help with obtaining list of TOUGH locks to pick ( common )

[kylockpickerUSA]

looking for TOUGH locks to pick to hone my skills on high security locks. standard pinned locks ( common ) to busineses and homes. and where or how i can obtain them cheaply without buying them new.

thank you

jonathan

louisville, ky USA

[Theist17]

Nice to see someone looking for a challenge.

Trouble is, we don't know your current skill level. Could you provide for us a list of what you've picked so far? What you find difficult or simple? Without that information, we can't tell you what would be appropriate for your skill level. I mean, we could all just start throwing out names like Medeco, S&G, and Emhart, but that wouldn't do you much good if you still find spools hard to set.

[kylockpickerUSA]

man i hope they get things calmed down in the UK

yea i have picked kwicksets, masters most the common household locks nothing really fancy some industrial type cylinders. no govt class like 6 pin but the BEST lock is popular. mainly want to know how i can obtain some without paying retail new price for them just to practive and pik.

thanks,
jonathan

louisville, ky usa

[Theist17]

Well, for inexpensive locks of any difficulty, eBay can be hit-or-miss and the buy/sell/trade forum here is excellent if you know what you're looking for and use the search function.

It seems like your experience is with somewhat beginner-level stuff. I would recommend moving up to residential Schlage cylinders to step up your game from the Kwiksets, maybe something in the neighborhood of an ABUS Diskus would be good for you to work with. It doesn't appear as though you have much experience with spools, so this will be a healthy intro to them.

By the way, what did you mean about the UK? Haha, I'm from South Carolina and I don't watch the news that often.

[DayZiro]

A good next step would be security pins, yes. Ace Hardware makes some high quality knock offs of popular locks. I like their Brinks Shrouded Clone and American knockoff. The last time I was in Ace their padlocks were becoming pricey. Worth a look.

The first and third locks on here conveniently have breakdowns of the Ace American and the original Brinks.

[Quabillion]

I have had very good luck finding locks at army surplus stores. I found several BEST SFIC padlocks with keys as well as cores with no lock bodies or keys. The cores were $1 each and the locks were $5 each. I have also seen several knockoff brands there as well but did not buy them.

[raimundo]

the OP list louisville kentucky as his base, isn't that where lockmasters and the makers of the MAS combination locks are? I would believe that there is some serious expertize around there including people who have worked at these places in the past and even some people who learned from them.

[Quabillion]

Found these Corbin Russwin cores and 2 blanks at the army surplus store today, for a whopping $7.00.


Have yet to pick them, might use them if I can find some bodies to put them in.

Also at the store were bags of 20 keyblanks for $9.00. They had approx 50 bags, but I have forgotten what keyways they were for. I will go back tomorrow and get some pictures.

[Evan]

Found these Corbin Russwin cores and 2 blanks at the army surplus store today, for a whopping $7.00.

Have yet to pick them, might use them if I can find some bodies to put them in.

Also at the store were bags of 20 keyblanks for $9.00. They had approx 50 bags, but I have forgotten what keyways they were for. I will go back tomorrow and get some pictures.

@Quabillion:

Interesting find...

The core with the two keys has completely identified itself to you:

59A1 70
225251

This core uses the 59A1 keyway and the Z-Class System 70 single step increment bitting system... It's direct bitting code is 225251...

What are the numbers on the other key for the other core ?

If you are able to decode a core key it might work for both cores as the odds are good they were a part of the same system...

~~ Evan

[Quabillion]

@Evan

The second key is 59A1 70 224121. And yes I do plan to make a control key from one of the blanks because I am sure the cores came from the same system.

Here is a pic of one of the bags of blanks. I was mistaken about haw many are in one bag, there are 10 blanks per bag, not 20. They are ilco 1179A AR4 blanks.




They also had a box of Taylor brand blanks that looked identical to the ilco ones, but at a much better price, 10 cents each as opposed to 92 cents each for the ilco ones.

[Quabillion]

Went to the locksmith shop today to get a key copied and I asked about any junk locks they might have for a low price to pratice my picking skills on. I got a bit of a strange look and was asked what I was trying to get into, lol. Once I explained what I was doing, they gave me this American 3800 with a Keymark core, FOR FREE


And check out the wards on this core!! This one is gonna be tough to even get the picks into. I am thinking I am going to have to build a special pick set just for this core.


Once they knew I was into picking and heard some of my conquests they offered me a job, but I declined because locksport for me is just that, sport, not work.

[vov35]

I think somebody suggested peterson slimline hooks for these.

There's no security pins as I recall...