No binding pins

[jbearnolimits]

What do you do when you can't feel a binding pin? I know it's a pin and tumbler, and I know the key works. But I get no feedback other than feeling all the pins are springy. If I increase tension I still don't find a binding pin.

Funny thing is I can let up the tension after trying to set the pins and I feel and hear some drop

[jbearnolimits]

For those interested I discovered the problem. There was no binding pins because I had overset one. I discovered it by pulsing the tension and letting it drop. I had tried that before but because the lock is hard to turn I didn't know that it was able to be opened at that point. I just assumed it had dropped and was no longer set.

Some take aways from this experience that may help other new pickers is to not assume every click is a pin fully set or fully dropped. Another take away is to increase your understanding of what the different pin states feel like in a REAL lock and not a clear one.

[GWiens2001]

Very good advise. Each of your take-aways is important. Well done.

Gordon