Yes, it should work as normal and should NOT take a lot of force.

You did push the action bar release tab in and hold it there while you moved back on the fore arm, right?

OK...no big problem. I would take the bolt, slide and action bars, etc. out then reinsert it. You do this by...

a) with the bolt in its forward position, reach under and up inside the loading port and "pinch" the left (oriented as if you are shooting the gun) shell catch, while pulling forward on the fore end. The slide assembly will all come forward, out of the receiver together. To reinsert it, you must place the bolt and slide (the slide is the part underneath the bolt) on the slide arms and gently insert the whole contraption into the receiver (slide arms go in the slots cut for them). If you have never done this before it may take a few tries, buit it WILL work.

Once inserted, the assembly will go only a tiny distance before you will have to pinch first the right, then the left shell catch while gently pushing the fore end to the rear. This will get it reinserted, and then, if you push in on the action bar release, it should (hopefully) allow you to push the fore end all the way to the rear.