Can you use a lockpickgun on a European lock?

by **Dutch** » 19 Nov 2003 14:12

Hello people,

I have been wanting to order a lockpick gun from southord, but I live in europe, and as you probaly know the locks are "upsidedown" here, meaning that the pins are ate the bottom and not at the top as in North-America.

So will lockpick guns work on them? Do I just hold the gun upside down?

And which lockpickgun would you recommend?

I am eagerly awaiting your reply's fella's.

by **Varjeal** » 19 Nov 2003 14:18

A lockpick gun should work on European pin tumbler locks. The problem is that, like you questioned, would have to hold the gun upside in order to work it properly.

In cases like that I would probably recommend using an electric one which would be easier to hold onto than a manual one in those cases.

Hope that helps.

by **lockrabbit** » 20 Nov 2003 5:00

Pickgun will not work well on upsidedown locks. Keypins will not fall down as in "rightsidup" locks. That give you only one chance per driverpin that goes down a bit. So, it will cause more problems than that you must have the pickgun upsidedown.

by **Chubby** » 20 Nov 2003 5:37

Dutch: I can confirm that you can use a pick gun on european profile cylinders, however the european keyways are so restricted that it is possible that the picks will not fit under the bottom pins correctly, more often than not the choice of the correct pick blade can decide the difference between succes & failure , with an electric pick gun you could 1.damage the lock, 2.damage the pick.The pick blades in the US are too broad for european keyways in my opinion, if you do decide to order an electric pick I would seriously suggest that you also order spare pick blades, they do break, and quite often that's normal when you are first starting out. Using a pick gun also requires skill so be prepared to become frustrated until you have accquired those skills.
And yes you just hold the pick gun upside down!... :wink:

by **Varjeal** » 20 Nov 2003 10:59

Chubby: Thanks for clarifying on the electric pick gun..I should have mentioned that. As always with ANY kind of pickgun, always start at the lowest setting and work your way up.

by **lockrabbit** » 20 Nov 2003 18:31

Good luck. There is a reson why the locks are mounted upsidedown.

by **Chubby** » 20 Nov 2003 19:13

Good luck. There is a reson why the locks are mounted upsidedown.

So that anyone visiting from Australia will feel at home?... :shock:

by **lockrabbit** » 22 Nov 2003 14:21

Chubby wrote:
Good luck. There is a reson why the locks are mounted upsidedown.

So that anyone visiting from Australia will feel at home?...

Of course not...ItÂ´s becouse the gravity only work in the down direction... :wink:

by **Chubby** » 22 Nov 2003 14:48

Electric/gun picks, work on the snooker/pool ball principle, gravity has nothing to do with the operation...that is why they work on upside down european profile locks...or right way up or side way's!...

by **Dutch** » 23 Nov 2003 6:33

Thanks for all the reply's people, it really helped me alot.

I am planning on ordering one from southord but I don't know which one, so I hoped you could give me some good advice.

Here are the ones i'm interested in:

E100HO Electric Lock Pick (4.5 Volt)

It say's there are 2 versions of that pick gun, ill quote the description below.

The E100C and E100HO Electric Lock Picks feature aluminum and hard steel construction. Unlike other electrics, the E-Series Picks are powered by conventional Ni-Cad or Alkaline â€œCâ€ cell batteries, so you never need worry about replacing expensive battery packs or throwing the tool away when it will no longer take a charge. Includes four picking needles, three tension tools, and two adjustment wrenches.

The other pickgun I'm intereste in is this one:

Snap Gun Lock Picks

I'll quote the description.

The snap gun was developed decades ago to allow police officers who were not skilled in the art of lock picking to open locks with minimal instruction. Rather than opening locks by the traditional raking techniques, a snap gun uses a primary law of physics, the transfer of energy, to compromise locks. Comes with picking needles, tension tool and instructions.

So which one to buy? The E100C looks good to me, but I would like some feedback and advice before I order it.

Thanks for the reply's guy's.

by **Zelgadis** » 23 Nov 2003 8:29

Both electric lock pick and the snap gun lock pick work fine.

With the electric pick gun itÂ´s easier and faster to open locks but itÂ´s more expensive.

The snap gun is a bit more difficult to learn to use and you will need more tries to get a lock open in some cases, but itÂ´s cheaper.

My suggestion is that if you are not going to use it for professional purposes you get the snap gun.

by **lockrabbit** » 24 Nov 2003 1:56

Chubby wrote:Electric/gun picks, work on the snooker/pool ball principle, gravity has nothing to do with the operation...that is why they work on upside down european profile locks...or right way up or side way's!...

You can not reach the keypins if they have fall down a bit, as the do when you have set a driverpin halfway.... In rightsideup locks, keypins will fall down and make it possible to shot again on the driverpin if i was set to low.

Try to play pool with only one ball!!!

by **Chubby** » 24 Nov 2003 13:05

Ahhhh! now I understand lockrabbit, you don't have a pick gun do you! and I very much doubt if you have ever used one.
European profile cylinders were designed to be used 'pin-up' but in some cases are used 'pin-down' to accomodate the specific lock that they are installed into, now if we were to go with your theory:

"You can not reach the keypins if they have fall down a bit, as the do when you have set a driverpin halfway.... In rightsideup locks, keypins will fall down and make it possible to shot again on the driverpin if i was set to low."

you could assume (because that is what your doing) that if the cylinder was 'pin-down' that the pick will not work because the drive pins "fall down a bit"...
The driver pins are forced against the bottom pins by a spring, in case you had not noticed, and unlike manual picking you have to alternate the tension on the plug whilst using your pick gun ie: tension on, tension off. And if you don't know the basics in using these tools because you have never used one it's no wonder you are not having any success. Have a look at the MIT guide again and review "How a lock works" and get back to basics, all you have done here is confused the issue as regards to Dutch's question, and he now has two different answers, but the only real difference between the two is "You THINK you know what you are talking about!" and "I KNOW what I am talking about!"
If however you DO have a pick gun post us a picture I for one would be interested what it is you are basing these claims on...
P.S If you want to guess at something in the future please make it clear that is what you are doing from the start off..you are entitled to your opinion but your realy going to confuse other people with your misinformation and the result is not helping anybody!
Dutch I agree with Zelgadis above, but at the end of the day it's all down to personal preferences....

by **lockrabbit** » 25 Nov 2003 22:36

Sorry for the bad quality. I didnt found other places to place my picture I made...

I hope this will explain what i mean.. And what why they mount the locks upsidedown.

I have some homemade pickguns,one snapgun from brockhage and an elektric from HPC (rechargeable). First time I read MIT - Guide was in 96 or something. I have even translated that one to Swedish... Ok, my english could be better, but I know what Im doing.

by **jason** » 29 Nov 2003 10:06

I've got the HPC electric pick gun - it works fine on the euro profile locks (by which I assume that we are talking about those which mount into a lockcase which is usually fitted into an aluminium framed shop type door or double glazed UPVC type domestic door with multipoint locking).

I had the Majestic lock aid gun - works OK but it's a bit slow - it can be a bit awkward (meaning really bloody difficult) to use it upside down where these locks are mounted correctly and the door handle gets in the way of the manual pick gun).

Don't rely on either, I prefer to use manual picks when time isn't of the essence, and if it isn't opened in 5 minutes, I use the pick gun and if it hasn't opened in 3 minutes I consider the other techniques (rap keys - letterbox tool) before picking up either my snapper or drill. The last two are only used as last resorts and only in certain circumstances.

Hope that helps

Jason

Can you use a lockpickgun on a European lock?

Can you use a lockpickgun on a European lock?

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