Who here can honestly pick a SFIC BEST 7-pin lock?

by **Benji026** » 6 Nov 2004 16:26

I don't know about all of you but these seem impossible to me. Granted, I've only spent a total of 2 full hours trying to pick it so it's not like I've put in too much work but I find it incredibly frustrating when I slowly release tension to see how many pins I've picked and hear...7 clicks! I am clearly not good enough to know which shear line I'm at. Anyways...my question for those who have picked these is how would you rate the difficulty in opening these locks, and on average how long does it take you to open one of these? Thanks for all your replies, this forum is awesome.

by **Varjeal** » 6 Nov 2004 16:37

Hearing seven clicks means little. In fact, if it doesn't open it means mostly like what has happened is that you've picked a couple pins correctly, and have overset the rest.

by **bushd** » 6 Nov 2004 16:59

Never encounted a seven pin Best but I have a six pin and did defeat it - then again it isn't pinned that good.

by **CaptHook** » 6 Nov 2004 18:55

Ive picked several 6 pins unmounted, mounted takes some serious time for me. A 7 pin is do-able, but be prepaired to spend some time figuring the pattern to the sets.
Chuck

by **Benji026** » 6 Nov 2004 18:59

What is the difference in picking difficulty between a mounted lock and an unmounted lock? The only thing I can think of would be that there is more resistance to turning the cylinder after you've picked all the pins.

by **Buggs41** » 6 Nov 2004 19:41

When picking a mounted lock, you are fighting against the door frame, jam, moulding, etc.
You also have to contort your body to 'comfortable' position at the height the lock is mounted. At the same time, you have to apply tension to the plug. Many other obstacles are encountered there also.

by **Benji026** » 6 Nov 2004 21:43

You also have to contort your body to 'comfortable' position at the height the lock is mounted.

Thats what chairs are for! :wink:

by **thertel** » 6 Nov 2004 22:11

You say the chair as if you mean it jokingly, one lockie I know caries a collapsable stool in his van for just that reason. As for picking 7 pin Best SFIC's its not that hard once you spend more time practicing easier sfics, like the 5 pin and then the 6 pin. The reason being there are less pinstacks to deal with. I practice on & pin SFIC's daily because I find them extremely enjoyable to practice on. Wish I could get a hold of a 7 pin keymark cylinder cus that would be fun. Now I will admit that I find it much easier to pick the control shear then the operating shear line.

Keep practicing, it took over a week before I opened my first SFIC lock.

Thomas

by **seaker** » 6 Nov 2004 22:37

Did I read somewhere that there's a tension tool for best/sfic locks that makes it easier to pick all the pins at the same shearline? It looked like it had 3 notches to stick into the lock... Anybody know about what I speak of?

by **skold** » 6 Nov 2004 22:44

yes

sits in the rekeying holesand turns it a small amount so the tension is correct

by **Benji026** » 6 Nov 2004 23:15

Wish I could get a hold of a 7 pin keymark cylinder cus that would be fun.

I don't know what keymark means but I do know you can get 5, 6, or 7 pin Best SFIC lock on ebay. I also agree that chairs are really useful. No sense in breaking your back, not to mention picking is also easier.

by **TOWCH** » 6 Nov 2004 23:47

The only SFIC core I've ever played with was a 7 pin with spools. I spent too weeks on it and eventually gave up and shimmed it. I made the mistake of not using a plug follower and now have a somewhat useless Best padlock because I have no access to replacment springs.

by **seaker** » 7 Nov 2004 2:19

skold wrote:yes

sits in the rekeying holesand turns it a small amount so the tension is correct

Nice, thanks! The only thing I'm unclear on is with that tool how do you know which shear line you're on?

I'm gonna take another look but I haven't seen sites selling those best tension tools.... I checked southord & a few others... Anyone know where to grab one? I've been eager to learn more about Best SFICs but cautious & slow as I'm a pretty big n00b... thanks for your help

by **CaptHook** » 7 Nov 2004 2:35

The chambers on a typical sfic go through the shell, the control sleeve and the plug (designed so the stacks and springs can be loaded from the top then capped). A tension wrench in the plug only, creates a turning force on the plug only (unless the core is new :wink:

). The sfic wrench, goes through the chamber bores in the plug and allow you to put turning pressure on the plug and the control sleeve at the same time.

Chuck

by **seaker** » 7 Nov 2004 2:42

So by turning the plug & control sleeve and picking the pins that would be the control shear line and the lock would pop out? How bout the operating shear line? People were saying if you just put in a regular tension wrench you're gonna end up picking some pins @ the control shearline & some @ the operating shearline so the tension tool is for the control shearline only?

Who here can honestly pick a SFIC BEST 7-pin lock?

Who here can honestly pick a SFIC BEST 7-pin lock?

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