Joey12ga wrote:http://imgur.com/a/epn9D
That's a nice looking lock. In my experience I have better luck with medium tension on Americans. That way not every click sounds soft. If you can keep steady tension and listen to the click ypu should get soft and more distinct clicks. Distinct being the true sheer line. Also note, deeper cuts bairly need moved at all, a slight brush will set them. If it's not key retaining it will probably have pretty heavy spring tension on the core, so it could be picked and you not even know it. Anyway, this may or may not work for you , it's worth a shot. I'm not sure what your "practice lock" is , a lot of the ones I've seen or had weren't the best quality and American locks are pretty tough for beginners. Keep practicing and eventually it will open up.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next without any loss of enthusiasm
