Leica M4 Rapid Transport Lever Stops Midway

[filterg]

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Hello, I just bought a Leica M4 body yesterday and haven't gotten around to getting a lens yet. I was learning everything and the rapid transport lever was working, and I was just testing it out. I tried like 5 different shutter speeds and it "shot", but on the 5th one the lever stopped midway. I don't have access to film for a few days... I am hoping that once I put film in that the lever will start working again, but it got me nervous that it's broken the day after I bought it. Will the lever work again once I put in film or did I break it?
 

[trisberg]

Sounds like there is a problem with the camera. I don't think you broke it, you should be able to wind and fire the shutter without having film in the camera. I've only seen the lever stop midway when I had film in the camera and it was at the end of the roll.

Hope you get it sorted out.

-Thomas

 

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Filterg,

Welcome to the Forum.

This is the right place to ask questions like yours.

A few questions:

This might not be as big of a problem as it might appear to be.

What shutter speed is the camera set at when the advance lever will not advance completely?

Did you wait for the shutter to actuate & run down from the previous exposure before you wound the shutter for the next exposure?

Do you know if there is film in the camera?

Did you try to push down the little lever at the top on the left of the front of the camera & then try to flip over the rewind handle & rewind any film that might be inside BEFORE opening the bottom to look inside?

Did you look inside the camera before you started operating it?

Enough for a start. We can do this.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited June 3, 2021 by Michael Geschlecht

[Mute-on]

This happened on my M2. It was the shutter rail felt strip that has come adrift and wrapped around the shutter mechanism. It had to be disassembled for repair, which only required that the felt strip was removed and repositioned.
My advice would be do not attempt to force the shutter advance. You will probably just cause more significant damage. Take it to an expert (or return it to the seller). 
Good luck. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Mute-on

[ianman]

15 hours ago, filterg said:

I tried like 5 different shutter speeds and it "shot", but on the 5th one the lever stopped midway.

Sounds like there might be a film in there that has reached the end. What is the counter showing?

[TomB_tx]

2 hours ago, ianman said:

Sounds like there might be a film in there that has reached the end. What is the counter showing?

Sounds likely - I've bought several used cameras that had partially used film in them.