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Been a while since I posted i haven't been picking as much lately, found this old s and g 826c padlock I bought and was never able to open it, I have been able to pick a couple other Medeco locks, however this restricted keyway seems to be giving me lots of trouble, what pick or picks would you recommend? With top of keyway tension I am having a lot of trouble rotating pins

Use top of keyway tension. Petersons slender gov. steel hook (mine has been modified to almost a half diamond) and a slender gem for the shallower cuts. Sometimes I also use a home made groove grabber to help rotate the pins, yes it can still be used to rotate pins even if there is no groove.

These locks can be mean, so stay calm and keep your cool.

Pictures of the groove grabber, and a picture to show off, or uh, show that I know what I'm talking about.

Hey Famer, I almost always use a modified half diamond, but please tell more about the groove grabber

Let's see, it has spacing marks on it. If there is a groove in the pin, the pick can slip into it giving full rotational control of that pin.

The difficulty with using a regular half diamond on the keyway in question is that you can't really twist the pick left. Which makes setting a fore left pin difficult to do. Because any time you get the pick on the flat side of the pin and pull the pick back and lift the pin, it tends to rotate right. Wait, ...Is this the pre-biaxial medeco? No matter, it can still be difficult to rotate the pins when you can't twist the pick left/right easily. The groove grabber has a nice point to help grip the corners of the pins.

I am using top of keyway and was using a half diamond for rotating however I am having the exact problem you mentioned about the issue with the keyway, I will give the slender hook a try and yes this lock is brutal haha, Medecos are to begin with but this keyway is alot more restrictive than the other Medecos I have picked

Thanks FF! always wondered what the groove grabber looked like. shouldn't be too hard to make.... :-X lol

Good reply FF, and love the handle. Had to print it , and read it a few times to understand, I'm Still a little slow -