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Hi all,
I was looking at buying an American A5200 to practice on, but in some reviews it seems like Masterlock bought American and the cores are now spring-loaded instead of key-retaining (if that's the right vocabulary)? If that's true, and I really have no idea what i'm talking about here, is there a way to identify the older locks?
Please excuse me if this has been discussed already. I did try searching the forums without luck.

Thanks in advance.

why do you want to go with a5200, exactly? Just a bigger body? why do you want it to be key retaining? I ask because the A5200 is the same core as near any other american lock.

It was recommended as a good learning lock for tension control? What's a good alternative?

honestly, the a5200 will be good as is, so long as it fits in your hand and/or vise well. key retaining isn't a necessary feature for practice on tension control, spring loaded core is. the a5200 is more expensive than the a1100/a1200/a1300 series locks because of the body material(a5200 uses a steel body, the latter use an aluminum body). I'd personally recommend one of the latter mentioned as a practice lock, the a5200 for actual security use(excepting, of course, if you're able to get ahold of a government a5200, which seems to have a very few differences in regards to tension control). Also look into the a3600 series, as it allows the use of key in knob cylinders(kwikset/weiser, schlage, yale, medeco, etc).