I've bought a bunch of older holders on ebay and wonder if I've perhaps found the reason they were being sold.
They are different to my more older (but newer manufacture) in that they have a \_/ shaped recess in the middle of the plastic at the end, but don't have a little recess dimple in the aluminum to get your nail under that my others have.
Getting film out of these buggers seems to be a devil of a job. Firstly it seems much harder to lift and grasp the edge, secondly the film snagged on the rails on the way out.
Are there any tricks which I should perhaps be aware of to make this easier?
Seriously, try cleaning under the rails with a sheet of blotter paper and some alcohol.
I use a water-based wax lubricant for bicycle chains on the edges of my dark slides--that should work under the rails as well if simple cleaning does not eliminate the binding.
Sometimes it's much easier to get the film out of the holder if you take it out of the bottom side of the holder! I load films in the top side (holding the holder flat), and unload the bottom side. Try it; it really is a lot easier!
If they 'stick' I hold it upside-down for a few moments & gravity usually takes over. I recently bought some used DDS's and gave them a thorough clean with methylated spirits and my air compressor (particularly through the slot where the darkslide goes in, its amazing how much gunk came out from there!)
I have this problem, I thought that having a longer fingernail was my solution. That's tough with my anxiety though. Even with xanax i'm chewing the things right off. Bad habit.