Had it up to here!!

[SaintAccardo]

One thing I will say is that Master locks aren't that bad of locks for securing your things. Unless you're a professional locksmith or been at it for years as a hobby, these things will not open for the average lockpick on a consistent basis. Sure, even after two days I've opened both of mine several times but they are much more frustrating than giving anyday. Now the one I thought I had down pat is giving me a motherf'$#er of a time AGAIN!!!!! What in the hell gives here? I guess I can only take the advice here and also accept the fact that I will never be consistently good at opening anything above the cheapest Master. Does anyone else here think that your average houselocks are MUCH easier than most Master locks?

[GWiens2001]

The Master locks have more of a problem with sloppy tolerances. Trust us, once you get the hang of them, they are very easy.

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

One thing I will say is that Master locks aren't that bad of locks for securing your things. Unless you're a professional locksmith or been at it for years as a hobby, these <censored> things will not open for the average lockpick on a consistent basis. Sure, even after two days I've opened both of mine several times but they are much more frustrating than giving anyday. Now the one I thought I had down pat is giving me a motherf'$#er of a time AGAIN!!!!! What in the hell gives here? I guess I can only take the advice here and also accept the fact that I will never be consistently good at opening anything above the cheapest Master. Does anyone else here think that your average houselocks are MUCH easier than most Master locks?

Nobody on here will tell You that you can't open any lock You choose. I think you are used to things working easily for you and now that You found something that is consistently difficult you are becoming frustrated. Practice makes perfect, it took me years of practice with my pick gun to make opening a lock look easy to my clients. You can do it too, but you'll have to expend the time

[SaintAccardo]

Being honest, and I'm assuming you went to school or at least took some courses, how long did it take you before you were good at picking say a Master lock no.3 or equivalent in difficulty?

[billdeserthills]

My Dad was a locksmith, as he used to always say, "I don't pick locks for fun Billy" whenever I wanted to watch him pick a lock up close(like so I might learn something) I doubt I have picked a little master lock, well ok I picked open one of their gun locks at work a few weeks ago. That had the #7 padlock cylinder I guess. I don't pick locks for fun, I do it to make a living. You are actually facing a harder choice, to me anyhow. I just hafta get the lock open, with only me & the client to decide how many pieces it might be in when I finish.

I just think it makes me look bad if I can't pick their lock, but other than the expense of replacing the lock, I don't really think they care too much. Also I have a bucket of used locks in the truck as well as lotsa new ones, so for me trying to force myself to pick a lock when I already know I can't do it was once a great burden. Now after years of doubting myself I can usually beat the stuff I see at work just going through the motions.

Honestly SaintAccardo, I use a pick gun, Idk if I could even pick open a lock with hand tools. I mean it's been 15 or 20 years since I had to open a lock without a pick gun. I do like to impression keys to padlocks tho, so I do have some options.

[WOOGIEB83]

If you want to.see what's going on in a lock and hone your skills a little bit try spending a little money on a cutaway lock. I purchased one myself not that long ago and trust me I can tell a difference in my skill. Only bad thing is it really doesn't feel much like a lock and sometimes the cutaway that you get could be milled down a little too much and pins will stick. It's all up to you. Hope this helped

[SaintAccardo]

Yes this all helped a great deal. I can breech Master locks no.3's and 5's and Wilson Bohannon brass 5 pin locks now with relative ease just like you guys had said I would.

I've also figured out how to temper my picks with a torch and water which I think helps greatly as they are much stiffer and stronger. This is after experimenting and ruining about 10 picks essentially turning them into what I called "gumby picks". I temper them to a dark straw color just under blue and quench them in water instead of oil. This has helped alot because on locks that I have to put more tension on they won't bend when the pins become harder to lever up because of the greater tension and the stiffness/hardness sends more feedback through the pick into my fingers and hand.

I am still having great trouble picking the Master M930. The keyway is tight as hell with the tension in the bottom and when I use TOK, when I lever my pick to push up the pins, especially the back pins, I'm coming at them from an angle basically with the tension and the angle, it makes the pins nearly impossible to move, even when it's been well lubricated.

Is there anyone who can pick these with ease? I've gotten to the point where Master no.3 and 5's are easy as hell, no challenge at all and I'm talking SPP not picking or raking so I can definitely see that this is a much harder lock to pick. I've also tried a number of picks too with nothing really helping although the small half diamond gives me the best workability. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Kheops]

I realize that I'm reviving an old post, having said that, from personal experience 930s are quite a bit harder to pick than no 3s, or 140s, or 150s, etc.

Don't get too ambitious too fast.

If you're still refining your skills, stick to easier locks for now. Some easier deadbolts would be Kwikset, or Defiant. If you find them still too hard take out 1 or two stacks (PM me if you need halp with that).

A 3 stack Defiant is how I built up my skills. I stuck to that for a little while. Don't temper your picks (you're applying way too much pressure), and don't spend a lot on picks either. For my first few months I picked with a small half diamond, and a small hook I made myself from a hack saw blade... it's really all you need, in the begining...

Put the 930 aside for now. Once you can easily pick a Defiant or Kwikset, with random bitting go back to it...