Undeveloped speckles on negs

I developed two rolls of Neopan 400 last night on double reels using

XTOL. The first roll began to crimp up towards the end, and although

I was able to finess it to completion, it didn't feel as smoothly

wound as the second roll did which was perfect. Upon viewing the two

negs, the first one has black speckles, looking like pepper, on three

of the last six frames: Exp#31, then skipping to exp.#33 and #34. The

second neg is perfect. Exposures and contrast are good on both. Both

reels are the plastic rachet type and were dry when loaded, with

trimmed leaders.

 

Also, once with Agfa 100, I got an entire neg that had hard crease

lines across the neg about every ten exposures, like it had been bent

in those three places. The neg was loaded perfectly.

 

This above type stuff only happens from time to time but it is enough

to send me back to steel reels in my old days when this type stuff

never ever happened. What gives???

Sounds like your developer wasnt fully mixed and developer crystals stuck to the film causing the black over developed speckles.

If I ever encounter even the slightest hitch in loading film onto reels, whether plastic or stainless, I completely remove the film and start over.

 

As for the uneven development, it could be anything. Might even be trapped air bubbles. No way of knowing without seeing the negatives.