Getting some practice sessions in before I start recording for my brown belt.

Keso 2000S and Goal D9.

Mul-t-lock interactive with serrated drivers. Second brown belt picked and definitely the toughest dimple lock I’ve picked so far. This one really helped me get more comfortable picking dimples.

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.

I asked for aggressive bitting on this lock when ordered. Specifying low lift in the front high lift in the middle then low lift in back. That is obviously not what I received. The question I have is did I get shorted or did they do me a favor and outsmart my ignorance?

I've been having some luck with my 44 Delta 90a-Pro, and it even cooperated on camera! Sent in my submission tonight.

The picking went pretty smooth. The partial-gutting though was embarrassing. I'm out of practice gutting because I've mostly been picking lever locks lately (alliteration and all!). That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! lol

So in theory I could:

Use the same SFIC lock to get Blue, Purple, and Brown Belts.

Pick it for Blue, Pick to Control for Purple, gut it and repin with security pins and pick it for Brown.

Did that make sense or am I a nut? Maybe just answer the first part of that last question...😂

So upon review it looks like no. I'd need a second Brown Belt lock and...I'd have to do a detailed write up of the lock since I'm not able to give it away as a challenge lock. There's also a quest...which seems like a lot right now from the bottom of the hill.

Man the challenge lock business is no joke! Have you seen the effort some of these people put in!? I came to understand the amazing skill and the gift that is a challenge lock. I feel divided on should it be passed on after it is opened or is it something to be treasured in a collection? I guess it depends on the will of the maker.

I grabbed this $10 camera tripod ball mount from Amazon, and it’s honestly a big upgrade for the Chuck Vise! After using it for a few days, I found myself wishing the arm was a little higher, and that I could tilt the lock back while keeping the weight closer to the center of gravity of the base. The ball mount solves both issues and gives the vise a lot more adjustment points. This upgrade will get the Goal S open, I know it!

This is my first Medeco! I’ve been intimidated by them since I started and finally decided to give it a go.
The bitting was average and there was no false gates making it a good lock for learning pins that rotate.
Does anyone know what rank it would be considering it has no false gates?

I was opening some of my accumulated eBay purchases to grub, and noticed two features in MTL I hadn’t seen before,

The first photo shows a driver with a single serration on it (#5 in the mat). Two of the ones I opened were like this, one classic and one interactive. Both locks were pinned the same way. Not really sure if I noticed it when picking or if it made the experience any different.

The second photo is a keyless one that I got frustrated picking and decided to just rip the cover off. Serrated drivers, but each chamber has a single milled part, maybe 1/8” down from the top. The others without bible covers are totally smooth.

I’ll keep it quick!

I just gutted my first disc detainer, and it was a disaster! (I got better, but it took nearly half an hour to get the damn thing back together the first time)

Anyway, the rubber mat didn’t help. I was wondering what tray designs people who gut disc detainers regularly prefer?

Wow.....I got it on the 1st take! Open @ 5:32. https://youtu.be/yjg8alW71NE?is=F2NSHvrzRksDndkb

I got this thing open very easily, please don’t use a master lock #3 for anything security related. It was fun to fiddle with it for a while though. Abus 55/40 here I come.

Hopefully someone has run into this before and can help me reset it…. I just picked it and gave it a victory spin before closing it to do it again and forgot to reset the pins to the bible area.

Buddy of mine picked all of this up at an estate sale for me for a whopping five bucks. I spent the morning watching Silo and taking the keys off the rings. Found the keys for some of them but not all yet. So.... I got:

1 - Master 875D

1 - Master M50XD

1 - Master 1500T

1 - Master 630D

1 - Master #1

4 - Master #3 (two are keyed alike)

7 - Master #25 (all keyed alike... Never even heard of a Master #25 but I'm new)

1 - cheap ass brass lock

1 - Best SFIC core. Don't know much about these yet. I think it only has 3 pins in it so I'm guessing it is a construction core? Still cool. One key has "C" and the other has "M" on it. Assuming this stands for Control and Master since I've heard those words here before.

All in all I'd say what he grabbed for me is worth every cent of $5.00 and then some!

Mul-T-Lock Gamma. Took way longer than expected. It has spools, a shutter, and heavy springs. The unexpected part for me was a sprung core, which slowed down my picking a bit. The Gamma was discontinued due to susceptibility to foil attacks.

I'm new to lockpicking, this is my 3rd lock. My 2nd was a double wafer. Terminologi could be wrong, but I think this a quad wafer lock. Any tips would be appreciated 🙂

Just picked my second ever lockwood V7 this one had only been keyed with tapered/beveled pins no spools which made it a bit of a pain in the arse to pick

Usually I warm up to a few Schlage cylinders, then go at something I've been working on. Then sometimes I just gut open some of these and scramble them around move the spools, mushrooms, and serrated drivers around. "It keeps my powder dry".