S&G type mechanical combinations have worked in reliably for almost 150 years . Everyone wants an electronic keypad that is battery powered and made of plastic that will fail, most likely when you need it most. If the combo lock is functioning and releasing the bolt that blocks the handle from moving, run the combo, then immediately tilt the safe towards the hinge side and the weight of the hinged bolt rack will cause it to slide open. The door bolts on the door hinge side are fixed, but the opposite side bolts will retract from gravity when tilted. You cannot tilt the safe first as the weight of the mechanism may prevent the lock bolt from retracting. Get a friend over to stand in front of the safe door to help manage it as 65% of the weight is in the door and if you got too carried away while moving it, it might want to tip over door first. Have another friend slide a refrigerator dolly under the side opposite the door hinges and when you run the combo,immediately have him leverage the dolly to raise that side up maybe three to four inches. IF the combination retracted the lock bolt, when you tilt it you WILL hear the rack retract! When this happens, the door will try to Swing OPEN! Have a ratchet strap around the safe that is just loose enough to let the door open an inch or so , so that when the friend operating the dolly lets it down you don't have an out of control, several hundred pound door swinging around !!!
All of the above is predicated on the combo being functional and retracting the blocking bolt which then, should release the pivoting locking bolt mechanism. If you get the door open, then find out why the handle is not functioning, there is a shear pin in there to prevent trying to overcome the combo retracting bolt from direct brute force by using a sledge hammer on the handle.
Good Luck! and let us know how it goes. Lee.
When my Winchester wouldnt open i called my local locksmith and he suggested the same thing, tilting. I did as he suggested and IT WORKED! The door opened. The problem was a faulty electronic lock. This was the second time that the lock would not unlock the safe. I solved that problem by installing a mechanical S&G lock and did it myself. I even set the combination to the same as my other safe. While i had the insides torn apart i used LocTite and tightened every bolt/ nut. I will never have another electronic lock.
