The Schlage 40-247 is the OEM SL A2 Cylinder Pin Kit for the Everest 29 SL 7-pin cylindrical lock cylinder format. It is the professional pinning kit for setting up commercial A2 master key systems using Schlage SL cylinders - conventional, FSIC, and SFIC-format - in new installations, re-keying projects, and master key system expansions. The kit contains all components needed to pin and assemble up to 25 SL cylinders: L Pins Single Cut (25 each), L Pins Master Pins (25 each), L Pin Springs, Locking Side Bar, Locking Side Bar Springs, SL Plug Clip, SL Plug Cover, SL End Cap, SL End Cap Pin, SL End Cap Pin Spring, Everest SFIC Check Pin, Everest SFIC Check Pin Spring, A2 Key System Key Gauge, Plug Holder Crimp Tool, and Tweezers.

The companion standalone crimp tool is the Schlage 40-296 SL Plug Holder Crimp Tool, sold separately.

What Makes the Schlage SL Cylinder Different From a Standard 6-Pin Cylinder

The Schlage Everest 29 SL cylinder was specifically created to allow the SFIC 7-pin A2 pinning system to be used in conventional full-size cylinder format. The engineering challenge was fitting seven tumblers into a housing originally designed for six. Schlage's solution was replacing the round bottom pins with flat L-shaped tumblers - now called L-Pins - that occupy less radial space in the plug while still providing a full, functional tumbler stack. The "L" shape also creates the sidebar engagement geometry that is specific to the SL design.

The 7-pin SL cylinder delivers a significant key system advantage over standard 6-pin cylinders. Per Allegion's official specification: 7-pin cylinders offer four times more keying combinations in a master key system than 6-pin cylinders. A 6-pin A2 system yields up to 1,000,000 combinations. A 7-pin A2 system yields up to 10,000,000. For large institutional facilities - universities, hospital systems, government campuses - that 10x expansion in the key space is not a luxury, it's a requirement for building a viable, non-conflicting master key hierarchy across hundreds or thousands of openings.

Schlage A2 Cylinder Pin Kit: Two Independent Security Mechanisms

The SL cylinder is the only Schlage conventional cylinder format that combines two independent physical security mechanisms in a single cylinder.

Check pin (Everest 29 primary): A spring-loaded pin at the base of the plug that must be lifted by the correct key before the cylinder can rotate. An incorrect key or incorrect keyway profile will not lift the check pin. This is standard on all Everest 29 cylinders.

Locking sidebar (SL secondary): The L-pins in the SL cylinder are designed to engage a sliding sidebar. All L-pins in the plug must align with the corresponding windows in the sidebar simultaneously before the sidebar can retract and allow rotation. A key with correct conventional bitting but incorrect L-pin bitting will not retract the sidebar.

Both mechanisms must be satisfied at exactly the same time. This dual-authentication is what gives the SL cylinder its security level above conventional Everest 29. In Primus XP form, the SL cylinder adds a third mechanism - a second sidebar - making it the only Schlage cylinder with two independent sidebar systems and the check pin, all operating simultaneously.

Schlage SL Cylinder Replacement: Key System Unification Value

The 40-247 kit is what a locksmith needs when an SFIC-based facility wants to bring conventional cylindrical locks (KIL/KIK, mortise, rim) into the same key system. The SL cylinder uses the Everest 29 R restricted keyway, and the A2 pinning system is the same one used in Schlage SFIC cores. That shared architecture means one master key can operate both SFIC cores and conventional SL cylinders across the same facility without maintaining separate key systems.

The A2 Key Gauge included in the 40-247 kit measures bitting depths against the A2 depth specifications to confirm each key cut is within tolerance before assembly. The Plug Holder Crimp Tool secures the SL plug during the assembly process, where the non-threaded SL end cap requires a quarter-turn lock rather than the threaded cap used on conventional cylinders.