New to Lock Picking - Advice

[Raccoon]

I second getting a Schlage to pick on. Also look on ebay for whole bundles of lock lots. You can often pick up a dozen or 50 mortise/rims for a buck-a-lock, even less.

Another thing you can try which is both frustrating and accomplishing, is buy one of each Master padlock type, and picking them in order of difficulty. That should keep you occupied.

[Nathand]

@Krypos - I don't know what locks you were looking at, most of what I saw were in the $25-30 dollar range.

And I live in the U.S. Sorry about that...

Raccoon - Is this what you were talking about on e-bay?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCHLAGE-everest-1-1 ... dZViewItem

And that's a good idea, is there any way to not buy the entire lock? Like are there any online stores or something that just sell the plug and shell's of locks?

Thanks,
Nathan

[Raccoon]

What you are looking at IS just the plug and a shell, in it's most basic and desirable form for lockpickers. This is a mortise lock, and it is a screw-in component for a mortise lockset found in most commercial doors. Its size and round profile makes it easy to hold when compared to key-in-knob (kik) cylinders that are smaller and odd-shaped.

Other locks you can look at are euro-cylinders which are also the self-contained component of a euro lockset. However, since the Europeans tend to value security more than Americans, their locks tend to be harder to pick with more restricted keyways and pick-resistant pinning and components.

You can often find larger batches on eBay to save on shipping, or find if this seller has other locks for sale and ask about combined shipping.

[Nathand]

Thanks for the reply.

The seller of this item on e-bay has 15 to sell. This is what he said in the item description:

you are bidding on ONE new schlage everest mortice cylinder c123 keyway 1~1/8 length 26d color silver new in box with 2 keys and factory collar "L" cams installed.I have 15 of these so shipping will be combined if you are a multiple buyer!first one $5 after that $2 each

I'm not sure what he means by "c123 keyway" or "L cams" though. If you think these would be good for me to practice on, then I'll definitely buy a few.

Thanks for the help Raccoon,
Nathan

[Raccoon]

I would say that isn't a bad deal. Whether you'll be able to pick them is entirely up to you. It's unfortune the seller doesn't have other brand locks for sale at this time.

The keyway is the type of key profile (key blank) the lock uses, and L cam just identifies the type of bolt action of the lock's back end. Neither of these should matter to you.