A numerical study is performed for the locking of an electronic angular momentum j=1 to the molecular axis during a collision of two atoms interacting via a potential proportional to an inverse power of the interatomic distance, R. Limitations to the notion of the locking radius and slipping probability are discussed in connection with the steepness of the interaction governed by the exponent n. Numerical calculations confirm the authors' earlier analytical result: the optimal criterion for determination of the locking radius is a condition for the accumulated phase difference between two molecular states. Analytical expressions are suggested for the locking angle and the slipping probability. The implication of the locking approximation for calculation of the quasiclassical scattering matrix is discussed.