Good medium tier locks to try?

[spartans_will]

Hi guys,
apologies if I missed a previous topic on this:

So then. I've been picking for around a year now on my ever-growing collection of pin and tumbler locks. I've seen people recommend the Master 05, Master 140, Master 911, and Master 570 to start with and those suggestions have been great. These were great beginning locks that taught me SPP well.

So now I'm trying to find what is considered by the lock picking community to be a middle-tier lock - hard but not impossible to an amateur. What could I try next that isn't Abloy/Best/Medeco and way beyond my skillset at this point? (I bought a Medeco 4pin biaxial cam off of Ebay to try anyway, as futile as that probably will be : / )

Thanks for any help/suggestions,
sw

[Divinorum]

I would suggest some American Lock padlocks. They have serrated key pins and spoolrated driver pins (serrated spool hybrid). They can be re-keyed and and you can also add a sixth pin for more difficulty. I transitioned from masters and knockoff padlocks to American Padlocks before attempting anything IC or high security and it definitely shows. Not all Americans can be re-keyed so make sure you buy a re-key able one. Good luck!

[Picking_Newb]

Go buy one of these. I know it looks like a normal disc lock, but this thing is a giant pain. Pretty sure it has security pins. I can pick master locks all day long, and 5 pin kwiksets and schlages, but I have not gotten this one yet. If you buy one and are able to pick it, let me know.

[URL=http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/oribit85/media/Mobile%20Uploads/21F36C4C-D767-47DF-B77A-2DAD07941A57_zpssyxqmpnv.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/ag366/oribit85/Mobile%20Uploads/21F36C4C-D767-47DF-B77A-2DAD07941A57_zpssyxqmpnv.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Picking_Newb]

[Harry Tuttle]

Maybe a Brinks R70... spool pins + springy counter-tension.

[KPick]

Hmmm. Make you're own home made pins, and place them inside of a Schlage lock. That should keep you busy for a good amount of time. I remember the difficulty of the lock greatly increased after I completely rekeyed the whole lock with about 10 security pins.

10 from making my own key pins and driver pins.

[spartans_will]

Nice, this is exactly what I was looking for - thanks guys
-sw

[Barthel]

Try to get Hands on a 72/40 Abus may work as well, (6 Pins, 5 Spools) but you can Strip it and interchange it with American Lock Cylinders, I Had my Abus, opend it, removed 3 Pins, and added subsequentially Pins/Spools/serrated/Mushrooms as i progressed ...

guess that's teh best way learning on a Padlock... put the Pins where you need them

[sail2steam]

Brinks padlocks are full of spools. One particular padlock that is no longer found in stores, or at least any I've seen, is the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can still pick them up on eBay from time to time. It's a great lock to cut your teeth on spools.

At the time of this writing, there is at least one on eBay. Just search for "Brinks shrouded".

[buddykiller]

Brinks padlocks are full of spools. One particular padlock that is no longer found in stores, or at least any I've seen, is the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can still pick them up on eBay from time to time. It's a great lock to cut your teeth on spools.

At the time of this writing, there is at least one on eBay. Just search for "Brinks shrouded".

iirc the master 911 is full of spools as well, i believe op is looking for locks containing serrated and sporrated pins.

[KPick]

Then go for american locks for extra finger numbing hair pulling hole in the wall fun

[frostypicker]

Quick question, figured it'd be better to post here than start a new topic.

Many people mention American locks as the next step up from beginner locks, do you guys have any recommendation for model numbers so I can search eBay?

(I've just started, so I'm still at Master Lock No.3 level of picking, but I'm curious as to how much they cost/what they look like and I'd like to start looking up specs so I have an idea of what I'm going to be getting into)

In the meantime I'll search for Brinks shrouded to find a good spool pin lock.

EDIT:

Brinks padlocks are full of spools. One particular padlock that is no longer found in stores, or at least any I've seen, is the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can still pick them up on eBay from time to time. It's a great lock to cut your teeth on spools.

At the time of this writing, there is at least one on eBay. Just search for "Brinks shrouded".

Is this the Brinks lock you mentioned?

[buddykiller]

Quick question, figured it'd be better to post here than start a new topic.

Many people mention American locks as the next step up from beginner locks, do you guys have any recommendation for model numbers so I can search eBay?

(I've just started, so I'm still at Master Lock No.3 level of picking, but I'm curious as to how much they cost/what they look like and I'd like to start looking up specs so I have an idea of what I'm going to be getting into)

In the meantime I'll search for Brinks shrouded to find a good spool pin lock.

EDIT:

Brinks padlocks are full of spools. One particular padlock that is no longer found in stores, or at least any I've seen, is the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can still pick them up on eBay from time to time. It's a great lock to cut your teeth on spools.

At the time of this writing, there is at least one on eBay. Just search for "Brinks shrouded".

Is this the Brinks lock you mentioned?

i don't suggest you go from a no. 3 straight to an american. i just popped my first american and man was it a challenge! stick with some more 4 pin locks until you can open them relatively quickly (under a couple minutes) then move on to 5 pins.

the only brinks lock i have experience with is the 462-42051 and it seems to be a bit pricey on ebay, around $20 but you can get one on amazon for $15. i would maybe get a 140, some of them have spools (the one i got doesn't though, at least i can't feel it). for a my first 5 pinner i went with a master 6835, it was about $9 on amazon. as for american i went with the 1105 which was about $10. obviously, i've found LOTO (lock out, tag out) locks to be a gold mine for cheap good training. actually i've already purchased a master 410 for 6 pin training.

the way that i go about picking a new lock for training is to look up lock picking videos on youtube that contain gutting (where they take the locks apart and show/tell what's inside) then when i find one that has what i want i look it up and see if i can afford it. i also suggest picking up a bench vise so you can use your padlocks to simulate picking door locks which is what i'm doing atm until i can pick some up. they also come in handy for learning other techniques like bumping.

[frostypicker]

Speaking of American, I was talking with Bosnianbill and he sent me a link to one of his newer videos of a really cool "medium tier" lock on eBay that I could use for practice. There's an eBay seller who is selling American Lock A1100's with a baggie full of driver pins, key pins, springs, and everything needed to repin it so you can change the lock setup to keep challenging yourself, all for $20. I did some research and from what I can tell, they are the original American locks with the AM3 keyway, before Master lock went and stuck their crappy core in it. He also sells Corbin practice locks and a variety of repinning kits.

I went and bought one, so now there's only 2 left, and it's a really good deal so I figured I'd let you guys know.

Here's a link to bosnianbill's video about these 'practice' locks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhNTi-_m67I

Here's a link to the eBay seller's page: http://www.ebay.com/usr/locksportsupply

[buddykiller]

you're going to have loads of fun. the auction listings say that he probably won't have anymore after this batch, at least for this price, so anybody wanting to jump on these needs to do so. it's really not a bad price for what you're getting imo, as the locks are around $10 - $15 each anyway and you can't really beat the convenience of having everything ready to go.