You have a good point there Martin, maybe I just had a couple of bad machines! I only use Telex 16mm military models now, though - they aren't very popular for some reason, but great machines - quiet, manual thread, and very gentle on film (adjustable pressure gate)!

I must add although i fully understand the professional boys who were /are projectionists for a living, the manual thread is definatly the way to go but i have never had any problems with any auto load machines unless the leader was damaged to start with.
The only machine to ever consatina any leader was my Brothers Eumig 810D.

Regarding #7, Andrew, I do have some double-perf 16mm films, but no double-perf projectors, so I can`t test them for strength/weakness. But a career projectionist friend of mine told me that 16mm double-perf films played on double-perf projectors would not suffer the same sprocket hole damage as single-perf. I suspect that the wear and break-up of single-perf 16mm film, although accelerated by a design flaw, is compounded too by how often films have been played on rent from libraries, as a couple of people suggested earlier.

Thanks for covering all points raised Martin. It all makes perfect sense to me and I am certain all points highlighted come into the equation by one degree or another.