Victor safe puzzle

Hi everyone!

I have a Victor safe from my great grandfather that hasn't been opened in many years. Although we have three numbers in the combination (and have tried starting clockwise and counterclockwise), we can't seem to open it. It's possible that the fence is stuck, but we've tried banging on the door after the third number to no avail. I have been assuming that the fence should drop on/near the third number, but is it possible that we need to continue turning (or turn the opposite direction) to an unknown fourth spot? Just not quite sure what to do at this point, so any ideas would be appreciated!

Many thanks - Annie

Better picture of the safe front with the hinges and casters would help ID this safe. It doesn't look like a Victor with those hings, but Victor made private labeled safe for other company's. Thanks TJ

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Originally Posted by aim

Hi everyone!

I have a Victor safe from my great grandfather that hasn't been opened in many years. Although we have three numbers in the combination (and have tried starting clockwise and counterclockwise), we can't seem to open it. It's possible that the fence is stuck, but we've tried banging on the door after the third number to no avail. I have been assuming that the fence should drop on/near the third number, but is it possible that we need to continue turning (or turn the opposite direction) to an unknown fourth spot? Just not quite sure what to do at this point, so any ideas would be appreciated!

Many thanks - Annie

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For a 3 wheel combination lock:-
dial at least 4 complete turns anti-clockwise and stop on the first number, dial clockwise and stop on the second number the third time that you come to it.
Dial anti-clockwise and stop on the third number the second time that you come to it.
Turn clockwise until it comes to a stop.

We tried that way initially (since that's what most 3 combination safes do), but it wasn't working. I then contacted two people selling Victor safes that looked very similar to our Victor safe (0-60 dial with no pins on the dial to hold and no handle on the door--this is apparently slightly more rare than the usual dial with pins that Victor safes used), and they both said theirs were "3 combination" safes, but you only really needed to know two of the numbers--the fence drops on the third number. So you turn 3 times to the first number, then go past the second once before stopping on the second number, then turn to the third number and you feel the fence drop, then turn to retract the bolts. Essentially there were 2 wheels and a drive cam in the safe. So this is what we've recently been trying, but now I'm officially running out of things to try! I was hoping someone might have some suggestions. In particular, I am relatively certain the fence is stuck because I can't feel the two contact points that you normally can when moving just the drive cam. However, banging on the door doesn't seem to drop the fence down.