security plug or defect? or am i just nuts?

[atticRR]

hey all, after opening and gutting an assa i was suprised to find no security pins although i thought i detected a slight false set as a spool might do. After seeing the chambers in the plug it looks like the top third of each is slightly larger diameter and i can imagine as the bottom of the driver fully slides up into this area I might get a slight rotation. Am I crazy or is this really whats happening?

The picture is the best I could come up with, you can see the evidence of these larger chambers in the photo, the crescent shapes are the bottom of the larger diameter area of the pinstack bore.

[Solomon]

That's called countermilling, many high security locks have pin chambers like that. Usually in conjunction with security pins though... but by itself it still creates a false shear line, so it gives a slight false set like you described.

ASSA generally do have security pins but the 1700 series (7 pin, which is what yours probably is) don't seem to. The older 1600 series 5 pinners don't either, apparently. Does your cylinder look like this?

The ones with nasty spool-esque pins have different type of countermilling which the lip of the spool actually goes intoiand snags really tight, so you don't get any counter rotation... picking past them requires a technique I haven't quite figured out for myself yet. Nightmare fuel.

[atticRR]

pretty much, they're one of this bunch:

the only other one from this group had a mushroom pin-Femurat busted one open here:
http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=55749

Now that you confirmed the counterbore i seem to recall hearing about it before, so thanks for clearing it up. The other assa you mentioned really does sound like a nightmare beyond my ability, not that i would pass one up! thanks again solomon!

[atticRR]

but the one i have is not either of the 2 in the bottom right of the picture.

[minifhncc]

Where could one buy ASSA oval cylinders like these? Are the keys restricted? If not, which manufacturer sell the blanks?

Cheers

[Solomon]

Where could one buy ASSA oval cylinders like these? Are the keys restricted? If not, which manufacturer sell the blanks?

Cheers

They pop up on ebay from time to time. ASSA have piles of different keyways, well in excess of 100... some restricted, some not. You'd be able to get blanks for a fair amount of them as they're listed in blank catalogues but getting the right ones could be tricky.