BEST Locks

[cookiemonster]

Hi all,
I'm just getting into lock picking and bought a dozen training locks last week to start working with to increase my skills. I've had success with all but two, one of which happens to be a BEST lock. I've done some research on the Internet, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of public information about these. From what I've looked at online, it seems like an IC cylinder, and I've attached a few pictures of the key they gave me to open the lock up *apparently the "board attachment quota has been reached". I guess what I'm interested in is the best method of picking to use for a BEST lock (It sound like bumping is pretty difficult on these). Any information on BEST locks would be super useful. Thanks so much!


-Adam

[Squelchtone]

7 years worth of attachments and the board is full. We host pics on places like Photobucket.com and then use [img] or [url] tags to put them in the posts.

light tension when picking the BEST locks...

Squelchtone

[cookiemonster]

Thanks for the feedback. Here's the link to the pictures... http://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd479/adamwilliamcook/

[cookiemonster]

Is it possible to tell how many pins or what BEST keyway it is from the key?

[Squelchtone]

Is it possible to tell how many pins or what BEST keyway it is from the key?

What you have is not a normal BEST... it's a BEST / KABA Peaks 7 pin.

http://www.kaba-ilco.com/access_control/products/peaks.aspx

Squelchtone

[vov35]

http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/sfic/

[misterj]

Squelchtone has got it...that is not a standard Best keyway...the keyway is going to be significantly more complex, possibly paracentric. I think it is still patent protected, too. Otherwise, it operates the same as any other SFIC lock.

Definitely a NICE core! I'd love to get my hands on one of them, but whenever I see the KABA ones available, they're so darned expensive!

[misterj]

Squelchtone has got it...that is not a standard Best keyway...the keyway is going to be significantly more complex, possibly paracentric. I think it is still patent protected, too. Otherwise, it operates the same as any other SFIC lock.

Definitely a NICE core! I'd love to get my hands on one of them, but whenever I see the KABA ones available, they're so darned expensive!

Also, the only place I've run into these in the wild is at a MA state building which contained the RMV. The RMV had OLD Corbins on its' doors, but these were on the other doors in the building. If you look around, you'll see TONS of SFICs around, many on stores, but these ones with funky keyways are definitely less common.

[Evan]

Squelchtone has got it...that is not a standard Best keyway...the keyway is going to be significantly more complex, possibly paracentric. I think it is still patent protected, too. Otherwise, it operates the same as any other SFIC lock.

Definitely a NICE core! I'd love to get my hands on one of them, but whenever I see the KABA ones available, they're so darned expensive!

Also, the only place I've run into these in the wild is at a MA state building which contained the RMV. The RMV had OLD Corbins on its' doors, but these were on the other doors in the building. If you look around, you'll see TONS of SFICs around, many on stores, but these ones with funky keyways are definitely less common.

@misterj:

Lots of places are swapping out older Best SFIC cores for Peaks...

Banks and security conscious retail chains not using InstaKey cores...

The nickel-silver color of the core as well as the protruding plug face will clue you into a Peaks core...

~~ Evan

[raimundo]

to address the number of pins in it, there could be six or seven pins that you will find by doing a pin drop count by lifting all the pins on the back straight edge of a common half diamond pick, there will also be a small check pin in the front of the lock, which can create rotation problems when the picked core is turned 180 degrees, this pin has no spring and is gravity dropped, it can be pulled back up with chewing gum if this problem occurs,

I haven't looked at one of these in years and am only remembering this stuff so you will have to decide if this applies to your cylinder.

[misterj]

Squelchtone has got it...that is not a standard Best keyway...the keyway is going to be significantly more complex, possibly paracentric. I think it is still patent protected, too. Otherwise, it operates the same as any other SFIC lock.

Definitely a NICE core! I'd love to get my hands on one of them, but whenever I see the KABA ones available, they're so darned expensive!

Also, the only place I've run into these in the wild is at a MA state building which contained the RMV. The RMV had OLD Corbins on its' doors, but these were on the other doors in the building. If you look around, you'll see TONS of SFICs around, many on stores, but these ones with funky keyways are definitely less common.

@misterj:

Lots of places are swapping out older Best SFIC cores for Peaks...

Banks and security conscious retail chains not using InstaKey cores...

The nickel-silver color of the core as well as the protruding plug face will clue you into a Peaks core...

~~ Evan

I have seen a couple of stores using InstaKey cores, but not too many...

I've seen very few around here...just that state building so far. Most larger stores and other buildings here are Best/Arrow/Falcon SFIC (mostly A keyway, though there's a few with some other single letter keyways...there's an Olympia Sports store using one of the W series cores...WA I think. There's a few stores on older Medeco stuff. The two banks here I deal with are on Keymark...not sure about the others. The hospital has what looks like a huge Arrow SFIC master-keyed system. The local college has Medeco exteriors and Lockwood interiors (mastered). That's about all I can think of as far as what's around here...not much variety.

I hope I'm not the only one who looks at the locks on the doors of everywhere I walk into!

[vov35]

Is it possible to tell how many pins ... it is from the key?

Wait, we're still helping him after he asked this?

[raimundo]

you can count the bottoms of the valleys on the key or you can do the pin drop count to get a fairly accurate count of the number of pins.

to do a pin drop put a straight piece of metal like a bobby pin straight into the lock and lift all the pins on it to the top of the keyway, then slowly pull this out and count as the pins sound off