Hold the rifle in your left hand at its balance point. Place the knife edge (where the little finger meets the hand), of your right hand on the operating rod handle. (It needs to be there to keep the bolt from closing and pinching your thumb.) Then press the follower (the part that inside the action where the cartridges in the clip go), down with the thumb of the same hand. Pressing the cartridge follower down with your thumb will release the bolt, your right hand on the op rod handle will keep you from getting an "M1 thumb"...hopefully.m1 Garand
I got a rifle and have the bolt open. I can't get the bolt to close.
"Slam fire" or "doubling"? An M1 that I used for competition began to double. After studying the trigger mechanism, I determined that its design was such that, when worn, it could double (or possibly go full-auto). There is a hook that engages the sear and when the trigger is pulled, the sear must be caught by a second "hook" to keep the rifle from firing again. I replaced the trigger assembly (or possibly just the trigger "hooks"...I do not remember now.) and the doubling stopped.This rifle has a history of "Slam Firing".
I was about 5 feet away from a rifle that slam fired once.
After the incidence we were looking thing over and noticed that several cartridges in the magazine had very light indentations on the primers.
Now the rifle that slam fired that early morning was a Remington 742 Woodsmaster that is designed with a firing pin return spring (that was not in this rifle) that was designed to prevent a slam fire, the M1 does not have this feature.
Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction