Counterintuitive as it sounds, "lock and load" it is actually technically correct: On page 21 of the "M1 Garand Manual" the procedure for preparing the M1 Garand for firing is to "pull the operating rod handle to the rear until the bolt is securely LOCKED open". Then you load the clip. This indicates that first lock and then load is indeed the order of inserting a cartridge clip into the M1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_and_load View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4000565#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...