Defiant deadbolt practice problem

[davesnothere11]

I've been practicing my SPP skills on on cheap Defiant deadbolt I got from Home Depot for $10. It's a five pin lock that has 3 spool pins. I started by removing all but one set of smooth pins and have worked up to 4 pins (2 smooth and 2 spools).

My problem is that I got to where I thought I knew it really well. Set 2-3-4-1 and then it'd open just fine. Then last night it began to confound me and I just couldn't get it picked. I set it aside and today I worked on it.

When it just doesn't "feel" (the pins) quite right I fail.But some times I find the binding pins ok and it opens just as before. I can rake it open in a heartbeat but right now that's not my goal.

The springs in the lock are very soft and I'm wondering if sometimes the key pins don't sit right and are just over set from the get go. has anyone encountered something similar or any suggestions as to a cause?

I've got a quality practice lock on order that I'm waiting for but this cheap one is vexing me in the mean time.

[davesnothere11]

Well, today I learned if at first you don't succeed try, try and try again, don't blame the hardware.

After some more time and careful practice I found my problem was my technique, not the lock. Poor form with my pick led to my oversetting problem.

[Locks+Picks_Happy]

So this is a problem that I was having just the other day. The problem I realized was that I would lose focus, by focusing too much. It was like I was feeling past the feedback to the point where I could not tell what pins where setting. My advice would be to not over think. Try to balance out the muscle memory and focus.

Deep breath, readjust, and refocus. I think you have the right idea of leaving it be for a day or so. Just don't come back to it with a defeatist mindset.

Be calm, and don't let these intricate beautiful machines win!

[davesnothere11]

So this is a problem that I was having just the other day. The problem I realized was that I would lose focus, by focusing too much. It was like I was feeling past the feedback to the point where I could not tell what pins where setting. My advice would be to not over think. Try to balance out the muscle memory and focus.

Deep breath, readjust, and refocus. I think you have the right idea of leaving it be for a day or so. Just don't come back to it with a defeatist mindset.

Be calm, and don't let these intricate beautiful machines win!

Yep . When I feel the frustration leading to my tension finger starting to ache with desire to force that tumbler open I just set things down for a bit.

I've kept at this Defiant off and on all week and finally got up to all 5 pins including the spools. Tonight I finally picked it repeatedly with confidence, knowing when each pin stets or false sets.
Woohooo!

[knowspicker537]

When I first started picking I would try at a lock for 20 to 30 minutes I realized after about ten minutes I was getting tired and cutting corners ya know, so I would just out it down and come back to it later, seemed to help alot.

[Yuriresner]

It is really funny that I see this post because I just bought the same lock from yesterday from Home Depot and was doing the same thing. What helped me out was staying focus. So I took a moment and took a deep breath and brought myself back because I started to get angry because I couldn't open it. After I took my break and came back to the right mine set relaxed and refocused I was able to pick it. Just need to be relax don't get tensed up over it, it will make it worse.

[davesnothere11]

Yea, turned out my tension skills were lacking. I've since posting this got a bit better. I 've found practicing on a few different locks some easier to work on technique and some that really challenge me to keep it interesting.

Seems to be working as I've gone from struggling with a crappy deadbolt to being able to pick a 5pin American Lock 1100 with spooled key and driver pins.