Aerial,
I suffered a bit of headache over this thread (or more so, the topic).
If the thing on your SALA "looks" like a normal autolocking biner, but it's bigger... it just might be one. Can you post a picture of it up in here? It certainly fits for this thread, and I'd like to see it.
However, it might be more of a auto-locking snap hook. That's a device which you have to squeeze a lever on the back side of in order to open the gate for the hook on the front side. They're very common with work positioning lanyards and fall arrest in other industries.
As far as the screw locking biners go. If you're using auto's for rigging, and screwlocks for climbing... You're doin it backwards. If you read this thread from start to finish you'll see that I used screw-locks for climbing and either for rigging, and it's been a long road to trudge trying to convince anyone that it's an acceptable practice (mainly... because its not
)
(if you tell people that you're using your previous rigging auto's for your climbing now, you'll catch hell for it. Biners which have been used for rigging should NEVER be used for climbing)
Jury's still out on whether I'll be contacting ANSI to complain about the screw-lockers. They're a big bureacratic machine, and I don't have the energy to fuss about it. It irks me that there are people writing rules for our industry who probably have never BEEN in a tree though. I'm pretty sure that should invalidate any opinion they have.
At the end, the most that you can really pull from this thread, in my opinion, is what Bermy said about evaluating risk. That goes hand in hand with never trusting that your auto's have closed themselves though. Make a habit of always checking and it will become routine.
Biner's are a good place to start, but I'm sure it's the least of your worries as far as operating out of code. Make sure you've got your PPE in place when you operate too.
Oh yes, make sure when you are making your gear inspections that you don't forget to pull all the line out of that SALA SLR gadget you insist on using, and checking it thoroughly for wear.