"Rockola" Carbine by Federal Ordnance

[BillinBama]

I've had the carbine among others in my collection for 30+ years,  and a few weeks ago I was negotiating with a potential buyer when I examined it closely and discovered it isn't an original Rockola, bur rather a Fed Ord copy. It is stamped Rockola on the receiver where all US government carbines are, but in very small letters on the side is stamped Federal Ordnance.   I had never noticed it before.   I'm not a hard core Carbine guy, but have loved the little guns since a boy, so forgive my ignorance.   This gun was made long before the newer Inland guns coming out now and I don't remember reading anything about the one. I had another Fed Ord Carbine long since sold but it only had rge Federal Ordnance stamp on it. Anyone know the history of this?

[BillyDixon]

way back in the day-fed ord company welded all sorts  of demil GI recievers back together, carbines, M! rifles, .45 autos, results were, fantastic good to crap, they branched out to making new cast M! grands, and evan had a company in spain make 1903 springfield recievers, which they assembled on  like new GI parts, tons and tons of GI parts were being sold as scrap metal,  next time you see a GI carbine  flashhider marked spain it came as a repo from fed ord, the company changed hands a few times and lingred on into 1970s thank them for creating such a collectors market, just sayn

[BillinBama]

Thanks for the info, at least mine seems to be well done, it shoots great. I remember way back when Carbine parts were ridiculously cheap, wish I'd bought more. I have an old Fed Ordnance newspaper like catalog with some interesting stories.

[jim c 351]

Bill,

A  few pics might help.

Its possible you have  a  Rockola  carbine that was imported  by Federal  ord.

Jim c

[BillinBama]

Thanks, I'll post some for inspection. 

[BillinBama]

Here are two I have on my tablet, I'll get one of the side of the receiver with the Fed Ordnance marking.

[BillinBama]

It reads "Federal Ordnance Inc. SEM  CA" and above it "before using read warning"

[jim c 351]

Its a RockOla receiver with the  rear sight installed backwards.

Fed  Ord was either  the importer or the remanufacturer of the RockOla receiver.

The deep pitting makes me worry that welding   was involved.

Jim C                     

[inertord]

.

Edited February 2 by inertord

[68coupe]

It doesn't take much to turn that flip sight around, even without a carbine-specific rear sight pusher. The problem lies in zeroing the rear sight. A bit of trial-and-error would be involved, regardless of method used, be it laser bore sighting or live ammo.

Just my humble opinion, Karl, 68coupe

[BillinBama]

The sight is an easy fix for me, thanks for the advice.  Sighting in by shooting is part of the fun!  (I do have a laser bore sight tool I can use to get it close though).  I'm glad to know it is a real Rockola and not a knockoff.  Don't know about the pitting, though.

[NFA amnesty]

It looks like it was re-welded to me from the pictures.  Look at the end of "warnin" and then look up to the top of the receiver....looks welded to me.  Hence the warning on the receiver.

Edited Tuesday at 02:09 AM by NFA amnesty

[dalbert]

If you want to see how confusing rear flip sight orientation can be, take a look at this post:

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/forum/backward-flip-sights_topic3859_post27080.html?KW=#27080

David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com