Beginner question

[Miel]

Hi! I'm new to lockpicking and today I got my first 4 pin Masterlock open (I heard they are shit). As I was picking i noticed 1 2 4 were loose, 3 binding. So I push 3 *click* 2 is binding *click*, 1 is binding *click + rotation*, 4 is binding *click + some more rotation but not all the way*. Then I'm stuck. I try with trial and error and discover that I kinda have to push 3&4 together and then 2 and then 1. This way it opens but i don't understand why i have to push 3&4 simultaneously. Can somebody help a brother out? Thank you!

[MartinHewitt]

Not much a pin tumbler expert, but large rotation and no opening often means that there is something like a spool pin. If you push such a pin down it puts a counter rotation force on the core. You look up your lock on youtube. Often there are videos with pick & gut. There you can see how they pick the lock and which pins are inside.

[Slick_Pick]

What model is it ? As Martin stated false set usually means spool or some other reduced diamiter pin.

[Visitor]

Most master locks open with over lifting the pin stack into the chamber so not really a good practice lock. If you're not getting counter rotation I would guess you're overlifting the stack.
Look up comb picks.

Well done on opening it though.

[edocdab]

Sounds like you are doing a number of things well enough. Now the best part is asking these questions and finding the answers. Doing that well will boost your skills fast. When you get stuck, what are the pin states? Do they feel 100% solid or is there the slightest wiggle. Do the keypins fall with gravity if you turn the lock with the pins up? If they don't wiggle at all: probably overset. If you keep the pick under them and release just a bit of tension, do you feel them fall a bit on the pick?

When you say 3 binds in the beginning and the others are lose, that's great. After you set 3, are more pins binding? Maybe you set 2 too early and overset it.

If you can really understand and feel pin states, you learned one of the most important lessons.