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I have 3-4 American Locks, that are in my "Not There Yet" pile. Well tonight I decided to pull one out and give it a go. After getting it to a false set twice (I think), I wasn't sure which pin was causing the issue. I can barely reach the last pin, but it wasn't budging either. Well while holding tension I noticed the lock was sliding towards me a bit, so I pulled it and sure enough the whole core came out. The lock was still locked shut, but the core was now in my hand. Needless to say I am dumb founded on what I did.

Small Format Interchangable Core. Congratulations, you got it to control. Now you can have keys made for it. http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/sfic/

Edit: Now that I looked at a bigger picture, that is a Keymark core. Blanks are really hard to get for those. But you can get a replacement core for them.

That is a" small format interchangeable core" (SFIC) cylinder. It can be removed with a Control key. The control key turns a lug that is part of the cylinder, essentially working from a second shear line. In the picture your thumb is over the control lug.

Congrats! when I pick SFIC's its Control that I try to pick.

If you want the lock open, stick a screw driver in the opening between the 2 "Pins" and twist, it will open.

That is crazy. I thought I broke the damn thing. I did put the butt of my pick or the opposite side in there and open the lock. I wonder why I was able to pick to control and not to unlock... Weird. I still have two more I think to try and pick. Thank you for the information!

Some cores naturally tension to the control shear line, some to the operating shear line.

Great job!!

I have one BEST core that I can only pick to "open" and another that I can only pick to "control"