finally. ..some sucess

[noob8809]

Hi all, im Eric and as my name suggests im a noob.I recently purchased a southord pxs-05 and after 2 days I have opened a no.3 masterlock a cheap DG brand lock and a WB...although not quiet consistently. I"m having trouble determining if the pins are set so sometimes its a suprise when its picked...any suggestions? I'm waiting on a sparrows practice lock set so I'm hoping this helps.the picks work....I polished them after deburing them but they just feel cheap.....any opinions on a set that are good quality with thicker handles.....not looking for a huge kit made like 15 20pcs....thanks

[mechanical_nightmare]

Hello,

Practice and building experience is very important. If you haven't seen it, look for Digital Blue's lock picking exercises on this site. They are quite useful for determining which pin is binding. Your practice lock should help you out, try re-pinning it a few times, without jamming it of course. When re-pinning, you can reduce the number of pin stacks and that will make it easier to determine which pin is binding and which isn't as there are less of them.

About the picks, I believe HPC and Peterson have sets with thicker handles, but you should be good with the SO's for now. There are reviews for many kinds of pick sets from different manufacturers on this site, you can check them out if you want a different set later on.

And yeah, don't get the 20 piece sets... You will probably end up with a handful of picks you like and use all the time, and those are all you need (for standard pin tumblers at least)

[noob8809]

Welp I was wrong after a couple weeks and sparrows progressive locks I still cant open even the two pin lock consistantly....I have read everything done all the exercises and still cannot feel "set" pins..any openings are a total suprise...im soo frustrated

[Squelchtone]

what will you do with your member name once you become a good picker?

[noob8809]

Ill always be a noob at something

[GWiens2001]

Ill always be a noob at something

Excellent attitude!

Gordon

[noob8809]

Its like I cant get the pick in the keyway and when I do it slides off the pins to one side or the other

[nsquidc]

Its like I cant get the pick in the keyway and when I do it slides off the pins to one side or the other

Does the sparrow progressive kit use the Schlage C keyway? (See http://www.door-hardware-genius.com/wp- ... eyways.jpg)

We could give more advice if we knew what type of keyway you're having trouble with.