Tubular lock picking help

[Goldsniper]

Hi. I just bought a south ord 7 pin pick.

On my practice lock I can get it open about 1/4 times. The videos I watched show putting it in and then twisting left and right. That almost never works for me. It seems to only open for me if I slowly push it in with a tiny bit of wobble in each direction. If it doesn’t open first try it seems I need to reset it because some of the needles are in too far already. Tightening the tension doesn’t seem to change that.



Besides my practice lock I have a small sentry safe. Every single time I try to pick it all of the needles impression all the way in at the same time, even with maximum tension. Is this some security feature? How do you overcome it?

Thanks.

[billdeserthills]

When I pick a tubular lock I like to push the pick in & turn left & right, then I back the pick out a little & push it back in with another left & right twist & repeat until the lock opens. I understand putting a small spring inside the end of the tubular pick can help with easier picking. I believe the recommended spring came from a bic pen

[Goldsniper]

When I pick a tubular lock I like to push the pick in & turn left & right, then I back the pick out a little & push it back in with another left & right twist & repeat until the lock opens. I understand putting a small spring inside the end of the tubular pick can help with easier picking. I believe the recommended spring came from a bic pen

Any idea what it means when all the needles push out all the way? Instead of impressioning all the different depths they all just go out together

[billdeserthills]

Sounds like you need to rebuilt your pick, maybe --most use a fat stack of 'o' rings you can get at the hardware store or Harbor Freight

[Safecrackin Sammy]

You cant just push the pick all the way in and then turn it right/left. Insert it most of the way into the lock and then put slight turning pressure and then continue to push in. Its a combined action, but most ace locks are really pretty easy to pick with that tool.

If you have a key, and know which way the lock turns to open, I would just turn in that direction.

As Bill said, check the O rings in your pick even if its new. May need to be replaced. You can add additional feeler tension by simply wrapping a rubber band around the feeler shaft as long as it is out of the way of the lock. Work with the number of wraps of the rubber band to get the tension thats successful.

Bill, I like the idea of the bic spring inside the pick.. Think I am gonna go throw one in my ace pick case now while I am thinking about it.

[Squelchtone]

unscrew and slide off the feeler tightening nut. Inside you will find 2 stacked o-rings which may have gotten bunged up with each other. Remove 1 and put the nut back on and see if you can tighten the nut now and are the feelers harder to push now? If they are loose, install the other o-ring back in and retighten the nut and see if the feelers are harder to push in.

If all that doesn't fix the issue, then you are probably not tightening the nut enough.

Feel free to post photos or upload a video of yourself using it so can better spot the issue.

Squelchtone

[Goldsniper]

I’ll try to upload a vide because something isn’t right. My pick doesn’t seem to work like everyone’s else’s? I can open the practice lock by gently pushing it all the way in with a very tiny rocking action and immediately open. Any time I try the twisting motion like Bosnian bill shows it will never open.


I opened it up and the O rings are fine. I can tighten the kit down so the feelers don’t move at all. No matter what tension it’s at the most I get is one or two feelers not all the way in and even with the rest. I’ve spent hours on this lock. But like I said the practice lock only opens the way I described and not how others show using it.

If you were to bind the pins while pushing in wouldn’t that cause the feelers to push past the sheer line and need to be reset??

[Squelchtone]

I'll tell you a story.

I was called in to a store to open a Sentry safe that the owner had closed accidentally by pressing the tubular lock in. Normally he had just used the combination dial, but for some reason or another the tubular lock that pops out when unlocked, got pushed in and made it so the safe could not be opened.

I was pretty new to tubular lock picking, but I had an HPC Peanut tubular pick, and had used it a few times already. I tried what was taught in youtube videos that I saw which was to tighten the nut pretty hard, push a steady pressure against the pins and twist hard left sharply, then stop. and turn right sharply, and repeat this over and over while slightly pressing in more and more each time until the lock opened. Soon enough I was bottomed out, deep inside the lock and no dice, it wouldn't open.

My buddy was with me, he knew the owner of the store, and he was also decent at picking locks and wanted to try the pick having never used a tubular pick before. He set the feelers against a flat surface and tightened the nut. Then proceeded to put the pick into the lock on the Sentry safe, and apply some gentle pressure against the face of the lock while quickly but gently turning Left, Right Left, Right, without going full stop real hard in each direction, and wouldn't you know it, the lock opened. I was a bit embarrassed and had to try it for myself and sure enough it worked. I didnt even have to press hard against the face of the lock, it only took a couple swings in each direction.

Without seeing a video or how you're doing it, I can't tell if this might benefit you, but I do hope it helps in your efforts.

Squelchtone

[Goldsniper]

I took a video I just don’t know how to upload it here.

[Squelchtone]

I took a video I just don’t know how to upload it here.

You cant upload directly here but you could upload to Vimeo or Youtube and Copy/Paste the address to the video.

[Goldsniper]

Man this lock box is pissing me off. I thought maybe it’s because it’s locked with the lid open so I just spent an hour trying to single pin pick it.

I only got as far as pin 1. I get a nice click and rotation, but then no other pins get me anywhere. I feel a strong bind but when I try to set it I see it go all the way in and stay there, with no rotation.

Does this sentry safe lock box have spook pins? Varied tension driver pins? WTH...

[Goldsniper]

I finally got it, but I really wish I knew what I did.

I tried learning the binding order but really didn’t get passed 1, possibly 3. Eventually I just went back and forth. It seemed like pins were half setting and I’d have to go do another one before coming back to finish it up.


Weird thing is, once I got it to turn I stuck my tubular impressioning tool in and it immediately impressions and turns.

I’ve spent hours on this and the tubular pick wouldn’t work no matter what I did. But once it turned from single picking it took half a second to impression??

I just decoded it so I can have a key made. At least I got that done

[billdeserthills]

Man this lock box is pissing me off. I thought maybe it’s because it’s locked with the lid open so I just spent an hour trying to single pin pick it.

I only got as far as pin 1. I get a nice click and rotation, but then no other pins get me anywhere. I feel a strong bind but when I try to set it I see it go all the way in and stay there, with no rotation.

Does this sentry safe lock box have spook pins? Varied tension driver pins? WTH...

My best guess would be that spooky pins will hafta wait for October to show up

[GWiens2001]

Man this lock box is pissing me off. I thought maybe it’s because it’s locked with the lid open so I just spent an hour trying to single pin pick it.

I only got as far as pin 1. I get a nice click and rotation, but then no other pins get me anywhere. I feel a strong bind but when I try to set it I see it go all the way in and stay there, with no rotation.

Does this sentry safe lock box have spook pins? Varied tension driver pins? WTH...

My best guess would be that spooky pins will hafta wait for October to show up

Gordon