By Kent · Lock Depot Staff Writer

The deadbolt on a narrow-stile aluminum glass door is its own species. You cannot put a normal residential deadbolt on it. There is no wood to bore, and the aluminum stile is barely wider than a couple of inches. That door was designed around one lock: the Adams Rite MS1850 deadlock, the maximum-security bolt that has held storefront glass doors shut for fifty years.

Why an MS deadlock and nothing else

The MS1850 slides into the narrow aluminum stile and throws a hardened bolt into the frame. It fits where nothing residential can. The "MS" is maximum security, and the throw is a full inch of steel with a saw-resistant insert, so somebody cannot just hacksaw the bolt through the gap between the doors. If your storefront deadbolt is worn, sloppy, or was replaced with the wrong thing by somebody who did not know the door, this is the correct part to put back.

Straight bolt or hookbolt, and this matters

Here is the fork that trips people up. The MS1850 comes with a straight bolt or a hookbolt, and they are not interchangeable by preference. They solve different doors.

Straight bolt is for a door that closes against a fixed frame or a mullion. The bolt shoots straight into a strike. That is most single storefront doors. The MS1850S with straight bolt is the common one.

Hookbolt is for a pair of doors that meet in the middle with no post between them, or a sliding door. A straight bolt has nothing solid to shoot into on a pair. The hook reaches over and grabs the other leaf. Put a straight bolt on a pair of doors and it latches into thin air. The hookbolt version exists exactly for that. Know which door you have before you order.

Finish: match the frame, not the glass

Storefront aluminum comes in a few anodized finishes and the deadlock face shows. 313 dark bronze anodized matches the common bronze-tone framing. 628 clear anodized matches the mill-finish silver aluminum you see on most strip-mall units. Hold a sample against the frame if you can. The lock face is small, but on a glass door there is nothing else to hide behind, so a mismatch reads.

Common questions

Straight bolt or hookbolt?

Straight bolt for a single door into a fixed frame. Hookbolt for a pair of doors that meet in the middle or a sliding door. They are not interchangeable.

Will a regular deadbolt work on my glass door?

No. A narrow aluminum stile has no room for a bored residential deadbolt. The MS1850 is built for that stile.

How do I get the backset right?

Measure edge of door to center of the existing cylinder. The -1 is the 31/32" narrow-stile backset. Match your door's prep.

Lock Depot stocks the Adams Rite MS1850 in straight bolt and hookbolt, the common backsets and anodized finishes, in stock. Start at the Adams Rite hub, or read the companion piece on the panic bar for the same door: Von Duprin 33A for an Aluminum Storefront Door. Or call 877-365-5625 and tell us single or pair, and the backset off your old lock.