This is an article from an American Rifleman issue April 2008 about the Rock-Ola M1 Carbine. I cant bear to type the whole thing out, so here are all the important parts, enjoy
The M1 carbine was primarily inteded to be a replacement for the .45 pistol in the hands of officers and other military personnel whose primary duties often precluded the carrying of the standard service rifle. Designed by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. and adopted after an exhaustive series of trials and tests, the carbine was a lightweight (about 5 1/2 lbs.) semi-automatic shoulder arm that fired a .30-cal. cartridge ballistically comparable to a .357 Mag. Handgun cartridge. While significantly less powerful than the M1 Garand rifle, which fired the .30-'06 Spring. cartridge, the carbine was more effective than the .45 pistol at all but point-blank range. Almost immediately upon its adoption, the carbine proved to be popular with the majority of users and much greater numbers were manufactured and issued than originally anticipated.
The Rock-Ola Scale Co. was founded in 1927 by David C Rockola. As the years passed, the small Chicago firm grew and began producing other products. In 1932 the name was changed to Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. Mr. Rockola indicated that he added they hyphen as people were prone to mispronounce the name. By the 1930s, Rock-Ola was manufacturing a wide array of products including scales, parking meters, pinball machines, and furniture. However, in the eyes of the public, the firm became most closely associated with coin-operated jukeboxes. Large numbers of Rock-Ola juke boxes were in use from the mid-1930s in the the 1950s and well beyond.
When the United States entered World War II, virtually all manufacturing entities were contacted regarding potential military production contracts. Rock-Ola was no exception, and the company was approached in very early 1942 regarding the possibility of becoming involved in the M1 carbine production program.
Despite many problems, delays and setbacks, Rock-Ola was eventually able to get into production. The firm's initial batch of barrels was finished in December 1942, and the first completed carbines were delivered in February 1943. Even before the company delivered its first carbine, it was awareded supplemental contracts for an additional 152,746 carbines with a daily production goal of 1,500.
Rock-Ola manufactured the following parts for its own M1 carbines: receiver, barrel, stock, handguard, gas cylinder, bolt, triger, sear, recoil plate, firing pin, trigger housing, extractor, and operating slide.
Rock-Ola barrels were also stamped with the name of the company and, initially, the date of manufacture, but the date was eliminated latter in production.
While Rock-Ola never came close to meeting its directed goal of 1,500 carbines per day, the company did deliver a total of 228,500 along with a sizable number of extra barrel assemblies by the time the firm's contracts were canceled and production ceased on May 31, 1944. Rock-Ola's output represented about 3.7 percent of the total carbine production, the lowest percentage of all prime contractors, except for the ill-fated Irwin-Pedersen which made fewer than 4,000 complete carbines, none of which were initially accepted by the government.
As was the case with virtually all M1 carbines, the vast majority of Rock-Ola carbines were subsequently rebuilt by the government following World War II. When a carbine was rebuilt, most of the parts were stripped from it and any worn, broken or superseded components were replaced with updated parts. Parts were replaced with no regard as to the original maker, thus rebuilt carbines were assembled with mixed parts. updated components typically installed on rebuilt carbines included an adjustable rear sight, rotary safety and barrel band with integral bayonet lug. The carbines were re-Pakerized as necessary.
Undoubtedly, many of the young G.I.s who were issued Rock-Ola carbines were slightly amused at seeing the name of a jukebox maker on their guns. While not rare, Rock-Ola carbines can sometimes be difficult to turn up and, for today's collectors, these carbines are among the most desirable and valuable due to the low production numbers and the uniqueness of the maker. The "jukebox carbine" is certain to remain one of the most sought-after examples of the U.S. M1 carbine. While the sounds that emanated from a Rock-Ola jukebox in a roadside diner were certainly different from those of a Rock-Ola carbine in a foxhole in France, the latter was still welcome "music" to many G.I.s in its own right.