Welcome back Proctor. If you only used paper clips and hair pins before "real" picks will be a learning curve for you. I learned a valuable lesson from Raimundo that I will pass along. Just because you have commercial picks does not mean they are ready to use. If you sand them with find grit sandpaper they will move more smoothly through the lock and improve feedback.
hmmm odd. what I use is a bobby pin, I use the side that is ruppled I call it a ripple. I have a regular number 3 and a comercial jumbo size number three. On my jumbo size on I use the straight side of a bobby pin. PS I fo you are wanting to protect something I would not recomend this master lock number 3