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Being a newbie, I hardly feel qualified to be adding to the tutorials. But, I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere so far, and maybe it might help someone. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes. Let me know if this is old news.

One of my practice locks has a really free spinning keyed dial (S&G D225). The weight of the key plug imbalancing the dial was not very conducive to consistency in contact point reading. I flattened a 148 grain .38 caliber wadcutter and taped it to the front of the dial opposite the key plug, and the difference was like night and day! Sooooooo much better! The dial no longer fights me, pulling away from the right (or left, depending on whom you ask) contact point as I was trying to take a reading. If you feel the dial fighting you, try a counterbalance. A fishing weight, washer, whatever. I hope this helps.

You get extra points for using ammunition!

Also, that is a very cool mount you made there for your lock.

I've heard people talk about their struggles with this before -
the dial tends to wanna ride away from the point of contact.

This is a great solution to the problem. Simplistic brilliance!
I like it. Now you've got me thinking about coins and if their
weight will match up. I'll have to do some experimenting

That's funny - I wondered what that was when I seen it in
your first photo, but didn't ask, lol. Thanks for sharing it.

Yeah, this lock gives me fits, sometimes. Something about the geometry of the wheels, I'm sure. I can shuffle the combination one time, and find two of the three gates in one go around. Other times (like now), I can find one gate by going one way, but not the other, then have a hell of a time finding another gate, even after having tried several methods. The wheels mask each other a bit well. I haven't been beat yet, but I have a lot to learn about working around difficulties. That's why the Chronicles thread is such a great learning tool.

I can't take credit for the mount. The lock came that way. I did add the key hook and make the cutaway, though. I need to see if there's still a Tap Plastics in the city, as this mount does present well, and I might like to make some.