Someone explain to me what's going on inside this schlage.

[dirtymoney]

Ok, I am practicing with a schlage deadbolt lock. I took it apart & removed the back two pins & springs so that there are only 3 pins to pick in the front.

I go to pick it... push up the first front pin...... and the plug turns. Sometimes hard, sometimes easy.

What is going on?

[Squelchtone]

Post a photo of the key that goes with that lock, we can tell better from that.

Thanks
Squelchtone

[camelgd]

Dear Mr. Dirty Money,
Your top pins in chambers two and three are not long enough to block the shearline. When it turns hard, you are probably severing the springs in those chambers- when it turns easier, the sliced off portion of the spring sits in the plug chamber, acting as a pseudo-pin that was sliced precisely to the shear line. To correct the problem, new springs, and tumblers long enough to block the shearline. Too many people don't think about the fact that it is the top pins that lock up a lock- they are more important in security of the lock than the bottom pins. When people talk about moving bottom pins to a shearline, they are also moving the top pins to the shearline. It is just a matter of perspective.
camelgd

[dirtymoney]

Dear Mr. Dirty Money,
Your top pins in chambers two and three are not long enough to block the shearline. When it turns hard, you are probably severing the springs in those chambers- when it turns easier, the sliced off portion of the spring sits in the plug chamber, acting as a pseudo-pin that was sliced precisely to the shear line. To correct the problem, new springs, and tumblers long enough to block the shearline. Too many people don't think about the fact that it is the top pins that lock up a lock- they are more important in security of the lock than the bottom pins. When people talk about moving bottom pins to a shearline, they are also moving the top pins to the shearline. It is just a matter of perspective.
camelgd

The springs were not deformed or cut when I took the lock apart again. I had two small pins & one big pin. I swapped out one of the small pins for a big one & it wont open easily now when i push the first pin up.