Unexpected Padlock Malfunction

I own a Master Lock padlock that I utilize for various SB tasks. It has never struck me as particularly inexpensive; if anything, I’ve always viewed it as heavy-duty. Today, I employed it for an activity requiring no physical restraint, and when attempting to release the lock, the key barrel failed! Not the key itself, mind you, but the actual cylinder into which the key fits. How this occurred is a mystery, though it doesn’t matter much. It is quite sobering to consider what would have happened if it had been under load during physical restraint. No amount of backup support could have saved me. I never would have imagined this possibility before - now I know better. I haven’t witnessed anything like it in my life yet, despite using a padlock or two over nearly half a century:wink: . The lesson seems to be that one should always expect the unexpected.