Walked into Academy and Opened a Liberty Safe!

[Anarchy_won]

this thread had inspired me to give safe manipulation a shot, Now for the ton's of reading involved.

[davewhitejr]

..another good story and lesson. Great open big dog!

[Oldfast]

Don't even know what to add here. Just read through your latest two. Great stuff man. Just great!!

Especially enjoyed the interaction ya had with the manager Too funny.

p.s. Really glad he didn't shut down your playground. Then we ALL would've lost!

[CPT1911]

So this is not a story about a cool open...but there is a lesson here and I wanted to share it with you in case you are thinking about going to stores and opening safes like I've been doing. I'm feeling pretty bad, so here goes...

First, don't try this at Cabelas...

I rolled into Cabelas and they had two safes with mechanical locks, the rest were electronic. I found that the dials were locked on both so I started to leave and then thought, "what the hell, maybe I can ask to "try" a mechanical lock."

I talked to a really friendly older fella who worked there about trying a mechanical lock and "testing" something I read on the internet about opening them without knowing the combo. The unethical part of what I was doing was that I painted myself as a genuinely interested buyer, which was a lie.

He agreed, and unlocked the dial, only to discover that the boltwork was still locked by a "shipping plug" in the door of the safe. I didn't know there was such a thing, and thanked him for his time and tried to leave. He insisted we keep at it, and he went to get a screwdriver and removed the plug after some effort. I am sure he put forth the extra effort because he thought he might sell me a safe--I suddenly felt like a dick for giving this guy the runaround. I told him I really didn't want him to go to the trouble, but he commented that it was a slow day and he was curious.

So, I asked him to lock the safe to see if I could open it. I expected he'd leave me there and do something else. Instead, he insisted on watching. "Ok, this will be good training," I thought "I'm in the spotlight with someone watching over my shoulder--this stress will make me better." I tried to carry on a conversation with him about nonsense while I went AWR. It was hard to ask and respond to questions as I went, but I managed. I hit a gate at 45 very quickly and said, "Sir, I believe the second number is 45 or the third number is 46." He glanced in a folder and said, "You are correct."

I figured I'd had enough fun and didn't want to waste his time anymore, so I said, "Well, let’s just try the combo then, Sir." He gave me the combo and I dialed it...safe didn't open.

I knew I dialed correctly, but I checked a second time...Safe didn't open. I had a sudden sinking feeling when I realized this safe, also made by Liberty, probably had the same problem as the Liberty I came across in my last manipulation...a factory combo that was just slightly off...perhaps due to a dial ring that was bumped…anyway....a thousand things went through my head. It was going to look like he or I had broken the safe unless I dropped the B.S. and quickly opened it. Most of all, I really didn't want the old fella to get blamed for it.

I told him what I thought was going on, and started the quick process of refining each of the numbers in the factory combo to get it right. I had barely started, when suddenly....a complete asshole showed up...

Some low level manager walked up and said, "here, I'll open it."

Given that I'd lied my way into the situation, I had no choice but to let him try. I watched him hold the instruction manual in his left hand and dial with his right. He dialed the first number left, and then CONTINUED left to the second number. I piped up and said, "Sir, are you sure it's LEFT to the second number?"

Shit got wild fast. He goes, "I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING, YOU ARE MAKING ME NERVOUS. I don’t need you breathing down my neck."

My demeanor to that point had been super happy-go-lucky and friendly, so I thought that was a pretty fucking weird response. I could tell he had his ego attached to his ability to dial three numbers, so I backed off and browsed some random shit while he had his moment.

I assumed he would fumble around for a while, declare it unopenable, and then I'd have to come clean on what I was doing and find the correct numbers. I figured it would be quick since the true combo would be close to what was in the book, and I had already confirmed W3 so I knew the factory combo was close.

Instead, he miraculously opens it on his umpteenth attempt, surely by misdialing slightly. I walked over and he had totally chilled out which was nice to see. I asked him if I could try. He told me it was really difficult. I relocked the safe and he "guided" me through it.

I cleared the dial several times to the left, and he stopped me and said, "No, it has to be FOUR times to the left." I asked if you could go more than four and he said "No." So I carefully dialed an additional four times to the left and we started in. Safe didn't open. He basically told me I was doing it wrong. At that point, I could tell the old man was in the clear and things were getting too fucking weird with dingleberry, so I just said, "Sir, I can't open this thing even with the combination, I don't think this is for me." And I bailed.

I am telling this story because I want to come clean on what started out as a very unethical way of getting my safe fix for the day. My initial MANIPULATION in this case was manipulation of the nice old guy who first helped me. That was fucked up. I never would have anticipated that the factory combo was wrong or that it would turn into such a cluster. But still, I came in with selfish intentions and I kinda got what I deserved when it blew up into a big dramatic ordeal.

So I am going to continue haunting sporting good stores in our area, opening safes, but I am not going to lie anymore about what I am doing. If an employee asks, I'll tell them. If a dial is locked and I get the nerve up to ask, I'll just say, "I am learning to crack safes, I am not here to buy one, can I try to open your safe?" Otherwise, I am basically screwing helpful people, and that's not right.

Trevor

[davewhitejr]

[davewhitejr]

BAMMM BABY. A (almost) text-book perfect open..if there is such a thing. At 2:58 am while I can't sleep mainly because I miss my ex girlfriend...not good

So my friend has a browning safe and is out of town and asked me to watch his house. I asked him if I could "play around with his safe"...

So I went AWL....nothing really...

Then AWR I saw it start to narrow by about 1/4 increment at 63 to 65. 66 went right back to the same as before. No doubt it was a gate. After going back a few times, 64 was the verdict. And then I tried going AWL again and checking the 60's more closely..64 showed up but not as dramatic as AWR. ?? what the fuck man..

0-0-64 brought the results I was seeing AWR
0-64-0 did not
And neither did 64-0-0

After a few more random tests that I don't remember I was confident that gate 3 was @ 64

Then I dialed the second wheel from 0-99 while setting the third at 64. (and keeping the first at 0) Found the next gate, second wheel at 12.

Then I went (0-99)-12-64 in 2 increments ANNNNND nothing. Got mad, double checked my third and second gates and tried again, and took wheel 1 increment at a time instead of 2.

OPEN @ 10-12-64

Something about that nose dropping into lined up gates that makes me really happy.

[CPT1911]

Great open man! Sounds like you did it all correctly. But I am surprised that going by twos on W1 didn't work?!

Did you tell your buddy? What did he say?

[GWiens2001]

As I understand it, some of the newer S&G locks have a differential of .5, instead of 1.0. So if the number is 10, the working range will be 9.5 to 10.5. If you dialed 9 or 11, you would miss the gate.

Of course, there are other high quality locks out there, just mentioning the change in S&G

Gordon

[CPT1911]

His smile was gone and he goes, "Um....can you open this one?" He points to a little safe at the end that I hadn't worked on yet. "My employees accidentally threw away the combination."

Just went back and opened it for the manager. It was actually the hardest one I have encountered so far. Read order ended up being 3-1-2.

AWR got me a gate at 43.

W1+W2 @ R43, W3 LA gave me nothing, but lots of weird low spots, etc. that made it confusing.

AWL showed me nothing, including the gate at 43. Gone. Vanished.

W1+W2 RA, W3 @ L43 gave me more weird low areas lasting for large portions of the dial. Couldn't do much with it because I don't graph so it was really hard to keep track of. Didn't see a defined gate. (Conversion on W3 was very slight so I called it R43 and L43)

W1+W2 LA, W3 @ R43 This is the same as the last test, except I moved the wheels under test in the opposite direction. This works for me sometimes. But in this case, still nothing.

W1 @ L50, W2 RA, W3 @ L43 I tried to take advantage of a low section I noticed around 50 and I placed W1 there while testing W2. Frustrating! Nothing!


I went back to the drawing board. Decided W1 would have to be the next one to read. Wasn't sure where 43 belonged (W2 or W3?)

W1 LA, W2 + W3 @ R43--had a slight gate indication at 87.5. Refined to 87. Pulse started to pick up!!!

Was fairly sure that 43 belonged to W3. So, I set W1+W2 @ L87, W3 from 50 down to 40. Sure enough, the gate appeared @ 43.

First confirmed case of lock reading 3-1-2. L87 - Rx - L43

Started BF W2 from 0 down. Was getting pretty discouraged, then it opened on the last attempt all the way back around at 02!

OPEN: L87 - R02 - L43

It was super nice to set W1 and leave it when doing the BF! I am so used to having to dial all three numbers...

The same manager was on duty and had been watching me. I gave him the combination and demonstrated that it was correct. He was very friendly about it and thankful.

This one took two trips to the store and probably two hours total to open...

Lesson for this one: I tried something new that I think I might begin doing. Since this lock behaved so erratically, I knew that graphing would be a good thing to do. However, I wasn't about to roll in with a clip board or something. When I did the manipulation today, I put my iphone headphones in and turned on the sound recorder. I quietly whispered each test and CP reading. I knew if it didn't open, I could at least go back and graph it by listening to the recording. Saying it out loud also kept me on track and focused. Really seemed to help. I plan to start doing this regularly.

[LockManipulator]

Lesson for this one: I tried something new that I think I might begin doing. Since this lock behaved so erratically, I knew that graphing would be a good thing to do. However, I wasn't about to roll in with a clip board or something. When I did the manipulation today, I put my iphone headphones in and turned on the sound recorder. I quietly whispered each test and CP reading. I knew if it didn't open, I could at least go back and graph it by listening to the recording. Saying it out loud also kept me on track and focused. Really seemed to help. I plan to start doing this regularly.

That sounds like a great idea for beginners in this field, I should've tried that when starting out, it would've sped up my learning so much faster! There were so many safes I tried to free spin and not graph which didn't open >:(

[Oldfast]

Damn, you had to work for that one. Well played... well played!

...It was super nice to set W1 and leave it when doing the BF! I am so used to having to dial all three numbers...

Indeed! The 'rotisserie' of the wheel pack. You can set it and forget it Enjoy it when ya can.


You're kickin' ass and taken names Trevor! And I love hearin' about! Keep up the great work.

[davewhitejr]

Great open man! Sounds like you did it all correctly. But I am surprised that going by twos on W1 didn't work?!

Did you tell your buddy? What did he say?

I told him and he wasn't impressed. Yeah I don't know how I ran past 10..that fence must have been hanging by a hair.

Good job Trevor! Man that was a hard one! I opened another one yesterday in my top time of about 20 mins that was almost just to easy to write about. Went to bass pro shop and started AWL on a Browning safe. At 20 it was an obvious gate. Since I was not 1 minute into it and being the number 20, I decided that I would assume it was wheel 2 and tried for wheel 3. At 65 I found the third gate. At this time a nice lady that worked at bass pro came over and laughed and said, "let me show you a secret! here..." She was about to tell me the combo and I was like "nooo nooo don't tell me! I'm a safe cracker and I think I almost got it." I told her the two numbers I already had and she just got this funny look on her face. Then I got a work phone call and she walked off..I got off the phone and open at 43-20-65. Such an easy open. The dial was also smooth and the right and left contact points like a brick wall

[CPT1911]

I opened another one yesterday in my top time of about 20 mins that was almost just to easy to write about.

Awesome work, sir! 20 minutes is a solid time! Sounds like everything just flowed together. Seems like you saved a lot of time by just assuming W2 and going for W3! That's been my method for the last month and it has enabled both consistency and lower average time to open.


Truly great work. Is this your second open on an actual safe?

Sounds like I need to visit a Bass Pro. Were all the dials unlocked?

She was about to tell me the combo and I was like "nooo nooo don't tell me! I'm a safe cracker and I think I almost got it." I told her the two numbers I already had and she just got this funny look on her face.

Haha, I know that "funny look" well. So glad you didn't blow it after calling yourself a "safe cracker." lol. That's always my fear!

Keep it coming. Open some more!

Edit: Saw you are in Texas. PM me if you are ever in the Dallas area and we can go open something.

[davewhitejr]

Thanks man! Yes it is.. number two. My auto dialer is SO for sale. And I've read Manipulation "simplified"...sure hope one of you guys didn't write it but I'm going to say it makes it far more complicated and boring as heck. These post from all of you helped me put it all together. For example I never knew that going AWR instead of AWL could be different...

The bass pro shop down here has all the safes locked up. And I found out that the combo is written in little numbers on a little sticker on the side of the safe (that was the big "secret" that lady was about to tell me about) BUT they are written backwards and the last one of the FOUR is 87. Even bass pro thinks they have 4 numbers and the last one is always 87

LOL yeah.."safe cracker".. I don't even like that term..that would be awful to say you are and not get it open. But I was confident on that one because it was the count down on W1. I'm 20 mins north of San Antonio and same here; If you ever come this way hollar back!

[CPT1911]

Hi Guys,

I've had a couple more opens since my last post. I've officially run out of safes at local Academy stores that I have not opened. I am thinking about starting over with ones from the beginning because I don't remember the combos (although I'm sometimes surprised that I can remember a number or two on a lock I opened ten locks ago lol).

Both were reasonably straight forward, with just one lesson learned that is worth sharing: Don't skip any numbers when you brute force.

Since the combos on these safes are set by the safe manufacturer, I've always assumed that they follow the recommendations that S&G makes in their mechanical lock guide. In the combo change section for 3-wheel locks, S&G says:

Leave at least a ten number margin between adjacent numbers
of the combination. An example of a poor combination is:
“41 – 39 – 66.” An example of a good combination is:
“41 – 30 – 66.”

So usually, when I BF a lock that was set by a manufacturer (as in a safe), I sometimes skip six numbers on either side of the adjacent number(s). Laziness, yes maybe....

On one of these recent opens, the combo was 94.5 - 55 - 58! So that taught me not to get lazy. Brute force all of them...

Sidenote: I audio record myself opening these now so I can go back and graph later if I can't open it. I haven't had to do it yet, but I would be more than happy to go back and graph a couple if anyone on here would find it helpful. Seriously, it's won't take long. But I haven't done it because there is already a tremendous amount of graph content on the site from Oldfast, Daggers, and others, so I wasn't sure anyone even cared. Is there anyone who would find it helpful to see a few graphs from these opens? Just let me know and I'll add to this thread.