Seeking a more Challenging Lock

[Liminality]

Hello.
I’ve been reading quiet a bit on the forums over the past two or three weeks, and I’ve gotten very into the sport of lock picking. I started, like many others, with paperclips on 2-3 pins in a basic Kwikset using whatever was around the house. This continued well, and a deep-curve hairpin allowed for a successful pick of the full five pins. This was how it began.

From there, I continued to buy increasingly harder locks. As the locks got more difficult, I’ve produced increasingly refined and complex tools, progressing through non-branded padlocks. From here, I attempted a circular Brinks R70 lock, which proved a temporary stopping point.

After mastering this, I purchased a Master #532 after reading it was a pretty difficult lock and seeing one locally. It was very difficult, for a while, and could I could only pick it by chance, and even then only with a homemade featherlite tension tool.

I took to the challenge, and worked it day and night (loving every minute of it). Some of these have been identified as having four spools, of which I could feel three, so it was a great way to learn security pins. After a while though, even with normal turning tools, it lost its difficulty.

((As an exercise, I’ve tried picking it without sound or sight, by wearing headphones + music. Then, I’d close my eyes, so I could only feel the lock. This proved to be excellent for visualizing. When you can only see through your hands, you form a complete picture of everything inside.))

lol. I’ve gotten a bit carried away with my explanation. My question is this: What would be a fun, challenging lock to move to now? I’ve been reading around a -lot- , but can’t really figure out what a good jump would be from here.

[MBI]

I just took a Medeco 3 factory certification class yesterday. I've read plenty about Medeco locks and seen lots of schematics, but I had never handled one of the locks before the class. I won't go into specifics here since it's material that belongs in the advanced forums, but I was having some serious fun trying to pick a Medeco M3. I only had a few minutes to work on it during a class break, but I was making progress on it and it's really got me craving more. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to keep any of the locks we were working on, so I'm going out to buy a couple of them tomorrow. If you're looking for a challenge, one of these might do the trick.

[JK_the_CJer]

I recommend finding locksmiths with storefronts and looking for Corbin-Russwin, Sargeant, and Schlage Everest. Also, try to locate some American padlocks. This suggestions may be a little bit outside of your skill level, though, If you find these out of reach, I suggest getting ahold of some normal 5 pin schlage cylinders and repinning + picking them for a while. Throw in some spool pins and learn to deal with them individually too.

[jgor]

Before going full force into high security locks from locksmith shops and the internet, you might look for the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can find it in Walmart for ~$20, and it is well worth the price. It's a 6 pin lock with 5 upper security pins and serrated lower pins. I believe it is the perfect lock to usher you into a new level of difficulty.

[JK_the_CJer]

I second that. I finally got a chance to pick one last night at our club(?) meeting. The Brinks Shrouded is difficult, but its straight-forward and a great way to get used to security pins. I contrast it to the Brinks R70: the R70 is not a difficult lock (4 pins, 2 spooled isnt it?), however it is an odd, atypical lock. It doesn't behave that like a lock "should". You might notice a similar phenomenon in really loose/old Masters and Kwiksets. An a sidenote: I tried to pick my R70 at the meeting and was unable to.

[Liminality]

Before going full force into high security locks from locksmith shops and the internet, you might look for the Brinks shrouded padlock. You can find it in Walmart for ~$20, and it is well worth the price. It's a 6 pin lock with 5 upper security pins and serrated lower pins. I believe it is the perfect lock to usher you into a new level of difficulty.

I’ve seen that one before, when browsing my local home improvement stores. I wasn’t certain if it was worth it, but I’ll defiantly buy it if it has serrated lower pins. I thought it might’ve been like many of the other locks in that isle, which were just really anti-cut versions of the same cheap lock.

As for high security locks… I’d been read reading into them, and getting a good idea of which locks are impossibly hard, and the ones that are only killer hard. Besides those, the ‘meh, it’s an ok high security lock’ don’t really surface much, so it’s been hard to judge a good one to start with.

I’ll check past my local locksmith today. Its cute; a really old couple who look like they’ve been in the business for 20+ years. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I almost forgot. I have a second part to my question. Now that I’m set on more difficult locks, will my tools need to improve as well? I’ve been producing my own tools from varied materials, and spending a lot of time getting the shape just right, mainly relying on a springy long hook for SPP.
I know this’ll be a somewhat borderline question to ask, but I’d like to do it in a really vague way, expecting a vague answer. For high security locks, would I need special tools? A simple yes is sufficient, to keep this topic open-forum safe.

[JK_the_CJer]

Back when I started, I thought the same thing about the Brinks Shrouded. I figured it was just another knock-off. I haven't seen your picks, but I suggest that you keep making them. Being a pick artist is a valuable skill and allows for the production of custom tools and new ideas. To answer your question about high-sec and the requirement for tools: it depends on the lock. I know this is a crappy answer, but its all the detail I can give. I will say that the high-security area is still wide open to research/new tools/new ideas and tool-producers will have a much easier time testing theories than those that just buy most of their tools (like me).