Next time someone in a movie or TV blows a padlock off a door or fence with their gun so as to effect entry or escape — consider it as authentic as automobiles turning into firebombs at the drop of a hat. The reality is a lot more prosaic. No surprise there.
(It’s worth going to the page to see the demo photos, but the “lessons learned” are listed here below the fold.)
Lessons learned:
1. “How hard is it to shoot off a lock?” Answer: Very hard.
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.
And now you know.