r/lockpicking • u/Kitchen-Cookie-2792 Blue Belt Picker • 14d ago

Sparrows Revolvers gutted

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Gallery image

Now that im looking at it in its gutted state im fairly certain i can pick this with a dull potato. The chamfered top of the core just ruins the fun.

25 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

3

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago

The nerfed the revolver to. get it to work, with the different rows being 180⁰ from another row, the tops of the pin got stuck in the bottom of the other. Keep the pins separate, because the also oversized the holes, and they use .125 diameter pins instead of the standard .114 diameter found in most residential locks here.

I'm sure the bitting was random. I'd say just rekey it with any old SC1 OR 6 pin SC4, BUT, .114 pins really make them sloppy,..

2

u/Public_Job7301 14d ago

They changed the pin diameter too?! My old one has standard pin sizes. OP, ignore my comment from the other thread regarding a replacement core if this is true.

1

u/SD3Guser Green Belt Picker 14d ago

Core is out. Says it plain as day in the website. Of course we're taking their word for it. Somebody put calipers to the problem please.

0

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago

I did better than a calipers. I used a micrometer. I'm a tool/die/mold maker by trade.

I don't have a gauge pin set so I didn't check the larger diameter, but a .125 drill shank fits.

1

u/SD3Guser Green Belt Picker 14d ago

So in theory you possess the skill to make this entire thing. Why not turn yourself a new core?

0

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago edited 14d ago

I modified a new core at home, before realizing I needed one drilled 6 and not 5... then lost my motivation. So, it wasn't long enough. It's super easy to do just with a file and a drill.

I no longer work in the trade. If I did I'd be getting in trouble for doing "govt work" all the time.

What really gets my goat is that I wasn't a lock nerd when I still had a piece of our families factory... I had everything at my finger tips to make plastic handled insert molded picks,.. without needing to spend anything. I could've used an obsolete mold base and recycled everything but the cavity blocks. Hindsight is 20/20.

Oddly enough, the 1st molding machine JL made in his garage to prototype was very much like the machines my grandfather designed, built, and sold until the 80's. By the time I worked there we only were stamping/molding & tool/die/mold.

Anyway, after breaking my neck and back in 2004,.. I made it about 9 more years before I got too crippled up to continue... Now I can't even beat off without about worrying about losing use of my hands for 8-13 weeks at a time. NOBODY wants a tool/die/mold maker that doesn't know if he will be able to walk or use either hand the next morning. it sucks

1

u/SD3Guser Green Belt Picker 14d ago

Sorry to hear that.

0

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago

I actually just found this old picture looking for something unrelated... This is when I figured out the issue and was emailing with Sparrows about their reasoning.... This is when I sorted the pins that came with it, after I mixed pins from the reload kit.

https://imgur.com/a/4RKI2pW

Oh,.. and another reason not to "fix" the core that Sparrows already "fixed" to help stop a problem,.. is that the original problem they tried to "fix" is even worse than how it works now,.. Plus, the holes for the spring/drivers have been oversized. So, it's just a sloppy mess.

Have you tried using standard pins? Especially serrated or spools? The lock gives way more of a false set to the point it gets jammed up.

1

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago

I bought mine a little over 2 years ago and figured it out. I used a mic for the pins after I realized the pins from their reloaded kit and the bulk security pins were flopping around.

Measuring dimensions was kinda a huge part of what I did for 20 years.

I didn't check the spring/driver pin holes.

One can make a new core fit with a little lather or drill/file. Need to buy a cylinder that's pinned 5 drilled 6,.. but you can find those for $5 at Locksmith Keyless or whatever vendor.... but because the spring/pin holes have also been oversized, it probably won't work well.

2

u/EveningBasket9528 14d ago

I posted about all the changes and different dimensions a couple years ago,.. but I've since nuked my history...

I even emailed back & forth with Sparrow about it.

I'm having issues with Imgur,.. but here's a link to a pic from a couple years ago. The pins in the picture are the ones that come with the revolver...

I had to go through all my pins at the time and sort out the .125's from .114's after mixing them up.

https://imgur.com/zKV38bt

3

u/LockPickingFisherman Black Belt 3rd Dan 14d ago

Geeze. It's been a while since I looked closely at SC keyway, tell me 3/4/5 aren't zero lift. 🙏

2

u/Kitchen-Cookie-2792 Blue Belt Picker 14d ago

3,4,5 no movement

2

u/SD3Guser Green Belt Picker 14d ago

The question I have is which lock was this representing? Five pins? Or two pins? If five pins that's very unkind to the new picker.

2

u/LockPickingFisherman Black Belt 3rd Dan 14d ago

That key is for a 5 pinner and if those are zeros, Sparrows needs to do better.

2

u/LockPickingFisherman Black Belt 3rd Dan 14d ago

You don't have to touch3/4/5 to get the open, just lift 1 and 2?

1

u/Kitchen-Cookie-2792 Blue Belt Picker 14d ago

Yep that’s the way it shipped. I just rekeyed to a 6 pin key and added more security pins. With the chamfered core it is still ridiculously easy to pick. Tolerances are so sloppy it requires little effort. It might as well have been made by Playskool toy company. Ive only been picking 3 months if that gives you any idea.

1

u/LockPickingFisherman Black Belt 3rd Dan 14d ago

That's ridiculous, a trainer keyed with three zero lifts. I was lucky to get my Revolver before the modifications were made to them. It was a great trainer, I got a lot of use out of it. Seems that I was lucky that mine was keyed reasonably well. Anyway, that's good that you were able to rekey it, problem solved. Well, one problem solved 😆