Carbines of the Collectors - The Mill's Brothers Rock-Ola

Brothers Richard and Mike Mills were kind enough to allow me to “Adopt” their dad’s Rock-Ola carbine for the weekend.

In the small New Mexico mountain community where we live, everyone knows everyone else and it didn’t take long for me to learn that they had inherited a Rock-Ola carbine that their dad acquired from the Army sometime shortly after World War II.

His oldest son, Richard, tells me that his dad bought this Rock-Ola carbine from the Army along with a 1903 Springfield in 1947 for which they still have the receipt. Richard was ten years old at the time. Richard’s younger brother, Mike, recounts how his dad later “improved” it by varnishing the stock and replacing the flip sight with the “better” Springfield Armory milled adjustable sight.

When I first saw the Rock-Ola, I knew it was special. Maybe it wasn’t a “Bring Back”, but knowing the story, I knew it had been the Mills family possession a long time and suspected it was very close to original. Over the weekend I broke it down and confirmed that it was original except for the adjustable rear sight and the varnished coating on the stock and handguard, just as Mike had said.

Here are a few pictures:

Lt. Avery Mills at Arlington Cemetery in 1947

Avery G. Mills joined the Army in 1928. Soon thereafter he graduated from the U. S. Army’s Cavalry Training School at Fort Riley, Kansas. The certificate below shows that he completed the “Advanced Equitation Course for Non-commissioned Officers”. That’s Army talk for horseback cavalry training. Corporal Mills served our country during World War II in the Philippines and again during the Korean Conflict. He retired from the Army as a Major in 1958 after 30 years of service.

Cpl Mills Cavalry School Equitation Certificate in 1935

The rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

Here you can make out the SA on the rear sight.

High Wood Stock

RMC in Slingwell

SA rear sights often had a Crossed Cannon Cartouche

Type one barrel band.

If you look closely you can make out the M and R

This was made by Maid-O-Mist for Rockola

The replacement rear sight was not staked in place

Type two trigger housing. Rock-ola had a narrow wall which is seen quite late into production.

Rock-ola butt plate with missing dots at 6, 9, and 12 O'clock

RMC Ordnance acceptance marks

I prepared and submitted a Carbine Data Sheet that shows, with the exception of the rear sight, that this carbine is original as it left the Rockola factory in February or March of 1944.

I mentioned to the brothers that if they have an occasion to look through their father's belongings again, check and see if there might be a Type 1 rear sight among all the junk that maybe can be returned to its proper place.