Master Lock 140

[stran9er]

How difficult is it to pick?
Is it a good beginner lock?

[Gelmar]

I am relatively new to lock picking (about 3 weeks) and the 140 is one of the first 3 padlocks I was able to open. If you have one lying around it is definately worth time to practice on.

[stran9er]

Will the security pin be trouble some?
And what should I expect from the security pin?

[Gelmar]

To be honest I did not even know it had a security pin until after i picked it. In mine its a spool type security pin. What will happen if it false sets is the lock will turn but not open (it turns about 2-4 degrees). If this happens ( and it might not everytime ) you find the pin that, when you push it you feel backward resistance on your tension wrench. After you've done that you just slowly push it until you can feel it set. Sometimes other pins come unset when you do this, you'll just have to experiment with it and find what works.

[dougfarre]

Masterlock 140 is not hard just give it a little push --> pop then maybe a snap. You should get the hang of it.

[dougfarre]

Masterlock 140 is not hard just give it a little push --> pop then maybe a snap. You should get the hang of it.

[stran9er]

Masterlock 140 is not hard just give it a little push --> pop then maybe a snap. You should get the hang of it.

I wish it was that easy!

[Gelmar]

Just keep working with it until you get it. Every time you are unsuccessful, try a different amount of tension, try picking with a different tool, or try picking the pins in a different order.

[FFVison]

I would say that some 140s are easy. Depends on how the pins are. Mine was pretty easy, but I see a lot of people on here who are new to picking that have a LOT of difficulty with them. I am going to guess, by the fact that they are so inexpensive, that they are not very well manufactured and one lock may be very easy while the next may be a lot more difficult. Seems to depend on the lock. I personally have only ever worked on 1 and I think mine was a fluke as it seemed to pop after picking either the second or third pin, then releasing the tension momentarily and then reapplying it. Just that behavior in general makes me question the quality control used in making these locks.

[cool-arrow]

Easy to pick but they are weired. The security pins give a different feedback or feel than other locks with security pins. I would say start with a 575 because it gives much better feedback. I think it gives you a smoother feel of what is going on in the lock. The tension wrench pushes back much smoother when applying pressure to the security pin. It also fits better and more comfortably in your hand. It makes a difference when you are trying to pick a lock for a long period of time. I remember what it was like the first time.

[niksoft]

Will the security pin be trouble some?
And what should I expect from the security pin?

stran9er, are you able to get the lock to false set?
Here's my general approach to most locks, especially when dealing with spool pins. You put some tension, start picking the lock, either SPP or raking, you pick most pins, or all of them if you are lucky, but in most cases, most pins will set but security pins will only false set (which in 140s are mostly spool pins, like gelmar said) and then the cylinder will turn slightly, you will notice this, then i just take a hook and start going over the pins, one by one, remember do not increase tension too much, but in my practice you will need a minute increase in tension to keep the lock in the false set position, most of the time you should use only as much tension as it takes to open the lock... when you get to a spool pin, and push on it, you will feel a little tension back on the wrench, let off your tension, i generally vibrate the tension a little, while pushing on the pin, it will set with a bit of practice, just don't push too hard or let off tension too much (you'll get the hang of this after you practice for a little while... the other pins will snap back of not enough tension is applied, the false set spool pin will not set if too much is applied). I think 140 has one spool pin, or maybe two, dont remember (however you can look it up in one of the other threads), but i think its within the ball park, but yeah, go over all the pins, till you find the spool pin(s), if you get it right, and there is only one spool pin, the lock will open

[FFVison]

Ok, I have a question. I know I'm probably going to label myself as a newbie here, but I have a few locks where I pick them and after I picked all of the pins, it seems like one of the pinstacks that I have already picked seems to need to be picked again. I realize that it's possible that the pins in that stack simply fell down and I needed to repick them, but I doubt that since it always seems to be the same stack always. I just use light tension and repick that stack. I know that this occurs in locks that have security pins. I was wondering if someone could tell me for certain if this is typical behavior for spool pins. It seems to make sense to me that I picked the spool pin and it false set, then I picked the rest and the spool is still false set. Then at the end, I have to deal with the spool's false set and lighten up my tension and then repick it. Does this sound right? Sorry to sound like a n00b.

[Sleight of Hand]

This was the first padlock I picked, it does have some very strange behavior, it seems to have a personality. Before you get all into the lock remember not to over think it. I've had friends try to pick it, none have prevailed (one even went for about 3 hours). Theres a way to to pop in about 6 seconds, as for the security pin, its always the last one I pick.

[stran9er]

I finally picked it!!
My First lock! I'm soo happy! haha