Moving on from American padlocks

[Goblue57]

Hey guys! I have worked up to picking American padlocks and am finding that each new one I get provides no real challenge at this point. I was hoping for some suggestions on which type/brands of locks would be next in my progression towards lock picking mastery. Any ideas short of medeco and primus would be super helpful! That's for any help!

[RedE]

Sargent cylinders and Best small format interchangeable cores would be my recommendation. Sargent products have very tight tolerances, so much that they are more difficult to pick than Medeco or Schlage Primus if their sidebars are removed, IMO. Best stuff can be a challenge because of the presence of two shearlines and the possibility of crazy keyway shapes (Best premium keyways). And the best part (no pun intended) is both of these locks are readily available on eBay at reasonable prices.

[Goblue57]

Thanks rede, I actually have a Sargent mortise in the mail so it's good to know I'm on the right track. I have a few best cores and I can open them reliably but sometimes I have to reset and drop pins once or twice. Thanks for your reply!

[TheEJM3]

Switch it up completely and go with a Mul-T-Lock Interactive, buy a Sauber kit and start learning how to pick dimples.

[G-lock]

If your just looking to get the feel of some different locks you could try some abus or stanley locks, they are fun to pick & not to hard. If you want something more difficult & punishing ebay # 262885496711 is a very affordable assa practice lock sold by a member here & its a pita to open fully pinned. I have only done it once in almost 2 weeks of trying. The sargent mortise locks that rede suggested are also a good step. The tolerances are much tighter on the sargent than American imo.

[indigoalpha6]

abus, best, schlage everest etc...

dimple locks, tubular locks, kwikset smart key gen 1, etc...mix it up.

medeco. yes, medeco. they're not actually that hard once you figure out the pin rotation.

[Squelchtone]

A WB padlock

[Goblue57]

Thanks guys! Also what would be a good quality dimple kit of reasonable price, and which dimple lock should I start with taking into account my current abilities?

[femurat]

This post of mine could answer your question.

Cheers

[Ralph_Goodman]

Switch it up completely and go with a Mul-T-Lock Interactive, buy a Sauber kit and start learning how to pick dimples.

I was thinking something similar. Try and move to a different type of pin tumbler.

Dimple is good. Maybe even try a tubular.

If you really care about "mastery", you need to make sure you diversify the style of locks you pick... maybe even disk detainers.

[Moses057]

I'm about to be in the same situation although I have 31 more American locks to go. I do have some sfic's, but, they aren't pinned yet. Besides a Sargent and the others listed above what else should I look forward to getting?

[greengrowlocks]

I'm about to be in the same situation although I have 31 more American locks to go. I do have some sfic's, but, they aren't pinned yet. Besides a Sargent and the others listed above what else should I look forward to getting?

I think the Abus Titalium is a nice step up in a difficulty after the Americans. They are easy to find, and not very expensive. If you wanted to try something different you could start on dimple locks. You can find the GOSO dimple kit for $14 and with some sandpaper and a file you can make them into very useful lock picks.

You could also consider the plastic Master Lock Out padlocks which are similar in difficulty to the Americans and not as difficult as the Titalium.

[Moses057]

Ok this is what I have
A 7 pin adversary training lock
15 SC1 KiK cores
11 Yale GC KiK cores
Tubular 7 pin
Soon to get a Mr. Wizzard 7 pin
Abus 55/40
Abus 72/40
Abus 80T/50 titalium
Master #570
Master LoTo #410
32 American 1100 series
10 MBS sfic not pinned yet

The 1 American lock I picked out of the bunch to start on, was kind of a dud. The bitting sucks pretty bad. I raked it open in about 30 seconds. You could basically open it with a butter knife. The rest have a lot of high low which pretty much defeats my raking ability . If I try to rake the others I'm extremely lucky if I can get a false set. As of now my spp skills need a lot of work.

[greengrowlocks]

Ok this is what I have
A 7 pin adversary training lock
15 SC1 KiK cores
11 Yale GC KiK cores
Tubular 7 pin
Soon to get a Mr. Wizzard 7 pin
Abus 55/40
Abus 72/40
Abus 80T/50 titalium
Master #570
Master LoTo #410
32 American 1100 series
10 MBS sfic not pinned yet

That's a pretty good mix of locks you have there. I would probably stop using the rake and just SPP for awhile if you plan on making quick progress. When you move on to higher security locks the rake becomes nearly useless. Looking at your list dimple locks probably make the most sense once you get most of those picked. After you pick a few of the lower security dimple locks you could start on a Mul-T-Lock junior or interactive.

[Ralph_Goodman]

I would probably stop using the rake and just SPP for awhile if you plan on making quick progress. When you move on to higher security locks the rake becomes nearly useless.

Very important advice! Exclusively single pin picking is the best way to get your skills to the next level.

The best of the best never touch a rake and can SPP faster than someone trying to get a false set with a rake before SPPing. If you are looking to move to the next level, it is a great way to go about it.