I Broke Off the ''Key Post'' on My Set of Hiatt Cuffs

I Broke ''Off the Key Post'' on My Hiatt Cuffs and what I'm calling the ''Key Post'' is the little Protruding post inside the Keyhole of any Normal set of Handcuffs.

The Post Fell Out of the ''Keyhole'' and the Key would not function. Makes Sense even to me.
But then I noticed that inside the actual Keyhole there seems to be a ''Maximum,'' or a built-in Stopper that is made to not allow a Key to enter the Keyhole any Deeper.

I put the Broken off Post in the keyhole and then I Lined it up and when I tried to use the Key it worked like it's supposed to!

Luckey? Normal Action or?

Either Way I'm Cool with the outcome but I don't trust it! Are all Key Posts Made with different depths for different keys?

Thank You Kindly.
Be Well.
Sincerely,

Tejano Libre

imo the entire universal keying system is outdated shit. its no surprise that your post broke but actual key breakage is probably more common. i mean if they arent vintage maybe send them to hiatt for warranty replacement. other than that there probably isn't much more to this post.

The only functional thing the keypost does is keep the key aligned so that when the key turns, the position is right to interact easily with the pawl. If you have no keypost the key slides away from the pawl when you turn. So in order to open them you need to manually push the key further inwards as you turn to stop the key being pushed back. Or pick them open with a bobby pin or lock pick etc etc. I wouldn't trust a cuff without a keypost that once had one.