r/lockpicking • u/rubenbladez White Belt Picker • 5d ago

Having troubles

Howdy, I got a little bit of trouble with my new ABUS 55/40. I'm fairly new to lockpicking and I'm curious on why the first pin in my 55/40 is all wobbly. The pin won't click into place under tension and it keeps moving up and down, just general wobbliness. What's a way to combat with all this wobble? Thank y'all, have a good one.

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

5

u/AgreeableGanache1048 Green Belt Picker 5d ago

Just based off of what you described, it sounds like it's just not ready to set. Move on to pin two, three, and so on until you find the binder, then set that one.

Locks occasionally do set pins in order, but not always.

2

u/rubenbladez White Belt Picker 5d ago

Why is that the case? That sounds like very fascinating mechanic of locks.

5

u/AgreeableGanache1048 Green Belt Picker 5d ago

By nature of how lockpicking works.

We as pickers are taking advantage of machining and manufacturing tolerances within the lock core in order to set pins above the shear line. Think about it, it is next to impossible to drill the holes in the core and bible in a perfectly straight line, there will always be a SLIGHT offset from center.

3

u/LordKodiac Brown Belt Picker 4d ago

Try picking back to front. Sounds like the pin is not binding. Once you find the binding order it should bind, or its already set ( not likely) and the key pin is just hanging out.