Trouble with Schlage

[commadore]

So I finally coughed up 60 bucks and bought a residential schlage deadbolt, its ANSI grade 1 and has an "Anti-pick Shield" apparently. I've mounted it with a couple others on practice module.

I cannot pick this lock for the life of me, and have done my research. I had access to a friends schlage which I did pick successfully after some putting quite some time into it. I even practice on it for at least an hour every night while looking at the key infront of me. I can feel the pins setting and becoming very close to opening it (I know that sound/feeling), but have never opened it. I practice picking it mostly counterclockwise because that's the way I got the other one, but making sure I put a good effort on both.

Pins are in my terms starting front back to front - 1-verysmall 2-verylarge 3-verysmall 4-verylarge 5-veryverysmall
lol ^ I know you will say I should have checked out easier keyed ones but I've put time into this one.
Also tried various tensions positions, tension tools, tension itself, picks

I have been practicing a lot the past few months, reading and researching, growing my collection and felt like I past a real milestone recently because I started actually being able to take the feedback from the picks/sounds/feelings and adjust my movements accordingly and basically understanding whats happening inside the lock.

Any advice guys? I know I can pick it eventually but im getting frustrated.

Heres some locks I have I can pick everytime- Wieser deadbolt, Brinks deadbolts, master 3's , garrison padlocks, and a bunch of random padlocks.

Also bought a brinks 527 but I give myself slack on that one.
Thanks, comma

[GWiens2001]

Many of the commercial Schlages have spool pins. A quick search here will show methods to handle them.

You also might consider cutting back the number of pins in the lock to two, and increase as your skill improves.

Warning - if you remove a pin (or more), don't just remove the key pin. Be sure to remove the driver pin and spring above it, too. If you don't, the lock will jam and the spring will wind around the plug when you turn it.

Good luck,

Gordon

[Raymond]

Good luck with that one. The better grade Schlages have spool pins. They also have stronger than normal springs. Plus, almost any lock keyed with a high-low-high-low combination will create great difficulty. Go for as slender a pick as possible with a medium curve so you can reach the high pins without moving the long ones. There aren't any really special tricks for these. They are examples of just plain high quality locks.

[xylac]

One option (already mentioned) is removing a number of the pin stacks, so you can practice the low-high combinations. Another option is rearranging the pins so instead of (high-low-high-very low), you could have something like (very low-low-high-high) so you can get used to using the right amount of tension and maneuvering inside of the keyway. Be aware though that this method means your key will not be able to operate the lock, so you should only try this if you know you'll be able to pick it, or know how to get it open other ways.

Have you taken apart the lock to see what's inside of it?

[daniel22747]

The warding, or shape, of the keyway on a schlage means you will have to get used to lifting at an angle, instead of straight up and down attacks. This can take some practice.

Also watch for overseting of pins and let off the tension just a hair if you think you did overset to get the key pins to fall back down.

[thesheerline]

Yeah. Schlage's can be incredibly frustrating. I am in the same spot as you are. My ex-girlfriends appt had a schlage knob-lock on the outside door (to get into the building) and the door to her unit had a schalge dead-bolt along with a schalge knob lock beneath it. I didn't have a key to the building nor did I need one. I would card the outside door within a few seconds, and usually rake/scrub the locks to her unit. the whole process usually took no more than three minutes.

On the other hand, I currently have a handful of various schlage's, which I obtained from a friendly lock-smith nearby (good way to get practice locks, btw). Thus far, I've picked about half of em'.

Based on personal experience, a small diamond pick combined with counter-clockwise tension seems to be the most effective form of attack on those. The annoyingly small keyways aren't very accommodating. Given the high-low pin settings which you describe, I'm thinking a proper Bogata may be effective, based on what I know about them. If you don't have one, maybe a combination of a mellow long-reach hook, plus a saw-rake (try simply jiggling it, as if you had too much coffee and see what sets.) Then finish it off with the hook. Bear in mind, I am just spit-balling here, I haven't had to much luck with schalges, to please take this with a grain of salt.

[jfw]

Don't just focus on CCW tension. Try CW as well. That will change the binding order. Also don't just focus from the back of the lock to the front, try front to back. TRY TRY and TRY... oh and keep TRYING. I have a handful of Schlage LFIC.... sometimes it takes a few scrubs from the front to back, back to front to get the lock to "bite" the pick. SLOWLY lift each binding pin.. Overlifting can definitely become a problem as well. That's the best advice I can give for Schlage. However I don't believe I have tried the NEW residential Schlages, only the old easy ones. Good luck, hope you pop it!

[commadore]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm definitely having trouble with picking at an angle also my southord picks seem to be to tall? anyone else see this issue, im having greater progress if you can call it that with my sparrows because they are not as tall and it does not disturb the pins. My sparrows small hook (fav) is going to break soon so I have to make a new one or buy some.

My plan is to remove the last pink without removing the chamber covering plate because last time it was not easy finding something to replace it.

The keyway is very restrictive as well.

[bjornnrojb]

Dude start out with easier locks and work your way up. Also do what the other guy said and take a few pins out. Beating your head against a wall won't make you better at anything except seeing stars.

[alockguru]

Well the "pick shield" is simply the metal sleeves on the back of the lock to prevent people from using ice picks to get at the latch

sc from box stores will use 4 spool drivers in front and the last pin will be a normal driver pin.

Very light tension is your best friend. If you get it to pick "almost" but it stops all of a sudden grab a half diamond and lighten your tension a little more to try and finish'er up.

have fun.

[commadore]

So I gutted it and your right all spools but 1, no wonder lol. left 2 stacks in there and i'm practicing picking it both ways, soon ill throw a 3rd in and so on. The tolerances are amazing on this lock. very well made.

[YouLuckyFox]

Lately I like to shim the lock from the back and shim all but the front most pin, pick it CW and CCW, move the shim back and pick the two front pins, etc.This was helpful for a commercial Schlage that I was having trouble with not long ago. It takes time off of removing pins from the lock. EAS strips work fine as shims, giving two and sometimes three shims per strips.

[commadore]

The jump from 2 to 3 pins seems to be getting the best of me right now.

[mechanical_nightmare]

It's frustrating to hear all this talk about Schalge's and not have one to pick

I usually have my friends who live in the US carry my stuff over, so I will definitely be doing some trades April/May ish.

In the meanwhile, Gordon can pick the Kale's I sent him and compare the difficulty to Schlage. At least that way I can get some perspective

[DennisK]

I recently bought a Schlage clear practice lock with 5 spool pins.I have yet to set pin number 5,even with the ability to see what is happening.