Specifications

T
he Picking attack was incredible. About three
seconds. The lock comes with tapered top and
bottom pins which offer no resistance to a
picking attack. Put the tension tool in, rake twice, and
the lock opened.
The punching attack was easy too. With three or four
hits of the pointed hammer, the outer cover fell off
exposing the two screw ends (see Photograph 1).
The next attack consisted of penetrating the ends of
the exposed mounting screws with a Makita drill. This
serves two purposes. You can either drill out the screws
to let the front cylinder fall out of the housing, or you
can use the drill to unscrew the screws holding the lock
(see Photograph 2).
As I drilled, the inside mounting screw began
unscrewing. Once both sides of the lock are loose, it is
possible to insert an ice pick in the “Crescent of
Opportunity” (deadbolt actuator) as shown in
Photograph 3. An ice pick can be inserted into the top of
the deadbolt to withdraw the bolt. A hole could be
drilled above the lock to let the ice pick in as well.
Every one of my methods to defeat the Defiant lock
worked easily, too easily as it turned out. This lock is
sold at home centers, and as our Torture Tests revealed,
the lock is worth about as much as we paid for it, about
eight bucks. Of course, the danger to the consumer is
that the Defiant looks just as shiny and new in its blister
packaging as does a high quality lock costing much
more. This is certainly a case of you get what you pay
for. We must educate the customer as to what
constitutes a good or a poor deadbolt.
August 1996 • 49
1. (Above) The Defiant cover plate easily pops off
with a few hits of a pointed hammer exposing the
ends of the mounting screws.
2. (Below) Drilling out the exposed mounting
screws on the Defiant with a cordless drill.
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