What action should be taken to clear a double feed malfunction?

To clear a double feed malfunction, the appropriate action is to remove the magazine and cycle the action. This is the correct procedure because a double feed occurs when more than one round is in the chamber or when a round is being fed from the magazine while another one is still in the chamber. Removing the magazine ensures that no additional rounds are being introduced into the chamber during the clearing process, and cycling the action will extract and eject the malfunctioning rounds.

By doing this, the user allows for a thorough clearing of the weapon’s chamber, which is crucial to safely and effectively resolve the malfunction. After clearing, the user can then inspect the magazine and the ammunition to ensure that the problem will not recur when the magazine is reinserted and further rounds are chambered.