Practice Sets

[findingemo]

Hi,

So I finally finished my exams for this semester and I decided to renew my hobby of lock-picking. I almost picked every lock I had in my house already (I had a bunch of spare locks lying around.) After of course getting a sense of satisfaction, I realized that I was only able to do this raking the lock. I wanted of course to be able to pick it tumbler by tumbler. I was not quite bruteforcing it before but I wasnt as gentle as I wanted to be. Well I`m starting to pick the locks with the single pick but the problem is that I need a good practice lock to experiment on (I did some googling, oh my....so many different termonologies which I had never known such as false sets or shear line etc; when I picked, I just did it by feel, whatever.)

Well after a bunch of random blurting, what I need is a good practise lock. I actually want something which I can take out the tumblers and rearrange them. I did see something called the ultimate practice lock while googling (from www.learnlockpicking.com) but I was afraid that the build quality wasnt the best. Any advice. Should I just go get a Schlage.

Oh by the way, I know this is probably a stupid question, and will probably invite a lot of scorn but why is a Medeco that hard to pick. Isnt it just another pin-tumbler lock. Same priniciples apply *add question mark here. windows glitch*

[datagram]

Purchase a Kwikset deadboly cylinder from the local hardware store. For a few dollars extra you can get a double-sided deadbolt, too. Should run you about 10-15$ at most.

Medeco are harder to pick because they use a sidebar which requires pins to be raise and rotated to the proper position.

dg

[jpb06080]

Get yourself a follower. Than you can take apart all your locks and add/remove pins as you see fit.

[poor paperclip picker]

I like schlage deadbolts. I have one that I re pin quite a bit. the nice thing about it is that it has 4 spool pins and 1 regular pin. So if you want practice with spool pins its nice. Also if you have other top pins available you can have it so it has 0 spools, 1 spool or as many as you like until you are comfortable with spool pins.

[barbarian]

......
Oh by the way, I know this is probably a stupid question, and will probably invite a lot of scorn but why is a Medeco that hard to pick. Isnt it just another pin-tumbler lock. Same priniciples apply *add question mark here. <censored> windows glitch*

Medeco uses a couple of tricks. They have pins shaped like a chisel and the cuts on the key are angled. The pins have to be lifted and rotated to the proper angle. Google around a bit and you should find some cut away views.

[cppdungeon]

Look for used locks in surplus stores. You can get a lot, super super cheap. im talking less than a dollar. its worth it in gas-money and time-money to go out to the store and buy two or three used schages for 5 bucks, than to go buy 3 from the store for $30 each.