Russwin help.

[walrus]

I am not very experienced with picking locks, so my problem may be simple, please bear with me.
I can not open this one Russwin lock. There is of course the plug with the keyway in it, but there is another cylinder directly above it also. When I pick it, it will only turn about 20' or so, clockwise, then both plugs pull out. I know this is the right direction. If I pick it the other way it spins about halfway around but nothing happens. I have read about pins in the back that must be pushed in for it to spin, but I don’t detect such a pin. What am I doing wrong?

[Romstar]

Is it my imagination, or does this sound like one of Russwin's IC cores?

Romstar

[HeadHunterCEO]

some older russwin locks actually have to be rotated twice to retract a bolt

I learnred this the hard way long ago

[locksmistress]

Sounds a lot like IC in my imagination too...

Walrus, in case you haven't read the rest of the forum, that means you have 2 shearlines to deal with and you are repeatedly picking the control shearline instead of the operating shearline in the clockwise direction.

On the up-side, you should be able to pull out the core and operate the lock - six of one, half a dozen of the other as far as opening goes.

On the downside, it's kind of a pain to hit either the control or the shear on purpose. If you scan the forum for information on picking Best IC that will give you a bit more information. It's not exactly analogous as the Russwin Control lug can't be isolated like the Best can - but it might help.

Otherwise, the only advise I can give you is that the control shear operates in either chambers 2 and 3 or in chambers 2,3,4 and 5 (front-to-back) so those are the ones you're going to have to worry about. Chambers 1-6 you can pick to any shear.

Good luck.

[walrus]

When I pick it, it will only turn about 20' or so, clockwise, then both plugs pull out. I know this is the right direction. If I pick it the other way it spins about halfway around but nothing happens.

Ahem. I will be the first to admit my mistakes. It turns out I was not turning it the correct direction. The reason it would not open the other way is because the lock was old, gritty, and required a ridiculous amount of torque to turn the bolt, more than I was willing to apply at the time for fear of bending/breaking my tools. But thanks for the help; it’s good to know there are some knowledgeable people here to help those like me, even when we don’t really need it.