5 pin Schlage help...

[mrpicky]

After reading as much as I could find, after watching general lock picking videos, after practicing on a couple of padlocks, I am completely unable to pick my basic 5 pin Schlage. I'm new to this whole thing, I think it's a valuable skill, so I'd very much like to learn.

After raking or individual pin picking, I can feel all of the pins stay down. I'm going wrong somewhere because it just wont turn. Is there anything special I should know about this lock? Any particular pick that would work a little better than others? How much pressure should I be applying on the wrench?

Any tips at all would be great.

Thanks!
-Derrick-

[Shrub]

Click the picture on my post and look for the beginners exorcise by digital blue, this should help you a lot,

[Bud Wiser]

Welcome Derrick,

the schlage is no push over. After 2 months I still can not pick it conistantly the way I can with all my other locks. I can pick locks with security pins easier then my schlage and it has no security pins!

So even though I can pick it on a good day, I will let other more experienced members give you advice. As mine may not be the best.

[I Pik U]

Schlage locks have always been tough for me in over 20+ years. Their newer F series residential grade locks are easier, but the good old A series and similar are a hard pick. On a lockout, I wont spend too much time on them, just drill and replace the cylinder.

[fomoose]

I started working on a Schlage after making fairly short work of a Kwikset deadbolt (with the help of Digital Blue's lesson plan). I can do fairly well with the Schlage when it only has three pins in it (I should also confess that I replaced the spools with vanilla drivers). My biggest problem after adding more pins is that the keyway has a narrow, zig zag shape that makes maneuvering inside the lock extremely difficult. I've seen a number of posts that mention this problem and that many commercial picks are too thick to get you where you need to go.

I'm not sure if this applies to your situation since I don't know exactly which lock you're working with or what you have for picks. Thought this observation might be helpful, at any rate.

[mrpicky]

It's a basic SC1. It can be easily bumped, but I just can't get through it with my standard picks. I suppose more practice is in order.

-Derrick

[Romstar]

The biggest problem with the Schlage, and I don't know if this is intentional or just plain sloppy workmanship is that you have about three pins set, and you go for the fourth, and the first three fall down.

All locks have one pin that sets before the others, and once you find this, you find the next one and so forth. This is where the Schlage is going to get you, because the one you think sets first almost always is the pin you should be setting second.

I know it sounds like I am going in circles, but I am not.

Basically the pin chamber for this stack is drilled in such a way that is causes the plug to move back just a bit when you are lifting the pins. So if you find that there is one pin thats always resetting the lock, set that pin first, then set your original first choice and so on.

Tension on the Schlage should be light to medium and the more you pick these locks, the more you learn to guage when you should increase and decrease the tension.

Keep at it, and soon enough you will get that lock. Try picking it when you aren't really paying any attention to it. One of the best assets in this hobby is something called "muscle memory". The more you repeat an action, the more your body will remember that action. You would be amazed to see how many carpentry framers all swing a hammer the same way because thats how they have done it all the time, but the moment you put them near sheet metal and tell them to shape it, its a disaster because they always hit the metal too hard.

The same applies here. Let your body learn at the same time your mind learns. You'll get it.

Romstar

[pH]

I'm pretty much a beginner and I was very inconsistent with the Schlage SC1 until I got a set of Peterson picks. When I use the Peterson hook I have become very consistant with this lock. Of course, I only have 1, so there's only so many ways I can pin it Just my experience

[vividdemise]

Ok I work at a large Apartment complex and we use this deadbolt on all are apartment doors. now I was and kinda still am hung up on picking these. we have locks laying all over so whene i get board ill grap one and pick it... this weekend I had my boss pin me 3 locks just for me to pick. I have made it thou 2 of them and the trick to this is pin order I found that after getting the order of the frist 4 the 5th gets bound up will a quick relise of tesion + push on the pin then push tesion bar back it opens this has to be done fast and the relise of tesion has to be light so the pin unbinds and the others still stay up.. i dont know if this will help but i hope it dose... and on this 3ed lock he gave me i cant get it for nothing.. every thing i try i fail.. im woundering if you pined it so it cant turn at all no key so...

[Romstar]

Ok I work at a large Apartment complex and we use this deadbolt on all are apartment doors. now I was and kinda still am hung up on picking these. we have locks laying all over so whene i get board ill grap one and pick it... this weekend I had my boss pin me 3 locks just for me to pick. I have made it thou 2 of them and the trick to this is pin order I found that after getting the order of the frist 4 the 5th gets bound up will a quick relise of tesion + push on the pin then push tesion bar back it opens this has to be done fast and the relise of tesion has to be light so the pin unbinds and the others still stay up.. i dont know if this will help but i hope it dose... and on this 3ed lock he gave me i cant get it for nothing.. every thing i try i fail.. im woundering if you pined it so it cant turn at all no key so...

Its possible he stuck a full depth pin in there and violated the MACS so that would give you an extreme high low high situation where you can't even lift the deep pin.

Otherwise, that is some good advice on the Schlage.

They look pretty basic, but they can be a bit of a bear from time to time.

You want to have some real fun, find one of the really cheap kwiksets or something similar with a plastic cylinder. They are normally found in key in knob sets, but they do exist. Yes, I did say plastic cylinder, and they are a pain in the ass because its junk plastic and the tactile response is just horrible.

Keep at it and good luck.

Romstar

[Bud Wiser]

Does any one know what a Schlage BR260/BR262 Dead Bolt is? Is it a A series, F series, or some thing else? The package it came in says light commercial exterior/interior doors, offices, light retail.

I also have a bunch of LSDA Schlage commercial cylinders too.

Both of these are hard to pick, although I have picked the BR260 on good days. I recently purchased a practice cutaway schlage which was just too easy! It was nothing like the real schlage's I have.

How do the two commercial schlage locks I have compare to the residential series?

thanks.

[Romstar]

The Schlage 260 is a standard grade 2 light comercial duty dead bolt.

The LSDA Grade 2 is superior in almost every way, from its construction to it duribility, and it has the added feature of being significantly less expensive to purchase. This allows the installer a greater profit margin while maintaining interoperability with other installed locks on the premesis.

The 260 suffers from a few problem, not the least of which is failure of the bolt actuator tails as well as corrosion and overall poor construction.

Even though the Schlage has been considered for a number of years as a high quality lock, after the purchase by Ingersol-Rand, the quality of the product went down considerably.

Many of Schlage's lever sets suffer from similar material and construction problems, and their cost versus their overly high failure rate make them more of a problem than a solution. Unfortunately for the locksmith, this brand still enjoys great popularity making it necessary to carry several in stock.

For your purposes in picking, I would say that the cylinders are not significantly different and you should have similar experiences picking the real Schlage vs. the LSDA version of the same.

Romstar

[LockNewbie21]

Schlages are easy you just put tension on the top.. for some reason there easier.

If oyu use reg picks... you should grind them to 3/4 of the orginal size. Light tension from top plus thinner hook.. very easy.

Yet theres always ones that suck.. but ehh there jsut like ladies..

Either way practice makes perfect.. but be mindful of your tools if there not right it won;t work.. or atleast very good.

Kinda like susbtituting milk for gas in your car... yes your car wil be healthy with all the calcium... but won't run.

[Bud Wiser]

Schlages are easy you just put tension on the top.. for some reason there easier.

If oyu use reg picks... you should grind them to 3/4 of the orginal size. Light tension from top plus thinner hook.. very easy.

Yet theres always ones that suck.. but ehh there jsut like ladies..

Either way practice makes perfect.. but be mindful of your tools if there not right it won;t work.. or atleast very good.

Kinda like susbtituting milk for gas in your car... yes your car wil be healthy with all the calcium... but won't run.

well I wouldn't go so far as saying their easy. I can pick master and brinks with security pins faster and consistantly! I can pick the schlage on a good day, but purely by luck! As there doesn't seem to be a consistant method that works for me any way

If I was a lockie and I see a schlage, I would pull out my trusty drill before even trying to pick the thing. And enjoy demolishing it to smithereens

Any way I have a slim peterson pick, and all the room in the world in the key way! I still can not seem to get it *when I want to*, frustrating. I've run across similar experiences with very cheap made in China locks from dollar stores too. I can use the tension on top of the key way on some locks, but on the schlage it slips off too easily. But finding a good tension for the bottom is no prob. Working the pins in this zig zag key way is not prob either. After that it's pot luck for me. Like I said, on a good day I can pick it in a few minutes. Most times however I give up.

This must be another example of security by obscurity!

[LockNewbie21]

Lol there not a hard lock buddy.

I have pinned them as hard as i can 29192 with 4 spools, and its all the same man.

Okay heres how to do it.

You take a wrench... or a southord pick... anyone but a hook.

Grind on end down to an L so the size of the lock, then take you hook and seirously you saw how thin my homemades are, then apply a medium tension to the top of the lock.

If you make you tensioner right it should not fall out.. Meanign jsut make your own peterson flat 5s are sexy.. but not for 35 or 40 dollars for 5 peices of scrap steal its no nessesary.


Then with your thinned pick slide it under neither each pin, the one binding will not budge when slip so your pick will have to go around push this up until it opens.. or false set.


Then let off the tension slightly and feel for the false sets. If you puch it up and the cylinder looks like it reset, rule of thumb, First pin is always a regular pin.

If you did not over set push up the first pin, your false set should be back if not restart.


And honestly with most locks other than M1 KW1 and Y1, meanign the sh*tty ones. you will need to master using a wrench in the top of the warding.

Besides that the feel is better.. and if it slips, then its not made right, rethink the concpet.. and remake.


Ii like buying some tools.. like possibly the new lockmaster becuase the look cool and I am american so i overindulge in unnessisary items.


But honetly if you learn to make homemade tools.. you'll notice as they get better... they take the place of every bought tool. Hnad pick wise.


Peterson has strong steel.. and i gave them a pat on the back, SO..well barry's a cheat NDA's scare him.

Make your own and save shipping