American Lock REI Series 700...HELP

[Wildfire]

Hey folks, I'm wondering if I can get some help/advice on a padlock that's got me stumped. It's an American Lock in a high security, hardened steel case. On the back of the lock, it's stamped "REI Series 700". I can see some serrations on the 1st pin, but am having no luck picking it. I even tried shimming it at the shackle with no success. Thanks.

[adrenalynn]

It's for certain that you won't shim that lock open. They don't make it that easy.

Maybe post a photo of the lock (unattached to anything) and a photo of the keyway, that would help identify it and identify the pins within.

[raimundo]

Get your short or medium hook, and sand it well along the shaft top and bottom and the picktip, look over your tensors, find one that will not bind against the cylinder wall, do not focus on the lock, but watch tv while using light/medium tension on the lock, do not be concentrated on opening the lock, just watch the tv, and feel the pins, lift them and move on to the next one. When the commercial comes on, or whenever you are going to detente (thats french for reduce or releave tension) use a small straightblade screwdriver to just put in the top of the keyway and give the lock a little bit of a try before releasing tension, These locks often do not tell you when they are actually already picked, so the screwdriver thing will work. No need to twist your tensor to find out if its just picked and not turning.
Our resident expert on the american lock is LE Nutzman.

[Artkrp]

The 700 series is a hefty, "high" security (reletively speaking, Abus granit *cough cough*) padlock. They have six pins and generally have all or mostly spool pins. The key to picking these is that you need to use light tension on the top of the keyway and make sure to visulize pins. Remember that all American key pins are serrated with 2 serrations.You can check on this site for pictures. I kind of want to say that 1 and 2 cut pins (the ones that need to be raised really high) don't have any but don't quote me, I don't have a kit in front of me. So by paying attention to the drag and minute clicks as you raise the pins to the shear line you can almost "count" your way there. This doesn't work all the time of course but it is a good thing to remember. Once you get a 10 degree movement out of the plug and are in "false set" you just need to run over the pins until you find one that puts counter rotational pressure on your tension wrench. then raise the pin while letting lightly off of the tension until it sets. Continue until open. Also, make sure to check with some heavy tension if you are having a hard time finding a pin with counter-rotation. I know I have had them open before and still been trying to figure out "what was wrong" for a good 2 or 3 minutes, only to apply heavy torque and watch it grrrrrrrind its way to opening
Well, Good luck on your picking, those make you feel great when you get them open!

[Artkrp]

Yeah, all the top pins are spooled and the 1 and 2 cuts do not have serrations.
good luck!

[Wildfire]

Thanks folks. This is all great advice. I'm still working on it. No success yet, but I am getting much better at visualizing the pins. This is my first lock with any kind of security pins.

Can someone explain the mechanics of why I feel changing pressure against the tension wrench? While I'm at it, I'm having one hell of a time using the tension wrench at the top of the key way without interfering with the 1st pin. Why do I want to be at the top?

Thanks again folks.

lock - face.jpg

lock - back.jpg

lock - key hole.jpg

[TigerDragon]

One reason to use the tension tool at the top is if the keyway is very small. It gives you a little more room to play with your pick in the keyway. Yes, that first pin can be a problem, but you can work around that with a deeper hook sometimes. With security pins, it may feel like you have a lot of give as you pick. Use lighter pressure than you are used to. Push up on a pin, and if it seems to be pushing the tension tool back against you, let it. It's probably a spool or mushroom pin, and is false set. It takes time, practice, and patience. Good luck.

[Wildfire]

Thanks dragon. I'll keep plugging along. Or should I say pinning along........

[AlexMHH]

Hey, I'm playing around with an American 5200, which, unless I'm mistaken, uses the same cylinder as all other American AM2/4 keyway locks. I've pulled all but three pins, two that are serrated, and a third that's spoolrated. I've noticed absolutely no counterrotational force when trying to pick the spoolrated pin out of a false-set, even when the plug is not rotated to the full extent possible, and using significant pressure on the pick. How do you get past this with the Americans?

[awol70]

Hey, I'm playing around with an American 5200, which, unless I'm mistaken, uses the same cylinder as all other American AM2/4 keyway locks. I've pulled all but three pins, two that are serrated, and a third that's spoolrated. I've noticed absolutely no counterrotational force when trying to pick the spoolrated pin out of a false-set, even when the plug is not rotated to the full extent possible, and using significant pressure on the pick. How do you get past this with the Americans?

here are a few tricks & tips that may help you out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKWTm7j5EqM

[rrkss]

The REI is a code stamp from when the lock was manufactured. When I pick these I either use top of keyway tension or two tension wrenches on the bottom of the keyway. One small tension wrench to put under the groove and then a second larger tension wrench for actual tensioning. The small tension wrench is there to prevent my other tension wrench from jamming. If you don't have a small tension wrench, a paperclip or a bobby pin will do if you prefer bottom of keyway tension.

The trick on these locks is light tension and working the false set. Once you are in a false set, you need to find out the binding order of the spools. If you press up on a spool pin and the keyway does not return to the false set position or a true set, two things could have happened.

1. You are trapped on a serration
2. You did not work the binding pin and reset some other pins.

In this case, get back into a false set and work other pins. Eventually you will find out the binding order and get a true set. Good luck.

[Squelchtone]

The REI is a code stamp from when the lock was manufactured.

rrkss is correct.

For those interested, here is a key to figuring out when your American Lock was made.

First letter is the month of manufacture:
Jan=Z
Feb=Y
Mar=X
Apr=W
May=V
Jun=U
Jul=T
Aug=S
Sep=R
Oct=Q
Nov=P
Dec=O

Last two letters are for the year of manufacture:
1=N
2=M
3=L
4=K
5=J
6=I
7=H
8=G
9=F
0=E

Your American Series 700 with date code of REI was made in September, 2006.

My American Series H10 with date code of VFM was made in May, 1992, and my American 5200 US with a date code of VEGk4 should be May, 2008 but it is not clear what that extra k4 stands for.

enjoy decoding your locks,
Squelchtone

[nhoj_yelbom]

great info!

[viduata]

I'm posting to an old thread because I think I'm badass right now.

So, I got one of these 700s today, and after two hours of picking, I beat it. The second time took about 10 minutes, and the third time took about 2 minutes.

If I could recommend one trick:

I use VERY light tension and s-rake it until it falls into a false set. Half the time, this will happen on the in-stroke, so the rake will get stuck and you'll have to try again. Once you get a false-set on an out-stroke, you'll probably find that all of the serrated pins are at the shear line, and all you need to pick are those bastard spools.

Remember that each spool end has a tiny serration in it, so be gentle and slow, and you'll hear a teeny little click followed by big a k-chunk, and then you can move on.

Anyway, great lock, and very challenging. SPPing it can be maddening, though.

[v12v12]

Oh MAN I... HATED this lock for a long time! Same type, same major frustration at 1st... try the raking then manual pick method as described above; it's how I got mine to pop! Also, yeah there's NO shimming ball-bearing locks :-/

I even contemplated getting a bumper or the Peterson kit for this lol! It was such a PITA lock for me... Namely bc at the time, I didn't have a top/dual-tensioner. The false set really annoyed me back then... now it's sorta like a check/save point that you can reach and know exactly what comes next and how to approach it Vs playing around in the dark hoping for it to suddenly click open (love that feeling!)...

Good luck man!