Alan wrote:
Ralph Shumaker wrote:
Well, if I remember correctly, there is a $10K reward offered by
Medeco if you can pick open one of their locks for them.
As I remember it, you had to pick 3. Several people managed 1, but no
one got all 3.
Medecos are highly pick-resistant, but both main Medeco designs have
been picked at some point. It's repeatability that makes it such a pain.
Also, picking a lock under demonstration or contest conditions is a
lot different from doing it half-crouched in a hallway with poor
lighting and armed guards with shotguns coming around the corner at 5
minute intervals. =)
They're also pretty drill resistant, ask any locksmith who has gone
through a bit or two opening one. heh.
The thing is that they have hardened steel pins in the right places (the
wrong places for the locksmith). Because they are hardened steel, you
have to use very brittle carbide bits. Because they are pins, you are
trying to begin a hole on a rounded surface. If you happen to be lucky,
you will hit dead center and have a decent chance of going through
(eventually). But often, you won't hit dead center, and the round
surface of the hardened steel pin will send your bit on a detour, a
detour you don't want, a detour that will probably break your bit, which
puts a new hardened steel oddly shaped object in your way, making it
that much more difficult still.
Needless to say, this is one locksmith who won't touch a Medeco.
Schlage Primus is one
that is close to pick proof as well as a few from Assa and others.
The guy who developed Schlage Primus is the same guy who invented the
Medeco design from what I've heard.
Myself, I figure the average methhead in my neighborhood is just going
to hop the fence to my backyard and pop a window. I really should get
some shatterguard to put on them.
Relax. Nothing bad has happened in all this time. What are the odds
that it will happen tomorrow, or even today. Believe me, I have had
plenty of customers tell me that (before they got nailed) they had been
meaning to: 1) copy that key that they only had one of before it got:
A) lost; B) stolen; C) broken;; 2) get a key made for that lock that
they never lock because they never had a key for it, though the maid or
the housesitter or the friend (or whoever) did not know this or forgot
it; 3) get the windows secured; 4) fix the locks that had been getting
finicky; 5) rekey their house because who knows how many people have
copies of that key from before they moved in; 6) etc.
You're welcome to try to cash in on the reward if you think you can do
it. You can buy a Medeco deadbolt for your door from around $100 (if
you're lucky) to about $900 each. Buy one and practice on it.
Do they still run that contest? I though it'd been discontinued.
I do not know. I'll have to remind myself to ask my collegues.
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