broken schlage?

[jasontimmer]

i've got a schlage lock that has been very tempermental. it's not set in a door, and is very hard to pick. i've done it twice with standard picking technique and bumped it once. this lock seems to be more difficult to open than it should be. one interesting thing i noticed about it: if i hold it in my hand, and shake it a little, i can hear several pins moving about inside, sounding like they do in a lock that has been picked already, when there's no key to restrict their movement. they just slide back and forth in the lock. i think the lock may be broken. the pins shouldn't be able to move like that without any manipulation, should they? is it broken? does this explain why its so tough to pick?

[Shrub]

Was it an old lock that has been removed from a door in the past due to a fault?

Bumping can damage a lock,

Sounds like you need to stip it down and have a look at it for yourself, theres not much we can help you with on here otherwise,

[Bud Wiser]

mine does not rattle.

[Shrub]

It is possable that the springs are tired or youve pushed the pins too high and damaged them and then a high cut will allow the pins which will be short to rattle in there but a strip down is the only real way to tell,

All practice locks benefit from a strip down and service anyway, then repin it to a differant combo,

[jasontimmer]

the lock was doing this before i bumped it. could be that it was removed from the door because of the fault. got it from a friend who didn't tell me much of the story on it, just that he didn't want it. any ideas for a makeshift plug follower?

[Shrub]

You can find some on my www button,

Of the top of my head, pens, wooden spoons, rolled up card, your finger, wooden dowl, steel tube, another plug, thick wire, plastic tubeing,

[I Pik U]

If this is a residential grade knob lock (F series), and you hear "several pins moving about inside", then I suspect the closing cap on the top of the cylinder has come off, or partially, allowing some of the pins and springs to fall out.
Pick the rest of the pins, turn the plug to 3 o'clock and push on the knob retainer and pull the knob off. Then remove the cylinder and diagnose the problem.

[maxxed]

One way to test for resonable spring preasure is to hold the cylinder upside down,( top pins on bottom, bottom pins on top ) if the key will not turn the plug then the springs are weak

[jasontimmer]

thanks for the tips everyone, i'm thinking that the springs are either fatigued or broken entirely. once i manage to pick the lock again, ill re-key it and incorporate it into a practicing device.

[melvin2001]

you can shim locks if you are going to re-key them. that way you dont have to re-pick the lock in order to re-key the thing. use your search-fu and find what you can about using the security tag strips to shim a lock.

[jasontimmer]

security tag strips? you have piqued my interest. search i shall. thanks.