Garand Safety Issue

Hello,

I have a CMP Garand that I'm having an issue with, specifically, the safety. The safety I'll not push back into the trigger guard to engage. I've not fired this rifle yet, even though I've owned it for about two years. I traded for it from a friend who was the original buyer from CMP. Both he and I have shot this rifle in the past, however. I know this sounds goofy, but I was under the impression that the safety would not engage unless the magazine was charged, so I didn't think this was unusual before. This past week I was watching an M1 cleaning tutorial on youtube and I now see the safety is supposed to engage without the rifle being loaded. I've never monkeyed around with the internals other that to remove the trigger assembly so I could remove the op rod/spring/bolt so that I could lube it. But the safety was not engaging Before I did this. I know the safety must somehow be binding or is blocked by something, but to be honest the internals with the hammer, sear, safety, etc., look like a Rubiks Cube to me. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Cliff

If the rifle is operating normally, the hammer needs to be back before the safety can be engaged. However, there is no interaction between the safety and the magazine follower, so it doesn't matter if the rifle is loaded.

Thank you Steve & Hcompton. I'm an idiot, it does work! But my gosh its hard to engage. I mean it's very stiff. That's why I thought it was malfunctioning. I didn't want to force it. Is this common? Thanks again

Thanks for the tip, I'll try that.