Is Your Padlock Secure Against Bumping? What Makes A Padlock Secure?

When choosing a lock, it's important to consider whether it's susceptible to bumping. Even if a lock is made of a strong, heavy-duty material, it could be opened through bumping. Using a special bumping key -- also known as a rapping key -- a motivated thief can pick a traditional tumbler lock.

What Is Lock Bumping?

Not to be confused with picking, bumping involves the use of a bumping key to access and open a tumbler lock without the original key. A special bumping key is used to mimic the mechanism of the original key. The thief partially inserts the bumping key into the lock, at which point he or she will attempt to open the lock by "bumping" the key inward.

To better understand how bumping works, take a look at traditional tumbler lock. In a tumbler lock, there are multiple spring-loaded pins. Each spring-loaded pin is made of two components: the key pin and the driver pin. When you insert an original key into a lock, the key pins and driver pins for each pin will align perfectly, thereby opening the lock.

Bumping keys feature teeth that knocks the key pins up into their paired driver pins. After successfully aligning one pin, the thief will move on to the next pin. Only after all pins have been aligned will the lock open.

The More Security Pins, the Better -

COMMANDO LOCKS FEATURE UP TO 10 SECURITY PINS

If you're concerned about bumping, choose a lock with a lot of security pins. The more security pins a lock has, the better protected it will be from bumping. It's not uncommon for locks to have just five or six security pins. Unfortunately, a motivated thief can easily and quickly bump these locks using a bumping key. Commando Locks, however, are designed with a total of 10 security pins, thereby offering maximum protection against bumping as well as picking.

Choose a Lock With Custom-Shaped Pins

In addition to the number of pins used in a tumbler lock, the shape of its pins will affect its susceptibility to bumping. Pins featuring traditional, basic shapes are relatively easy to bump. Those designed with custom-shaped, on the other hand, create the false impression that a pin has been properly aligned when it really it hasn't.

To protect against bumping, you need to choose a lock with a lot of security pins -- and those security pins need to feature custom shapes. These two features alone can safeguard your property against theft. Look at Commando Lock's line up of padlocks which come standard with up to 10 security pics!