New Hobbiest with an Old Safe
Posted: Thu May 27, 2021 8:09 pm
I am here looking for help manipulating open an old victor safe who's combination has been lost (the people who sold it to me swore it worked fine, they just couldn't find the combo). Hopefully people here can help me, but if I should look elsewhere please point me in that direction. I have always wanted to learn safe cracking and lock picking, and when a gorgeous old Victor fell into my lap I couldn't say no. However.... I have never manipulated a lock before and despite reading several books and trolling forums for tips, I can't even seem to get started.
The lock seems (to me) to be very loud and rattles a lot, but after picking up all the wheels (left) I distinctly note 3 places where there appears to be contact. I hear a click and feel a tap. At first I thought I had identified an obvious contact point, but they seem too far spaced to be the contact area: 34, 56, 79 (56 is the most obvious, followed by 34 and 79 is the faintest). But when I try to start testing different numbers (assuming one of these is a legitimate contact point), I can't feel any of these points when I rotate right. Does anyone have thoughts as to what might be going on? The rest of the safe is in very good shape and I know the previous owners never had trouble with it (aside from losing the combination), so I assume that the rattling is from age not damage to the innards? I have resorted to using a stethoscope to help detect subtle changes, and I have tried dialing those 3 numbers in all the different combinations but no luck. Even though this does not appear to have a drive cam the way most modern examples do (see link below), am I correct to assume that the same method of working off the contact points would still work here?
Below is a picture of my lock and this is what I believe the inside to be (the victor lock most of the way down the page: viewtopic.php?p=109406#p109406)
Any help would be greatly appreciated- thanks for reading.
The lock seems (to me) to be very loud and rattles a lot, but after picking up all the wheels (left) I distinctly note 3 places where there appears to be contact. I hear a click and feel a tap. At first I thought I had identified an obvious contact point, but they seem too far spaced to be the contact area: 34, 56, 79 (56 is the most obvious, followed by 34 and 79 is the faintest). But when I try to start testing different numbers (assuming one of these is a legitimate contact point), I can't feel any of these points when I rotate right. Does anyone have thoughts as to what might be going on? The rest of the safe is in very good shape and I know the previous owners never had trouble with it (aside from losing the combination), so I assume that the rattling is from age not damage to the innards? I have resorted to using a stethoscope to help detect subtle changes, and I have tried dialing those 3 numbers in all the different combinations but no luck. Even though this does not appear to have a drive cam the way most modern examples do (see link below), am I correct to assume that the same method of working off the contact points would still work here?
Below is a picture of my lock and this is what I believe the inside to be (the victor lock most of the way down the page: viewtopic.php?p=109406#p109406)
Any help would be greatly appreciated- thanks for reading.