What Are Lock Pick Guns?

Lock pick guns are devices that use vibrating pieces of metal to bounce the pin tumblers inside a lock. As the metal picks vibrate, they push the pins up. Some kind of tension wrench is needed to rotate the plug to open the lock.

Lock pick guns can be manual, battery-powered, or electric. The electric ones are considerably more expensive than the others. Locksmithing experts debate the value of lock pick guns. Sometimes the guns open locks in seconds and sometimes they don't work at all.

For Professional Use

Certainly, a gun is no substitute for lock picking techniques. If a professional finds them to work well, they might be useful on a job. Lock pick guns should never be used on wafer tumbler locks; they won't pick the lock, and they can damage the wafers and springs.

Some books show improvised pick guns used by intelligence agencies. One such gun is fashioned from a clothes hanger. Another uses a clothespin. A third is the spring pick gun. Commercial lock pick guns seem to vary in effectiveness, depending on the skill of the user.