What's a 'virtually impossible to pick' lock?

[yungning]

http://www.masterlocks.com/Models.asp?T ... 20Padlocks

on the 5th point of this lock's description, it says it's 'virtually impossible to pick'.

it sounds a little bit funny.

u people really think so??
(i think most of people can pick it, just need time)

[salzi684]

I don't have one but I would bet a good bit of money that I could pick it without too much trouble.

[CitySpider]

It's actually kind of refreshing that they're not claiming it's impossible to pick.

[PYRO1234321]

i've had some of these and found them kind of easy to pick, but the ones i had were master keyed and had no security pins. they offer good physical security (prying and hammers) but easily fall victim to angle grinders and dremels. Its kind of embarrassing, but i chopped one up a few years back before i knew that the allen key screw under the shackle allowed the core to drop out. gotta learn somehow....

[HeadHunterCEO]

you can make a kwickset hard to pick

just make the first and second cuts like 7 and the third a 2 followed by a 7 and then a 1

makes tings interesting.

of course if you actually intend to use such lock make sure the cuts don't overlap

[Exodus5000]

The only lock i would trust to be "Virtually unpickable" would be a prison lock, or something of equal caliber. A lock that you would buy for under 10 dollars, or that would be mass produced just can't possibly be machined well enough to be "virtually unpickable."

[Ice]

How are prison locks made, so that they're so hard to pick?

[HeadHunterCEO]

How are prison locks made, so that they're so hard to pick?

AS a matter of fact i got a prison lock in my truck somwhere. its a mortise and is about 2 inches in diameter. I will dig it up and post some pics


the keyway is 3/4 of an inch high!

[CitySpider]

That's funny -- I wouldn't expect prison locks to be very secure at all. I'd think the security would lie in making sure nobody got the opportunity to try and pick it.

[mbell]

'The comple books of locks and locksmithing' has a section on prision and detention type locks. they seem VERY complex, but cells for example, why would they need key holes on the inside of the door?

[Chucklz]

The hardest lock to pick is the one that someone brings to you because they know your a lock picker. You take one look at it, and tell them that the lock is a real piece of crap, then you spend 2 hours trying to pick it.

[technik]

still spider, they are criminals, and if majoreity of anyone knows how to pick locks, criminals do. You would have to put high security locks on, you could have someone try to break IN with the right tools to break their buddy out. Amazing how lever locks offer more security than pin tumblers, yet they are older technology

[CitySpider]

still spider, they are criminals, and if majoreity of anyone knows how to pick locks, criminals do. You would have to put high security locks on, you could have someone try to break IN with the right tools to break their buddy out. Amazing how lever locks offer more security than pin tumblers, yet they are older technology

1) I'd say that if a majority of anyone knows how to pick locks, locksmiths do. I'd bet that less than 1% of "criminals" know how to pick locks. Probably significantly less.

2) Breaking INTO prison? Sounds like a good way to get shot.

3) I hear this a lot, about lever locks offering more security than pin tumblers, and it just doesn't make sense. Security through obscurity is one thing, but actually providing more security is another. I know that _I'd_ rather pick a pin tumbler lock, but that's just because I have experience with them. Give me four or five lever locks of varying levels, and a couple of good picks, and I'll be just as good at picking lever locks as I am at anything else. Likewise, I'm sure there's someone out there who can breeze through lever locks and has no clue how to get through a pin tumbler.

[toomush2drink]

Give me four or five lever locks of varying levels, and a couple of good picks, and I'll be just as good at picking lever locks as I am at anything else

Hmmmm i would love to see that, now im not saying it couldnt happen but some of those lever locks with their anti pick gates are shall we say "fun". Im gonna take some apart and photograph them so that you can see what you are up against. In no way do i doubt your ability but these things can really wind you up and the main thing is its ok picking one on a bench but when its mounted in a door you have to identify it from the keyhole.
Maybe i could get our transatlantic friends into lever locks in a big way lol

[CitySpider]

Hmmmm i would love to see that, now im not saying it couldnt happen but some of those lever locks with their anti pick gates are shall we say "fun".

You know, these Medecos with their sidebars and the pins you have to rotate, those are, shall we say, "fun" too. Also the Americans with the spool pins and the serrated, small driver pins, those are "fun" too. Etc, etc, etc, I could give at least a dozen more examples.

In case that's not clear enough: saying that lever locks offer more security than pin tumblers is overgeneralizing. The lever lock on an old steamer trunk certainly doesn't offer more security than an upper-class Medeco, and the lever lock on a safety deposit box certainly offers more security than a Kwikset knockoff.

If lever locks really were _that_ much more secure, and especially seeing as they're not incredibly expensive, at least some of the 300,000,00 of us over here on this side of the pond would be using them.