Question on mixing different pins

[pauly003]

I am fairly new to picking and have been practicing on a variety of locks including Weiser, Taynor and a few other cheap no name brands. In the course of my dissasembly of the locks the pins and springs are all mixed together. I have just been combining them all into frankenstein locks, and have also mixed up many plugs and cylinders. How important is it for a professional lockie to keep specific pins with their corresponding brands? Can you mix and match?? Also, in my frankenstein locks i have used pins that are very different shape(some are very pointy and some are more round) Would this in any way add to the security(non-pickability0 of the lock???

[Romstar]

It doesn't add anything to the pick resistance, and it makes a mess of the lock.

When you are keying a lock, it is advisable to always use the correct pins. Pinning charts from each company, OEN, LAB, BP or others always take into account the shape of their pins when they calculate the size.

Basically it is fine for messing around, but if you are working in the field, you should not be mixing pins.

If you rekey a Schlage with a LAB kit, dump all the Schlage OEM pins and repin with the LAB pins.

While many people will tell you it won't make a difference to mix them, it is not a good practice.

Romstar

[UWSDWF]

it would sure as heck make it different.... lockies would definitly want to keep their pins seperatly as locks work best with the pins designed for them