram in Montana a few years back.

It was made from a 3 foot section of railroad track and either end had bolt holes drilled for the purpose of attaching whatever sort of head, blade or accessory one could dream up and make. There were four fold-away, drop handles attached. It weighed a good 150 pounds.

2-4 guys swinging the thing would pop just about any door I've seen. Heck, they could have skipped the doors and breached the walls with that monster.

[TheTick]

What everyone else said.

Plus, if you HAVE to kick a door, Mule kick it.

[SCSU74]

What everyone else said.

Plus, if you HAVE to kick a door, Mule kick it.

That's how I hurt my knee haha

[ChiTownDet]

Ram, 20-25 lb. Sledge, Chicago bar will about cover any doors, burglar gates, steel doors. When I worked one unit we must have did about 100 forced entries on just about evry type of door.

[bigcitypolice06]

Sledge hammer, halligan, bolt cutters and a Dead On Annihilatorcsuper hammer.

http://www.google.com/search?q=dead+...Z3mdDsoAu8zLM:

[stuckiniraq81]

We had a pretty big apartment fire in my area last year and I used a Halligan to get through the doors, even used it like a battering ram a couple times. Worked very well.

[ateamer]

A Stanley FUBAR Fat Max demolition tool is a good prybar and can also rip a lot of door knobs right off the door.