american 5200 and fortress 40mm

[cryptonic]

so i decided to go back to the basics and read through and practice with digital blue's beginner excercise. finished it up and decided to take on my american 5200. to my amazement not only the first attempt to open it but the next 3 times were all sucessful. figuring that it was just luck i tested my luck on my so far unpickable fortress 40mm. again opened like a charm. guess i was just having an "on" day.

[robin11]

Well done, and keep on practicing - those exercise are really very helpful

[Tempature]

sweet, on days are good to balance with the dreaded off days :/ those can kill confidence.

great job. i figure after youve picked the lock 3 times, you know it wasnt just all luck

the 5200 is a cool lock, all serrated pins, 1 spool serrated hybrid, and its key-retaining! that also makes it un-bypassable though :/ at least not with the same method as the 700.

[le.nutzman]

Cracking the American 5200 Padlock is no joke. If anyone's done it, they'll tell you that it can quickly kill your confidence as far as an American Engineered style lock. I know because while I was deployed to Iraq, I had a nice opportunity to crack more than my far share.

The pinning, depends greatly on the model letter. I've seen serrated, spoorated, and the imfamous 5 spool which i've came across twice in my time.

Here's my two cents although several people will tell you otherwise, i have found this to work in a pinch:

I came across a few Amercian 5200s that i just couldn't pop and didn't have any graphite to loosen it up. Soooooooooooo, i saturated the lock and pins with WD-40, waited about 30 seconds and picked the lock like it was nothing. The WD-40 fills in the minute gaps in both the serrated and spoorated pins allowing them to slide easier. It's not a 100% guarantee, but it does work and i've used it, like i said, in a pinch.

Great job, keep on picking!

[raimundo]

I have wondered if you knew what that piece of .010 feeler I sent was for, it the tool to open the sesamee type locks if you didn't figure it out, I kept thinking that since you never mentioned it, you probably bent it into a near useless tensor
Good to hear your back in the land of the big PX in one piece.