What pick to buy to pick a Best 7-pin I-core lock?

[foobaz]

I've picked a lot of easy locks with by using a pencap as a tension wrench, and a safety pin as a pick, and now I want to move up.
I tried picking a 7-pin Best access lock and it's obvious I need to use better picks. I can spend up to $30, could anybody
on this board who's picked a BEST lock recommend a pick/pickset I should buy?

I was thinking of buying these: http://www.lockpickshop.com/C500.html
Would they work?

[Squelchtone]

I've picked a lot of easy locks with by using a pencap as a tension wrench, and a safety pin as a pick, and now I want to move up.
I tried picking a 7-pin Best access lock and it's obvious I need to use better picks. I can spend up to $30, could anybody
on this board who's picked a BEST lock recommend a pick/pickset I should buy?

I was thinking of buying these: http://www.lockpickshop.com/C500.html
Would they work?

How can you afford a nice 7 pin BEST lock but you cant afford more than a $30 pick set?

and it's not the picks that pick the lock, its your skill and experience (and sometimes a little luck)

Leave that dorm room or apartment door BEST alone, since its your first post and you may not have read any of the other warnings we usually give new members, please don't pick locks that are not your own or that you do not have permission to be picking or taking apart. It gives hobby lockpicking a bad name when people walk around picking locks they see at work or at school or their apartment building. (Even if you were issued keys to a lock, it would be breaking the trust of whoever gave you the keys if they knew you were sticking metal objects in that lock other than the key they gave you, things may go wrong, you may break a pick off inside the lock, you may pull a spring out or drop a master pin out or rotate the lock and get it stuck upside down, many many people before you have had this happen to them)

Start a little collection of padlocks and some $15 dollar deadbolts from the hardware store and practice on those, real world picking is not what we're about.

and yes, that Southord pick set will open a BEST SFIC lock.
Squelchtone

[foobaz]

I bought 3 shafts from at a garage sale for $10(total). I own those locks. I'm not picking locks that aren't my own.
I read the rules before I posted here. I bought the BEST locks because I heard they're hard to pick. I saw several posts about bypassing specific types of locks, and pins, so I didn't think there'd be any harm in mentioning a brand name.

I picked 5 FIVE different $15 hardware-store locks with a safety pin and pencap.

Today's newbies are tomorrow's contributors. I'm not doing anybody any harm.
There's no need to be so hostile.

[nostromo]

Please understand, foobaz, we get an awful lot of new posters here looking for quick shot info on how to break into something. Or they are doing something that might be consdered risky for the lock or themselves. It's often hard to tell who is who.

Best is a brand of lock that is exclusively commercial - never installed in homes - and almost alwasy encountered in school dorms and publoic buildings. If you CAN get them they are priced dearly as they are extremely well made and often tightly controlled. IE- my local Sherrif's office is keyed for Best with a limited and licensed keyway pattern available from only one shop between Tallahassee and New Orleans.

All that aside, the advice given was pretty square. Get a nice set from any of the major dealers like Southord or Southern Specialties or this forums' sponsor and that should keep you going for a LONG time. After that go for Petersons, Lab, Serepick. Check out MBAUSA for a good presentation and price guide.

ANd maybe make some picks- check out the tutorials.

ANd welcome to a great hobby!

[unlisted]

I bought 3 shafts from at a garage sale for $10(total). I own those locks. I'm not picking locks that aren't my own.
I read the rules before I posted here. I bought the BEST locks because I heard they're hard to pick. I saw several posts about bypassing specific types of locks, and pins, so I didn't think there'd be any harm in mentioning a brand name.

I picked 5 FIVE different $15 hardware-store locks with a safety pin and pencap.

Today's newbies are tomorrow's contributors. I'm not doing anybody any harm.
There's no need to be so hostile.

Show us some photos than.. That will shut the naysayers up.

[criminalhate]

I've picked a lot of easy locks with by using a pencap as a tension wrench, and a safety pin as a pick, and now I want to move up.
I tried picking a 7-pin Best access lock and it's obvious I need to use better picks. I can spend up to $30, could anybody
on this board who's picked a BEST lock recommend a pick/pickset I should buy?

I was thinking of buying these: http://www.lockpickshop.com/C500.html
Would they work?

I agree with everyone else's posts but I have to say do you even understand how lock picking works? If you did I doubt you would be asking the question you are.

Have fun read a few posts then read about 200 more then read the mit guide to lock picking or any of the other guides out there. Oh and $30 is not a whole lot of money to spend on a set of picks. Buy a few individual picks from HPC, South Ord, Southern Spec, ect. Or you can buy really crappy picks from china (deal extreme).

In a few months you may be able to pick a best.

[gilduran]

I've picked open a BEST lock with my Southord pics. Not the easy locks top open, since there are multiple sheer lines, but it can be done:

viewtopic.php?p=364776#p364776

[nhoj_yelbom]

i have many picks from southern specialties and some from hpc and pro-lock. i highly recommend southern specialties, they have excellent customer service and great products. i like the laminated handles without the twist treatment. i would reccomend the LPH-16 for $31.95 or the BD-14 spring steel Pick Set for $21.95

[Kasmd73]

I know your looking for someone with experience with a particular brand, although I have not picked the brand you mentioned but I looked at the set your considering buying and with your budget I'd recommend going to southord.com. Your can buy individual picks for pretty cheap. They sell all the slim with out metal handles for $2.10 and with metal handles for $5.39. The tension wrench goes for around $1.50. You don't need the full circle pick, that's for wafer locks so if you get them individually with out the circle it will cost you $17.67 (or $7.80 if you get the slims without the metal handle). You don't get a case this way but they fit in a cigar tube just fine and it will protect them as well. I have the slim Southord picks (15 piece) and love them. I only got the slim for the rare event I encounter a European lock as they open both US and European.

http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-To ... andle.html
http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-To ... ndard.html
http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-To ... Tools.html

[bobhdus]

We use BEST at my Company and being the guy that services them I get to play around with them so I tried my shot at picking a few of them at my work bench under ideal conditions. I tried everything in my arsenal (picks, guns etc...) and the only picks I had any luck with were the thin computer generated picks I bought from HPC. I am not as patient as some people are. If a lock doesn't open within a few minutes then I start changing picks. I guess it's a lot like my fishing. I am angler, and swap lures every couple of casts until I find one that "feels" right. Also, if you over do it with the raking, you will wear down the bottom pins, so use the feel method if possible. We have several levels of keys per lock so sometimes I actuate the core or find one of the various shear lines to actually rotate the plug. You might also want to lube the lock with LPS penetrant or graphite powder before picking as well (blow excess out). Good luck.

[vov35]

multiple sheer lines

Two of them: http://crypto.com/photos/misc/sfic/

Also, pet peeve:
Sheer - absolute: complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers;
Shear - a deformation of an object in which parallel planes remain parallel but are shifted in a direction parallel to themselves;
--wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn/

kthx

[bobhdus]

The cost of BEST products was mentioned above so I wanted to throw out there that there are other manufacturers that cross over to the BEST Locks if you want something more affordable with the same design. Marshall Best Security is of the same BEST family and has his own line of products that are the same design at a better price. Falcon (Ingersol Rand) also carries a drop in replacement 6 and 7 pin core that uses a shim in a dovetail for the cap that is reusable compared to the original Caps that must be replaced every time and also eliminates the need to have the fancy and expensive dumping block. There are other brands that cross over as well if you are someone that services them and can't afford to keep supplies on hand.