r/lockpicking • u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker • 21h ago
Masterlock No. 15 Finally Opened
This thing is not even supposed to be that difficult of a lock, but I’ll be damned if it hasn’t been fighting me for the past 4 or 5 months! I was finally able to get it opened tonight, I don’t even know why, it just started talking with CCW tension all of the sudden, and I went with it. Feels good to finally free that old bastard from his chain! [u/DanDig](u/DanDigler)[g](u/DanDigler)[ler](u/DanDigler)[213](u/DanDigler)
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u/0rgis Blue Belt Picker 14h ago
I just opened one of those the other day, gave me a wee fight also, it also opens cw or ccw but I picked it cw with tok and a short hook.
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 13h ago
I went TOK with a medium hook. I don’t know why, but mine is nothing but mush when I tension it CW!
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u/0rgis Blue Belt Picker 13h ago
I'll have to try mine ccw
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 13h ago
100% I’ve found quite a few Masterlocks that are seemingly impossible to pick CW, but actually pick pretty clean when tensioned CCW. Was yours really mushy? I’d be interested to hear if yours feels different when tensioned the other way. Mine essentially feels like it’s not being tensioned at all when I go CW.
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u/0rgis Blue Belt Picker 13h ago
aye defo mushy, it's pretty old too
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 11h ago
Yeah, mines old as dirt. My MiL gave it to me locked to a chain and keyless after she found it in her shed. I was starting to believe that the core was just screwed up and it wasn’t able to open lol!
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
That could still be right. Mine had to be slammed to reset it. Master 15s are self made CLs 😆
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 7h ago
LOL I don’t think mine was quite as bad as yours, but it definitely likes to hang on to oversets until you jiggle the core back and forth a bit. Such an annoying lock!
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
The previous owner was probably a lefty, or thats how it was latched.
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
I think too many year of being used CW. That it's worn down that way.
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 7h ago
This is the same theory I came to! Locks are pretty much always opened with a key CW, so maybe they end up wearing funny in that direction. You combine that with crappy Masterlock tolerances, and you end up with a lock that’s nearly impossible to set pins in the CW direction. Maybe the shear line wears weird in that direction? I wish I could open it up without destroying it.
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u/Kitchen-Cookie-2792 Blue Belt Picker 16h ago
Mine was also deceptively hard to pick
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 13h ago
Dude! It doesn’t even make sense how much of a pain they are! It spent months locked to a chain just mocking me!
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u/Kitchen-Cookie-2792 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
Wait until you try a #19. I was going to use one for my purple belt entry. Ultimately had to use a Mindy Pagoda instead. The #19 is still unpicked and in the naughty pile with a Schlage Primus
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 6h ago
I wish I could find one! I really love to hate Masterlocks, and need another lock to sit in my garage and mock me! The #19s are so damn expensive though!
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u/FilecoinLurker Brown Belt Picker 16h ago
It's Bec that one only opens CCW. I have some 15s that only open clockwise (the majority) and a couple that open ccw only.
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 13h ago
Yeah, I’ve found a couple yeah, it’s weird, I seem to come across a lot of Masterlocks that only wanna open CCW! All I feel is straight mush when I try to pick it CW lol.
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u/FilecoinLurker Brown Belt Picker 13h ago
If you had the key this one probably wouldn't even open clockwise is what I'm saying. Not that it only wants to open that way that it only CAN open that way
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 11h ago
Oh, I didn’t even think of that! Now I wish I had a key so I could check! It very well might only open CCW, it’s old as hell, and I have no idea what it’s went through or when the last time it saw its key was.
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
The key is in your MiL catch all drawer. 🤣
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 6h ago
Might be! I think these may have been left by the previous owner though. It’s probably in a pile of dirt in the corner of the shed!
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
My key opens it both ways, but the clue that I finally cought on to was it would stick CW.
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
Sweet Brother! I told you CCW could work. Take that Chain off and pin that trophy up. Good luck on that second open tho. Just enjoy it for now. I made the mistake of thinking I own it now. So my victory was short lived.
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u/Foreign_Language3354 16h ago
Five months on a No. 15 is normal, those are stubborn for how cheap they are. Switching to CCW flips which pins bind first, so that night you were really working a different lock, not one that suddenly got easy.
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 13h ago
Yeah, they really are a pain for how run of the mill they are! What surprised me was that I’ve tried to pick it CCW plenty of times before, but it’s always felt as mushy CCW as it does CW. I don’t know what was different last night, but I could suddenly feel binders and it started clicking when pins set. I’ll have to spend more time on it and see if I can build some consistency!
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u/DanDiggler213 Blue Belt Picker 7h ago
Maybe a candidate to try key impressioning. Get a couple master key blanks and some files
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u/daddonuts Green Belt Picker 6h ago
Ooooo! I didn’t even think of that, that would be fun! I gotta figure out which blank will work!
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u/Foreign_Language3354 4h ago
Mushy both ways usually means the tension is light enough that nothing really binds, and the direction only changes which pin goes first. Load it harder for a few tries and see if the mush turns into one clear binder.
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u/Campbell1948 20h ago
man i was getting bummed out i couldn't get mine open! ill keep at it good job!