Need a Picking Challenge!

[Aprentice]

OK,

So I got my 1st pick set a couple days ago - still waiting for my basic and advanced lock picking technics DVDs. I have read the MIT Guide to Lock Picking and a couple other freebies I found online.

So, I searched my home for some pad locks - I found 5 I could try to pick and practice on...

1st one was The Club UTL 816 w/4 Pin Twin Levers; GOT IT in 5 seconds - did it again in about 10 sec and a couple more times ranging between 5-10 seconds.

Hmmmm, so this one was easy - too easy. Grabbed my Master No. 1 w/4 Pin Cylinder - about 40 seconds the 1st time and under 30 seconds a couple more times - down to about 10 seconds each time after that.

Hmmmmmm, that also seemed easier than I was expecting. OK, grabbed this little one called a Master No. 121 w/3 Pin Tumbler - believe it or not this seemed to be the most challenging one, may have been my hands were just getting tired and or that this little Master was more challenging due to its size (REALLY TINY). This one took me about 3 minutes the 1st time and about 1 minute the next couple of times after that.

OK, so now I have two more locks... BUT... BOTH are "Abloys" - I don't want to even attempt those yet, I'll wait until I've improved even more and have also learned more about the Abloys which of course are very different than the locks that I have learned about and practised on so far.

Also, I did use a few different kinds of picks to see which ones I liked. In my Dino Enforcer Set, it was the No. 2 Rake that I had the most success with. In fact using the snakes and trying to scrub/rake the lock to open didn't render any results for me. Just the No. 2 rake using a single pin pick method (one pin at a time).

So here is my question - Is this supposed to be more difficult for a newbie who has read very little and tried it for the first time? I did pick all locks several times (no scrubbing/raking) and was successful everytime within fairly little time.

2nd - What would be some good, inexpensive and easy-to- find pad locks that could challenge me a little more but still be a reasonable lock for a beginner? Please give me a few suggestions.

Thanks

[nekret]

1. You're doing very *very* good for a beginner, it seems you've found the proper tension and have a good feel for set, binding and loose pins.

2. You might want to try some commercial deadbolts as they can be a little more challenging due to a greater number of pins, tighter tolerances etc. I'd normally recommend a kwikset for your first deadbolt but you might want to skip that and go for a 5-6pin schlage. You could also continue the padlock route and get some practice with spools via the Brinks R70. As far as the abloys go, have at them, worst thing that could happen is they don't open .

[Aprentice]

Yeah,

It seems to be a simple concept - I must say that I already understand the importance of practising. Where I understand the feel and sounds that I'm trying to better understand, I can see where practise will fine tune my sences. I need to work on my sensativity a lot more - more quickly finding and identifying each individual pin. Improve on my listening skills to actually hear (as well as hear) the binding difference between the driving and key pins. Where I can already identify some possible false sets - I'm still not able to confidently identify which pins are false set - in fact I'm not confident in identifying each individual pin based on feel and sound yet. The locks I described above that I had picked - I wasn't sure exactly how many pins they contained until I looked them up online. I actually thought that the club had 2 or 3 pins and the Master had 3 pins - I thought that the little Master had 4 or 5 pins maybe. So where I had spent time going back and forth front to back and back to front pushing one pin up at a time - I really wasn't sure exactly how many pins I was hitting and pushing and setting. I let the tensioner dictate my action and as I was pushing pins I could begin to feel the cylinder wanting to turn. Does this make any sence? So I will continue to practise more to gain better senses with sound and feel - however I do want a couple locks that will take me more time to force an increase sensability.

[CVScam]

I would agree just go buy a 5 pin Schlage deadbolt and look at the key to make sure it is has a lot of high and low cuts to make it more of a challenge. If you can pick that with ease you might want to tackle some security pins.

[jimmysmith]

I bet the reason you had trouble with that really small master pad lock is that you are over settingthe pins already by inserting your picks.. the best thing i find in this situation is to insert your tension tool at the top of the keyway making more room for your pick to work.

[Shrub]

Aprentice please lets not have another raimundo here, use your enter key to start a new line/paragraph now and again, i cant and dont read rays posts because of this,

[JackNco]

im impressed. you seem to be coming on in leaps and bounds.

[Ermis]

Pick up an Abus padlock i forget the model number, maybe 316? it has two mushroom top pins and it's a tight fit for the picks but it's doable. it's the size of a #833 30mm Guard padlock. This will help you benefit from the picking experience greatly by dealing with releasing the tension enough to push the mushroom top pins up into the chamber while holding the rest of the top pins into the chamber (try this exercise and pick the mushroom pins last)

[dinger]

Im also very new to picking, and I would think you could probably skip the kwikset and go for the schlage. schlage is more money but worth it because you won't get board in one day like a kwikset. The Master # 140 is my favorite right now because it has some spool pins and they are easy to identify, so if you want a padlock this one will give you a good challenge and you will learn alot about spool pins imo.