need help unlocking an old lock

[bbvipr]

Hi i am new to the site as well as the hobby in general. I have always thought it would be kinda fun to pick locks but honestly i thought it wasnt any thing i could learn legally but any ways i have a lock at home that i have had for a some time now and it bugs me that i cant open it. it is a master lock the kinda that u twist to the right number to open. its a regular run of the mill lock from the store. i can take a pic of it if that would help, but i dont know how to host images. Any tips on how to figure otu teh combo would be greatly apriciated thank you in advanced

[MrB]

Hi, and welcome.

Do a search for "finding and master and combo"

Since this is your first post, do also check out the FAQs and sticky posts in the various forums.

[Wolf2486]

MrB, just out of curiosity, was there ever a die-hard method developed for opening these. Every time I tried to find a technique it either A) rarely works, or B) only works on a certain range of locks. I understand that Master upgrades their system all the time in order to keep any defaults at bay; however, was there ever a technique used to open all of them, or has this flaw yet to be discovered? Thank You, I apologize if this question seems trivial.

[raimundo]

my shims open them in seconds. The shims I make are different from the butterfly type that are sold, they work on a straight in thrust over locking dog. I have described them and how to make them before, but the noobs never seem to get it, so I gave one to lockmistress so that at least someone on the site knows exactly what I am talking about.

[MrB]

I have no idea if there is a general method for manipulating Master combo locks that works universally. I am somewhat sceptical myself; I have a feeling that different manufacturing batches will vary. I bought one sample to play with, and I couldn't make the published techniques work on it, though I didn't try to exhaustion.

Raimundo's shim idea is probably the most reliable method, but it is no fun, so it doesn't get talked about very much.

[bigbike]

Master locks are like any other lock, you have the top of the line (rarely seen by meer mortals) or the more common $10 and under variety which everyone uses to lock there $$$$ valued item to a chainlink fence! (gee can you point out 2 obvious breeches of security with only mentions of cheap lock and chain link fence? )

If you are still having problems with the combo on the lock email me and I will see what I can do about getting you into it.

[Kayvon]

Raimundo, I don't suppose you can post some pictures of the shims you mentioned? I've only heard of the butterfly type, aside from the single post where you took apart a VCR tape. I'd like to see how you went about doing that. (Guess that makes me a noob!)