1st Recon Conducts Breaching Exercise 140610-M-ED261-003

A breaching round or slug-shot is a

shotgun shell A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub- projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

specially made for

door breaching Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., ...

. It is typically fired at a range of 6 inches (15 cm) or less, aimed at the hinges or the area between the

doorknob A door handle or doorknob is a handle used to open or close a door. Door handles can be found on all types of doors including exterior doors of residential and commercial buildings, internal doors, cupboard doors and vehicle doors. There are many ...

and

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

and

doorjamb A jamb (from French ''jambe'', "leg"), in architecture, is the side-post or lining of a doorway or other aperture. The jambs of a window outside the frame are called “reveals.” Small shafts to doors and windows with caps and bases are known ...

, and is designed to destroy the object it hits and then disperse into a relatively harmless powder.

Design and construction

Breaching rounds are designed to destroy door

deadbolt A dead bolt, deadbolt or dead lock is a locking mechanism distinct from a spring bolt lock because a deadbolt can only be opened by a key or handle. The more common spring bolt lock uses a spring to hold the bolt in place, allowing retraction ...

s, and

hinge A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation: all other ...

s without risking lives by

ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

ing or by flying on at lethal speed through the door, as traditional

buckshot A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired throu ...

can. These

frangible round Frangible bullets are intended to disintegrate into tiny particles upon target impact to minimize their penetration of other objects. Small particles are slowed more rapidly by air resistance, and are less likely to cause injury or damage to perso ...

s are made of a dense sintered material, often metal powder in a binder such as wax, which can destroy a lock or hinge and then immediately disperse. They are used by military and

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

teams to quickly force entry into a locked room. Amongst police, these rounds are nicknamed " master keys", and their use is known as "Avon calling", alluding to the Avon brand of cosmetics which was sold door-to-door. Ideally, breaching rounds may be used in a standard

combat shotgun A combat shotgun is a shotgun issued by militaries for warfare. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns issued in World War I. While limited in range, the multiple projectiles typically us ...

riot shotgun A riot shotgun is a shotgun designed or modified for use as a primarily defensive weapon, by the use of a short barrel and sometimes a larger magazine capacity than shotguns marketed for hunting. The riot shotgun is used by military personnel fo ...

, or in a specialized shotgun, often attached to a rifle, such as the

KAC Masterkey The Masterkey is a door breaching shotgun system manufactured by Knight's Armament Company. The Masterkey project was initiated during the 1980s to provide assault rifles with a potent built-in door breaching tool. Individual soldiers were oft ...

M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System The M26-MASS (Modular Accessory Shotgun System) is a shotgun configured as an underbarrel ancillary weapon attachment mounted onto the handguard of a service rifle, usually the M16 rifle, M16/M4 carbine, M4 family of Military of the United States, ...

. The most effective use of this round is with a "stand-off breacher" attached to the muzzle of a specially converted shotgun. The stand-off is held on the surface of the door and vents gases to prevent overpressure. Though designed not to endanger people behind or around a door, a breaching round is easily lethal if fired directly at a human target. Examples of breaching rounds: * Royal Arms has made the TESAR round for over 25 years using a frangible copper slug of various weights and configurations, with different loads for different applications. It is used by many military and law enforcement agencies around the world. * The US military M1030 breaching round is a 12-

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

, shell that uses a projectile made of powdered steel, bound with

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

. * The Clucas Method of Entry Hatton round is a 12-gauge, magnum shell that uses a frangible projectile, consisting of a high-density wax binder. *Firequest makes a 12 gauge 2 3/4 frangible slug named the door breaching cartridge. The slug consists of copper and tin powder.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breaching Round Paramilitary cartridges Shotgun shells