Picking order

[TheCrow]

I see this alot in the forums but it seems unclear, so I'd like for someone to straighten this out. Does it matter in which order you pick the pins? such as from front to back, back to front, or some other order. Does this make any difference or does it depend on the type of lock that you are using. I'm fairly new at this and the easiest method i have found is to push the pick back to the last pin, push them all up to the top, then apply an excessive ammount of pressure and slowly release the pressure so that the pins click into their place. Then pick any that have reset. I guess you could call this raking, but like i said im fairly new at this. Anyway back to the topic. Does the picking order make any difference?

[JackNco]

the pins can bind in any order. the trick is finding the binding order. IF you haven't already follow DBs Beginners guide. that will teach you to learn how to find binding pins.

All the best

[Gordon Airporte]

What you're doing is called 'reverse picking'. It's a good technique for avoiding security pins and it's pretty tricky IME, so kudos for getting it to work for you.
Re. picking order - you have to pick the pins in the order they set, so what we're talking about is what order pins usually set in. As Jack said, they can bind in any order depending on how the holes are drilled and the pin diameters. Usually they will bind roughly in order, either back to front or front to back, but not always.

[11mike11]

i like to start from the front and go to the back looking for the binding pin and then just do it again looking for the next binding pin and so on. i find doing it from front to back makes it easy to feel each pin and you can count on the way down to know which ones your pushing up, it beats just randomly pushing up pins inside and also gives you a better idea of where each pin is.
just lift up the first pin a bit and if it's not the binding pin then slide the pick forward and you'll hit the second one without causing it to move up this way you know exactly what pin your lifting up

[TheCrow]

Thanks for the replies, this helps me to understand a bit better. I have gotten proficiently better at the lock I was working on. In my padlock (It's a master #1 i think, has 4 pins no security pins), When i set the first pin correctly i notice that if I apply a bit more pressure then the cilinder will turn further than before, and if i set the second pin correctly it will go the same distance, however if i set the first pin correctly and the second pin incorrectly then the cilinder hardly moves. The cilinder will move to that same position as long as i keep setting the pins correctly. My question is: Does this happen with every (basic) lock?

[11mike11]

your starting to get how lockpicking works With some locks you'll notice it move a lot but with others it will move only slightly, playing around with the tension will help you be able to better feel when the pin sets.

[TheCrow]

Alright, yea once i figured out that when i set the pins correctly it turns. I really started to get better and faster at it. Thanks again