It took the lock-tool industry a couple of years to copy German Ssdev member Kurt Zuhlke’s invention. Kurt developed the reversible pick gun. His invention was mentioned in the bumpkey whitepaper we published at the beginning of 2005, and I have had many requests ever since from european locksmiths that wanted one.
The reason for that is so far all pick guns on the market were targeted to US locksmiths. In the US locks are mounted pins upward in the door while in europe it is the other way around and they are pointing downward.
The problem most european locksmiths have is that if they want to use a pickgun on a door, the handle of the door is in the way. That is because with a US model pickgun you have to keep the gun upside down to be able to use it.
But not anymore … now there is a solution! (for sale on the free market)
Brockhage has created a pickgun especially designed for the european market.
And it works! At home I managed to shoot open a nice range of locks, all in the upside down position.
A friendly locksmith that has been bugging me for a ‘kurt Zuhlke edition’ for a loooong time was glad to try it out too. And he liked it, eventough he could open locks faster and more reliable with his own ‘us version gun’. Not so strange if you keep into consideration he used his old one on a daily basis for over twenty years …
* update 08/2007 There is some discussion about how well this gun actually works. Some German lockpickers (who’s comments I respect highly) do not like the gun and it’s design at all. They called it names I will not repeat as this site. On the other hand, two locksmiths who open doors on a daily basis have reported they do use with success when their conventional pickgun can’t make the angle.
thanks for the info barry, it is about time we got a ‘upside down’ pickgun!
now i just need to find a supplier in the UK.
Probably best to get it as an import, otherwise you will be waiting a long time, I bet!
I’ll spring for one, though, that’s for sure. I rather like my one, and one designed to be the right way up will be even more use!
Am I the only one to notice that the first photo shows the needle in the wrong relation to the lock and tensor? whats the point of flicking a needle at the cylinder wall or keyway wards, shouldn’t it be against the bottom of the pins, which would be about middle of the keyway?
Raimundo: I will tell Charlotte, who was kind enough to model for this picture, to act more professional next time 😉 Of course you are right, but it is the idea that counts. Thanks for your comment anyway 😉