I still don't know why they replaced it with the skyrim/fallout system. It was accurate and occasionally challenging, and way more fun as a minigame.

I still to this day have no idea how to do it lol

You should check out Thief then

Except if they represented the pins as not "latching in place" somehow. Dunno how you'd pick a lock with 5 pins using old fashioned lockpicks, though

Not all not even most new locks still work that way. You have false gates, gaps, and other things to help prevent people who aren't used to lockpicking from getting opening a lock without a key

let's try it again to see it wasn't a fluke...

As always, have a nice day and thank you.

What I have for you today is a lock so bad, it’s literally just half a lock.

Came here for this comment, as they say

Naw, all standard pins on this one :)

I think he'll just rake this kind of locking mechanism, no need to pick each individually

Usually he goes up in numbers. Your order seems out of place.

Speak for yourself, most of us know very well thanks to LPL.

Actually we just use what other people with engineering skills created. We consume what others created.

The reason you cant put keys into other keyholes is often caused by the zigzag pattern of the key being different to the lock. The zigzag is there to increase security.

Generally the side pins are for key control not picking

Some definitely make it harder but they never prevent, just slow

You just say ‘click out of one, good click on two, three is binding’ then the lock opens.

Everyone is responding with Lock Picking Lawyers videos memes, and for good reason.

Here’s a pretty good video of him picking locks with a part cut away, so you can see what’s happening.

https://youtu.be/T_sy3dLwHkc

You use a lock pick to try and work the pistons in the right position so you can turn the lock and open it. You use a pry tool to put pressure on the lock while using a pick to push the pistons up trying to get the pistons to get in place. Sorry, the terminology I used it not the correct terminology but I think I got my point across.

You force the inner chamber to twist in the direction it would eventually go to unlock. Most locks inner core will have a tiny bit of play. You then go down the line pushing each pin up until the split gets stuck in the top, outer part. Once all pins are "out" the inner barrel will turn, lock picked.

You use a torque wrench to turn the bottom chamber slightly, then you push up on the a pin until it sets. What does it mean to set? It means the top pin gets stuck in the top chamber, resting on the bottom chamber. Rinse an drepeat until the dividing line in the middle is clear, and the lock opens. This can happen because the holes in the chamber aren't drilled in a perfectly straight line, and lockpickers take advantage of it

Not sure if people explained the main principle properly. The key position every pin at the same time into the correct position to allow the lock to open. If all the pins were perfectly made there wouldnt be other ways to unlock it.

But they arent. They wont be. They cant be. And you can use this to position each of the pins into correct position one at a time. This is why you have the turning tool that you apply pressure to to make the pins press into the sides of their holes. At any given moment, due to the imperfection, only one will be pressed against the walls completely.

Once you position that first pin, the lock will turn ever so slightly and another pin will now be the one that is pressed. Do that for all pins and the lock will eventually turn open. All that is left is to find the correct order of pins being pressed into the side of the cylinder.

The pin that is pressed is the one that is "binding". When there is "nothing" on a pin, it means its not being pressed at all. When pin that was binding "clicks" it means it has been set into the right position, which made the cylinder rotate and now a new pin is "binding".

Elder scrolls oblivion basically

Hows*

One way to open locks is to use a drill bit to drill right above the top of the keyway. The idea is to completely obliterate the "shear line" which is the line between the inner cylinder, called the core, and the outer part. That's why many high security locks have hardened steel pins or disks embedded at the top of the core.

You can also shoot the lock.

The metal would have to be very thin to fit between the pins without pushing them into the mechanism and that thin metal would just not give you any leverage to brute force the pins enough to break them.

Just drill right down the pins.

Sometimes, but its loud and the break in is obvious and it won't always work. Its possible to design a lock such that forcing the core to spin will not engage the mechanism that unlocks the door.

People can also kick in a door. But if its loud and obvious a person feels more likely to be caught, and is less likely to attempt it in the first place.

No, not really. There are better ways to destructively attack homes than the pins inside of a lock.

In a very vague nutshell, "sort of". You have to keep tension on the chamber to prevent the pins from dropping back to their original position while you are lifting each pin individually (if you're single pin picking). So you have a tension wrench applying pressure to turn it to the side, but not enough to bind the pins. Then as you lift the pins into position, you'll feel a slight give as each one meets the sheer line (where they need to go). If you've done it correctly, you'll eventually lift all the pins to the sheer line and the chamber will turn enough to release the shackle.

I imagine them as little horns whislting a different sound depending on their height. Ending on the same beautifully harmonious note once the mechanism fully unlocks.

This is a pin cylinder or tumbler lock, which represents the vast majority of key locks (as opposed to electronic or combination locks) made today. Other types of locks exist, but are not as common. These include lever locks, wafer locks, warded locks, disc detainer locks, and whatever madness various inventors have occasionally come up with for one-off lock ideas.

This is how the vast majority of padlocks work that you'll find in the wild or at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot etc. But as the other poster replied, there are other types of locks as well.

The locksmith pulls the barrel out, removes the old set of pins and puts in a new set with different lengths. Then the key is cut with bumps that correspond to pushing each length to the shear point of the new pin set.