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Nice mount...home-made? I have one of those safe locks. Won it in an Ebay auction a couple years ago. Still in the box

The spline key with the flat round top is the older version. The hole in it is threaded, I believe the same (6-32?) as the case screws. Running a screw into it will pull the key out and maintain a straight pull during removal. It had to be a lot of machining that really was unnecessary. I would guess one day some engineer said "How bout we use a bent piece of stock instead?" And instantly more profit was created for doing very little!

Why yes it is Nice of you to notice, thanks. All of my mounts are homemade and I actually put a
fair amount of time into each. They're all made from various woods, some of which I will spray paint.
There's really quite a variety of colors and textures to choose from nowadays. Some of these textured
spray paints can be a little pricey, but the results can be pretty nice.

Mastersmith, thanks for some insight on that old and interesting spline key CPT1911 shared.

minor quirky fact: When I first started on my way to learning about safes, I found myself moving into Apartment 302 at the Ames Sword Company Factory building in Chicopee Massachusetts. I've moved a couple times since then, but it was always cool coming home and having a big 302 on my door, always made me think of the Mosler 302. As far as the building I lived in, if you look on ebay, you can find swords they made for the U.S. over the last 150 years, and even some Ames padlocks, which were made right in my apartment building a hundred years ago. (I'm bidding on some right now actually)

=)
Squelchtone

What if the audio aspect of the manipulation was eliminated.

Sometimes on really thick doors, and well maintained locks, it's almost impossible to hear anything, even with amplifiers it'll be faint and stuff like this will throw you off. Try feeling the CP's, I hope I don't sound like an idiot. But try setting up a dial and spindle (no lock) on a board, tape a feather on the spindle and place a screw in the back side of the wood, where the spindle sticks out. Make sure at one point the feather touches the screw. Now see if you can find where the feather hits the screw. If you can do this, clicks, whizzes and bumps will be just another distraction in an otherwise heavenly artform.

I am blessed to be somewhat hypersensitive to touch. I am very ticklish and have other sensitivity to lights and slow refresh rates but that's another subject. Some people just may find this experiment ridiculous but some will increase their manipulation skills tenfold ... In my opinion.

Josh

Don't get me wrong, audio amplification has it's place , but developing skills in all areas is like buying tools for your toolsbox.

Josh,

Good tip! It can be difficult to develop a touch, even for those with hyper sensitive touch. But for those who put in the time to learn it entirely by touch, the results can be astonishing.

Much like our illustrious Xeo, picking most anything with a Gem pick. Through diligent practice, he has become extremely good, opening locks that to the rest of us are all but unpickable.

Gordon

Josh, that sounds like a cool way to improve sensitivity, thanks for sharing


I have no idea how to find out anything out of the serial number, does maybe anyone have an example with approximately known date of manufacture? We could narrow it down somewhat with that

Oldfast: My collection is not really about safe locks, that is an area I'm just wetting my toes in. I am getting my first safe lock soonish from the US, and it will be a Mosler 302-402 group 1R I figured if I start getting into it better do it with a bang
(When you feel you are ready for a trade let me know )

Good thought Josh. I like it. I'm interested in creating the setup you're talking about,
but I'm having trouble picturing it. What I'm not sure of is how or what exactly do
you put the end of the spindle into that would support it, yet not create too much
friction when turning? A picture OR just some more words would be appreciated.

Reminds me of this Jeff Sitar vid where they setup something similar.

Will do Nearly everything I have is still boxed up, waiting for the lock room's grand opening. lol
It's going very slowly, but it's coming along as time allows. Also... although I have quite a few
locks, I kinda have this underlying feeling that I may have very little that you'd actually be
interested in. But we'll see. I'll let you be the judge of that.

Well oldfast, the day has finally come, I now have an MR302 to call my own.

Picked this up from a craigslist seller today, he had saved it from going into the dumpster on base a few years ago. I just took the lock apart and boy is that click click thing going to be bear to manipulate. Seller was kind enough to reset the hand change wheels to 50-25-50 and inside the container was the original instructions including exploded view parts diagram, as well as some cool Mosler marketing materials from the early 80's. I hope to photograph and scan everything in soon.


It is a GSA Class 6 single drawer security container, with 4 bolt down holes on the bottom.

The label inside the drawer says made in 1983, and it weighs 100 pounds. I know some folks were wondering when they made and used these locks.

Thanks for the wonderful photos of your lock, they really help in understanding this mechanism.

Squelchtone

A big congrats on landing that one! I'd love to have and use that in my home.

The box, and definitely the lock, look to be a good shape.

And thanks for the year.... that's interesting.

Like Gordon said fascinating lock Oldfast and a wonderful breakdown as usual!

And Sqelchtone what a beautiful score! That is exactly like something I am looking for for a strongbox for my not very valuable shi* errm stuff.

I have been given a 4 drawer Black Label Mosler Safe with a 302 lock. The combo was supposedly set to 25-50-25. Which does not work. And neither does 50-25-50 which is the default. I have tried every combination that may have been set a number off of the two combos above with no luck. I have an X07 I was wanting to replace the 302 lock with. I read here they can be manually manipulated by a good safecraker of which I am not. I really don't want it drilled out. Would anyone want to take the challenge of trying to opem it manually? I live in Niceville Florida. If you open it you can have the old 302 lock.

On my "new" silver MR-302 is a patent sticker with the patents 3038325, 3073145, 3106083 and 3111022. The newest patent is from 1961/63.

Oldfast, I can't read the numbers on your lock in these photos. Could you please have a look what is written there?

I think droshi's manipulation method is on this silvery type of lock possible too.