Re: [Leica] OT: Good starter body

[InfinityDT@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/28/99 6:15:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
msmall@roanoke.infi.net writes:

<<  I bought one once, put it on
 my M3 for six months and finally got it to work right. >>

They don't work so hot on the M3 because you still have to pull the spool up 
each time to reset the frame counter.  I have 2 M2's, both with the 
rapid-loaders and they work as well if not better than the OEM rapid-load 
system on the M4 and up.  I *think* I paid about $12 apiece for the spool + 
baseplate gizmo back around 1972.  I also remember having to crimp the thing 
that holds the film for a tighter grip, otherwise it tended to slip out; also 
you've got to turn the wind crank to line the slot up (there's only one slot, 
not like the tulip-shaped spool on the later bodies).  The original loading 
of the M3/M2 and LTM's is really not that much *slower*, it's that I was 
forever down on my hands and knees looking in the weeds or under furniture 
for the spool that I invariably dropped.

DT