Breaching round

A breaching round or slug-shot is a shotgun shell specially made for the purposes of door breaching. It is typically fired at a range of 6 inches (15 cm) or less, aimed at the hinges or the area between the doorknob and lock and door jamb, and is designed to destroy the object it hits and then disperse into a relatively harmless powder. [cite web |url=http://www.cqbsupply.com/doorbreaching.html |title=Door Breaching Rounds]

Design and construction

Breaching rounds, often called Disintegrator or Hatton rounds, are designed to destroy door deadbolts, locks and hinges without risking lives by ricocheting or by flying on at lethal speed through the door, as traditional buckshot can. These frangible rounds made of a dense sintered material, often metal powder in a binder such as wax, which can destroy a lock then immediately disperse. They are used by military and SWAT 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'. [One brand of breaching round, made by Royal Arms, uses the brand name "Avon" as well; see cite journal |url=http://www.special-operations-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=491 |title=The Shotgun Approach |author=Adam Geibel |journal=Special Operations Technology |date=May 25 |year=2004] . Breaching rounds may be used in a standard combat shotgun or riot shotgun, or in a specialized shotgun, often attached to a rifle, such as the KAC Masterkey or XM26 Lightweight Shotgun System.

Examples of breaching rounds are:
*The US Military M1030 breaching round, a 12 gauge 2¾ inch (70 mm) shell which uses a 1.4 ounce (40 g) projectile made of powdered steel, bound with wax. [cite web |url=http://www.asafm.army.mil/budget/fybm/fy08-09/sup/fy08/ammo.pdf |title=FY 2008 Global War On Terror Budget Estimate Submission Cost Adjustment, PROCUREMENT OF AMMUNITION, ARMY |author=Department of the Army] [cite web |url=http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellq.htm#shotgun |title=Miscellaneous Questions #17]
*The Clucas MoE Hatton Round, a 12 gauge 3 inch (76mm) magnum shell which uses a 50 gram (1.8 ounce) frangible projectile, consisting of a high density material in a plastic binder [cite web |url=http://www.clucas-moe.com/documents/Clucas%20Brochure.pdf |title=Clucas Brochure]

Though designed not to endanger people behind or around a door, a breaching round is easily lethal if fired directly at a human target. [cite web |url=http://www.cqbsupply.com/doorbreaching.html |title=Door Breaching Rounds]

References