I'm having the same damn problem with my M1A... that freakin' op rod just won't budge!  I've wiggled it and waggled it and pushed it and pulled it and it just won't move.  I can't figure out how the hell it is supposed to come off.  I'm pretty mechanical too... man I feel like a loozer!

I havent shot mine yet.  Do you find that the M1A is hard to clean and maintain with the op rod still on the receiver?  I'm afraid to shoot it and get it all dirty without being able to get the op rod and bolt out... what has your experience with this been???

You remove the op rod guide and guide spring. Then retract the op rod fully to the rear. There is a take down notch just before you get to the fully retracted position in the receiver. You hold your mouth just right, wiggle the op rod and it will come out downwards freeing up the bolt. Once you do it, it will be a chinch, the first time is a mutha though. Good luck.

The most annoying thing about this is that I have been playing with guns for 25 years and haven't had one beat me yet.  I can get a Garand op rod off and on with no problems, but there is some trick to the M1A that some smart guy is gonna have to show me in person how to manage.  Or I am going to have try to hold my mouth just right (maybe looking at the "babes" thread will help), like Stg44 suggests.

As far as worrying about dirt, I don't.  I shoot the hell out of it, clean it as best I can and lube it.  No problems at all.

For some reason, the SA M1A is more difficult than a M14. When I was in college Army ROTC we had M14's. At Camp Shelby MS we were in pre-Ranger training, and had a competition to see who could field strip it blind folded the fastest. I won, and my "reward" was I got to pick my C ration main course. (what a deal!) I had hell getting my M1A apart the first time. It sure was more difficult all these years later for some reason. (advanced years I guess?)

I've got a Poly Tech/American M-14s. The op rod comes off as easy as any M-1. The problem with the M1A is the way Springfield Armory designed the receiver. It's just a little different than most other semi auto M-14 clones in the area where the op rod is removed.