Riddle: Lock is Picked, but bolt does not turn ???

[Turkan]

Hi! I'm new to this forum;
so hi to everyone!!!

Let me introduce myself;
I'm a university student in Turkey and lockpicking is my hobby only.. althoug I intend to be an amateur locksmith during my education, in order to help my vallet.

I bet with a close friend of mine about picking the locks on the door of his house.

There were to; one below the handle, directly connected to the bolt
The other above the handle.

I picked the one above the handle, although it had 4/6 spool pins. I turned it and nothing happened... I thought it had nothing to do with the bolt.

I picked the other one; a standard nickel euro-profile. Nickel locks are quite nasty even if they have no security pins. After I picked and turned it, I saw that it wasn't evenlocked!!! It only turn a quarter circle, enough to open an unlocked door.

I pick the one above again, and turned it more than five times using a plug spinner: nothing happened! I though it may be the tip of the key that turns the bolt, so I tried to use a tension wrench deep enough to touch the end of the lock... still nothing!

And crazily I bet for more that I can open that door

Please help me
There is more than the bet, I really want to understand the reason!!!!!
Any help or idea will be greatly appreciated

Regards

[raimundo]

If the key has trouble turning and withdrawing the bolt, it may be a door that is tight from wood swelling with damp weather, or perhaps the foundation of the building has shifted, and the weight of the door is resting on the bolt. If neither of these is the case, perhaps the connection between the lock cylinder and the bolt is broken which would mean that the door could not be opened with the key. Such a door could still be locked from the other side, but not from the outside.
If its neither of these problems, you will probably learn what is happening if you study the problem, and you can tell us about it.

[p1ckf1sh]

I picked the one above the handle, although it had 4/6 spool pins. I turned it and nothing happened... I thought it had nothing to do with the bolt.
[...]
I pick the one above again, and turned it more than five times using a plug spinner: nothing happened! I though it may be the tip of the key that turns the bolt, so I tried to use a tension wrench deep enough to touch the end of the lock... still nothing!

Is that a Europrofile as well? Some of those have a weird clutch system on the cam (the usually black thingy in the middle of a two-way euro profile cylinder). It is your friends house, try to pick it from the inside and see if the same thing happens.

Or you can insert your pick (preferably ball pick or something which is not pointed but wide at the end) into the lock, past the last pin, all the way in, approximately in the position where the tip of the regular key would be. If you feel something that has a bit resistance and pushes the picktool back by spring force you have found the clutch. Pick the lock, after picking, DO NOT TURN, if necessary turn back to the point where the lock would almost relock itself and insert the ball pick or small screwdriver or whatever you are using all the way to push that clutch a little bit. Just a tny bit. Then turn with your tension wrench, you should feel the clutch rotating as well. If the tool gets jammed or stuck, you are pushing too far in. After some degrees of rotation you will feel that there is more pressure required to rotate and this means the cam is engaged and turning.

It is hard to explain, experiment.

[p1ckf1sh]

I though it may be the tip of the key that turns the bolt, so I tried to use a tension wrench deep enough to touch the end of the lock... still nothing!

ADDENDUM: Haven't read that part before, you are right, the tip of the key has to do with it, but it can only engage the clutch when the lock rotation is almost 0 degrees (normal position). After picking, you MUST NOT turn any further in order to be able to still reach the clutch. Feel around in the locked cylinder to get a feel for it.