We were not able to get a "Breeching round" for a shotgun, but my friend Blain had sent me a sample 12 gauge Brennke slug to test and this seemed like a good time to use it.

Here I am getting ready to test the shotgun.

This is the result.

It blew it to pieces!

This picture shows where we found the biggest piece of the lock, 50 feet behind the target.

This is the rest of the lock.

And here is a look from where we found it back to the target area.

2. Pistols won't shoot a lock off or even penetrate the lock.

3. Pistols are pistols and rifles are rifles. Enough said.

4. I now understand why our troops are often seen carrying "breeching shotguns" on their backs and a rifle in their hands. Shotguns will blow a lock off. Rifles will blow holes through a lock, but will not reliably shoot one off.

5. The rifles went through the locks with ease. It is obvious that you could "knaw" off the lock, little by little with a rifle, but a shotgun does it with one shot.

Ain't retirement great!

Thanks to Tman for taking the pictures and thanks again to DVDTracker for the sponsorship.

Addendum to The Locks O' Truth:
I am often asked the question: "Don't you know that the way you shot the locks is not the "best" way to break a lock?"

Answer: Of course I do. I was not trying to determine the "best" way to break a lock. To do that, the shooter should either shoot down onto the top of the lock body, or shoot the hasp itself.

What I was doing was testing the way locks are often shot in movies and TV shows to see if that would actually break or open the lock.

It so happens, that a few weeks ago I was watching the movie "Ronin" (a good one, BTW), and the bad guy was running down an alley trying to escape. He came to a locked gate. He pulled his 9mm pistol and shot the lock right in the body, just like I did.

The lock exploded and he made his escape.

I had to laugh.