I removed the bolt from my rfb to make it safer when I left town as I tend to make all my firearms inoperable when vacationing. When I put it back together without the bolt it lock up and would not open. The solution is to take a one piece cleaning rod and push it down the barrel until you push the latching mechanism open. Without a bolt in place the latch has nothing to push against it. I hope this helps as I could find nothing on the internet about this problem.