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I recently got a key for my Victrola VV-XI and it appears that something in the lock mechanism may be out of place as the key won't insert fully as there are two brass spring loaded pieces resting on the key "pin". The two brass pieces can be moved to get the key inserted but there seems to be no connection between these pieces and the lid locking "plunger". I don't see any loose pieces of anything in the opening after removing the lock mechanism so I believe it's all there. Does anyone have a drawing or sketch on how these locks should be? Hopefully it's something simple to manipulate back in place without breaking the welds to remove one of the side pieces. Thanks in advance!

Edit: Perhaps there were ball bearings or something between the movable brass pieces and the lock plunger in a bearing race? I looked again in the mortise and don't see anything in there unless it's been long gone years ago.

Try cleaning and greasing it.

It's clean and greased. Everything moves freely, there just doesn't seem to be any 'connection' with the two spring loaded brass pieces with the lock 'plunger' that extends out of the top. Due to the fact that these brass pieces are resting on the key pin, I'm thinking something is missing inside, perhaps a ball bearing between the plunger and brass pieces.

When I first tried the key lock on my XI, it resisted. Took out the mechanism and found a broken off end of a key jamming the works. Got that out of there and it worked fine. Dont' know if this is at all related to your problem, but thought I would mention it here.