a Dexter lock

[flatmosquito]

Greetings, everyone. I have a question about a Dexter lock that I recently tried to pick. I first tried picking it while tensioning it clockwise, was able to pick it relatively quickly, but then the plug wouldn't move more than 180 degrees from where it started. I was able to rotate it back and the pins reset. Then I tensioned it counter-clockwise, and it was only able to move 90 degrees (presumably since it was already in the locked position).

Why might this happen? I've noticed that some locks choke up like this - sometimes irreparably and I'm unable to rotate the plug back to the 0 degree starting position. Is there some way to get around this?

Thanks!

Andrew

[MacGyver101]

I suspect that you're probably running into problems with the drivers entering the bottom of the keyway; there's a good write-up of that problem (and how to fix it) here.