Master M530 DF

This was a humbling moment for me, lol. It took me over an hour to pick this four pin Master lock the first time. I routinely pick Blue Belt locks, and I was brought to my knees fighting this one. Basically, the core would bind constantly, even though I was using TOK tension. I’ve never had a lock require so much tension to make the pins bind, then it was nearly impossible to get counter-rotation. The core would stick and jump, basically anything but operate smoothly - you really have to bully this lock. I thought I might break a Jimy Longs 0.015” flat pick.

I bought this one yesterday at Menards for $12.99. I opted for the most challenging bitting they had, and was surprised to find spools in every slot. I don’t believe the old ones have security pins at all, but this is easily the most challenging four pin lock I’ve picked. I’m glad I picked it up to learn how to pick these style locks. I really had to learn a new skill set here. To save some kinda face, I will say the last time I picked it was about a minute and a half. Most of that time is just getting it into the false set.

After I SPP’d it, I briefly tried a Bogota Rake and City Rake and got nowhere. I couldn’t even rake it into a false set. I tried an overlift attack where I lifted all the pins to the max with BOK, switched to TOK, and used a rake as I lowered all the pins. I couldn’t get it to pop with this method, either. I will say, I’m not a great raker. I don’t spend much time perfecting those techniques as I much prefer to SPP. I didn’t try a comb attack, shimming, or any other bypasses.

Bottom line, I think for $13 this can be a great lock for people just getting into spools.