Nope, you just need to focus on the right chests and don't waste your time with the others. I can mark you my top secret set of Runebooks for 200k @NerK .
Bah I hit 95.. so i can do up to lvl 6's now... i'll let is gain naturally.. i dont think i see myself powering to GM on this. lets see how UO bored i get.
You don't need to powergame for it, duuuuuudeeeee! But whatever. I will soon train a new lockpicker from 95 to GM. I can meassure the time needed for it.
It took me about 3yrs LOL! However, the macro to 95 only took maybe 8hrs. Then I did dungeon chests for maybe a week before getting tired of it, then recently started back up. 95-GM took ME maybe a month and a half of actual work. Yes, if you have more game-time/less real life you can GM it much quicker. I was only able to do chests once or twice per day - every other day on average.
I kept a log somewhere of how long it took me. I think it was somewhere around 1,200 lvl 4 dugeon chests. There's only 25-30 (can't recall the exact number right now), and they do take a bit of time to respawn, so... 1-2 days, unlikely. A week, 10 days...if you can put in 4 or 5 30-45min lockpicking sessions spaced out during the day to let chests respawn, very doable. I did a round before heading out to work, another during lunch, and a couple at night...not every day, but it didn't seem as much of a grind as in when I did it in "the server that shall not be named". Plus I got distracted when I'd recall into LL's a find a dark one...switch chars, go hunt it. Or balrons...no one here, I should farma a bit...
Oh, and congrats Baine! GM Infiltrator is the 2nd coolest title in game (even if the toughest to get)!