M6 frame spacing and camera bags!

Here's a thing...

I bought a used Leica M6 about six months ago. It came with a Leica Eveready leather case. I took a couple of rolls and film and everything was fine.

I then took off the leather case and transferred the Leica to a Lowepro Off Trail bag to provide some weather protection and to make the camera easier to carry whilst hiking. When I developed the next couple of films I found that, apparently at random, the frame spacing would increase to about 5mm.

I then moved the Leica to a small Billingham bag and found that almost every frame was now spaced by about 5mm except where I'd held the camera between frames.

Recently I was on a business trip to London and decided to return the Leica to its leather Eveready case and, presto, every frame was properly spaced!

Now, I know that the Leica rewind knob is apparently 'active' at all times. Is it possible that the knob is being turned when the camera is in the Lowepro and Billingham bags or when it's being inserted into or removed from these bags and that this is causing my uneven frame spacing. Is there anything I can do to stop it and has anyone else come across a similar problem?

Thanks

Barry

Sounds plausible, if what you say about the rewind knob is true. The real question is why did Leica design the rewind mechanism that way?

A puzzling fenomenon indeed!
First, I use an M2 (1958), M3 (1965) and an M6TTL (2002), all of which have a consistent frame spacing of about 2,5 mm. The space allways falls exactly between two sprocket holes.
I really wonder if the bag or case has anything to do with the erratic spacing that you have experienced. The advance lever should advance the film exactly 8 sprocket holes, not more. On the M4 through M7 the rewind knob is indeed active at all times (as opposed to the M2 and M3), but turning it in the advance direction will only unwind the film in the cassette, untill it jams against the inside. I don't believe this will actually move the film across the gate. Turning it in the opposite (rewind) direction will pull the film firmly against the spool, but you need to exercise considerable force to retract any film without putting the rewind lever on "R". You are most likely to strip the sprocket holes this way.
I can only think of two possibilities: (1) the film advance mechanism needs to be inspected or adjusted, or (2) the shutter curtains need to be adjusted. Possibly the film gate is never completely exposed, even at speeds under 1/60, because the first curtain has become lazy and doesn't travel all the way across the gate before it is caught by the second curtain. Are your negatives exactly 36 mm wide? What you are looking at may not be uneven spacing but a small (about 2 mm) edge of the negative remaining unexposed because of a shutter issue.

One of my M6's had some erratic frame spacing a year or so ago that had nothing to do with anything that I could figure out. Unless the frames overlap, it's really not a problem in my opinion.

Personally, I would not use the camera case at all. Leicas are slow enough to change film without having to fiddle with a "never ready" case. The Billingham is a better option--I really like Billingham bags.

Shoot several more rolls of film and keep the variables limited. If the frame spacing still looks weird, get it checked out.