They shot off my lock

[EddieWalker]

A couple months ago I did some work on my back entrance. I widened it, added drainage and regraded it with my dozer.

The dirt is exposed and with all the rains, it's pretty muddy.

The other day I was out riding on my fourwheeler and noticed my no tresspassing sign was missing. I got off my bike to take a closer look and noticed my lock had been shot off and put back on to look like it was still alright.

The road is clean with no tracks or sign of anybody coming in, so i'm thinking it was done for some future attempt to come in.

 

[EddieWalker]

As you can see, they shot it three times. The lock is made by Master and I can change the combo with a little key in the side. The only reason I can think of shooting it three times was to get it to open.

The gate is on a County Road that gets a fair amount of traffic, so I would think they were in a hurry and wouldn't shoot any more rounds than they had to.

 

[EddieWalker]

Here's a closup of the lock that shows the entry holes real good.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( i'm thinking it was done for some future attempt to come in. )</font>

That could very well be the case, although I think sometimes they do that just to see if they can. I know when we were living in Navarro County, our neighbor had two locks shot that way. One was on a gate to 27 acres adjoining our place and no reason for anyone to want to go in there. The other was on a gate to Corps of Engineers property around the lake that the neighbor had leased, and while vehicles were not allowed in, anyone could walk in to hunt or fish.

 

[srs]

Eddie, not knowing how strong your padlocks are but Medeco makes some of the strongest locks in the industry. Check out their web site at http://www.medeco.com/products/products.php

They certainly cost more but like anything else you get what you pay for. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[DKinWA]

I work with a lot of foresters and I've been shown a multitude of ways that trespassers use to get through locked gates. Personally, I'm surprised they wasted the ammo on a lock when there's so many other quieter and quicker ways to get past a lock. If I think of it this week, I'll get some pictures of gates and lock setups the timber companies use to prevent timber theft and illegal dumping.

 

[JimR]

That's not good if somebody is shooting things on your property. You may want to make sure your carrying when out that way. You never know who you might run into out there.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I'd believe it was more about the lock being a target than gaining entry.

I don't know why it is but there seems to be something in the immature male that has to shoot something if he has a gun in his hand. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Especially if that something is shiny, pretty, and small.

I'll bet your lock was shot from about fifty feet by one or more young males out "hunting". Someone asked if another could and a point was made. If the lock blended in enough to where it would be hard to sight in on it would probably still be intact and you wouldn't feel violated. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In fact I'll bet if we had the perps in the conversation they'd admit to not seeing the lock as personal property as such being destroyed. It was just there, a target, like an insulator on the power pole, a blue jay sitting on a limb, a street sign, a beer or coke bottle on the ground, etc.

The next time you're by the shop check out the system I've made to keep our locks from being cut. I've been doing them that way for years. The only downside is the serious crooks just drive through or pull down the gate to get access.

 

[markct]

only in texas.... i always heard it was like another country! around here whenever shots are fired outa season theres atleast three yuppie city transplants that call the police within five minutes, then the cops come ask ya if ya were shooting safe, look at your backstop and leave. around here its bolt cutters ya gota protect against, a sleeve of pipe works nicely around the lock, so only the end is accessible, makes it near impossible to cut, i know cause once we broke the key off in on lock and couldnt get it out and i had a heck of a time with a torch trying to cut the lock up in there. the problem with the best locks and hardest super duper alloy shackles is that while they may break a quality pair of bolt cutters, they are no match for the new 18 volt cordless angle grinders, with an abrasive cuttoff wheel you can cut basicly anything metal, im sure these will be the tools of crooks in no time to replace bolt cutters

 

[Dargo]

That's just crappy! I've had the same thing happen before. As you likely know, there isn't a padlock that will stop an armor piercing 30-06, 7.62, 308, or even a 7mm. It looks like one of those calibers were responsible for your lock. I have a friend who is a cop and someone shot the lock off the entrance to some property he owned. He just replaced the lock and put some "stop sticks" about 20 feet inside his drive, covered with leaves. Yup, he got 'em. He even got the call of a a car driving down the road with 4 flats! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Unfortunately, he couldn't really prove anything, but they never came back! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif