Is every pin you install not locking in, or just a few? I have not done that much repinning but a couple of pins would not lock in solid (ended up pulling out during the job) so I pried up on the pin's locking tab ever so slightly with a pen knife to get it to lock.

.100 pins are for the brown connectors, period.

I knew I was only going to be doing one or two games worth of connectors at the most in the forseeable future on my 'keepers' so I went with a basic crimper. I could drop my coke-bottle glasses down my nose (then I'm like a human microscope) and make sure the pin was placed just right in the crimper before squeezing the handles. Even then I manage to screw one up here and there by not paying enough attention.