What's it worth

20gaugepump

20gaugepump

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Innisfail, Alberta
I have a No.1 Mk.3 made by the LSA Co. in 1918. I have the rifle done to full military configurations unaltered. The serial numbers match on the barrel, receiver, bolt and sight. It has an un-numbered magazine. It has a sling on it with the full military wood stock set. I have been told that the rifle being made by the LSA Co. in 1918 is a bit rarer and that the LSA Co. got bought out by BSA after 1918. The rifle is in 80 + % condition and I wondered if somebody out there could put a price on the rifle since I know very little about them when it comes to companies especially.
 
Being a restoration, I would suggest that it would be worth no more than 2/3 of an unaltered original.
The value of nice SMLEs has been heading uphill.
 
London Small Arms was more of a consortium of the leading "Trade" members in London. It had no real factory, just a small assembly facility where parts were put together into rifles.

The parts came from all the leading London makers, who produced the parts for the military contracts generally by turning the actual work over to apprentices, using qualified Masters to check the work. If parts passed the Government gauges, they went to LSA.

The company operated between 1866 and 1935.

They produced roughly FIVE percent of English-made SMLE rifles during the Great War, NONE during the Second War.

There is a VERY nice 1915 LSA Mark III with a genuine NFLD-marked Butt Marking Disc in the Confederation Building museum in St. John's.
 
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London Small Arms was not a "factory" but more an "assembler" of SMLE rifles. The various parts were built by other Gunmakers and then shipped to a central location where they were assembled into rifles. Most of these parts were made by Apprentices, under the instruction of Masters. Parts that passed the government guage tests were then shipped onwards.

The LSA rifles are generally a bit better quality of finish that the ordinary SMLE rifle. While the LSA rifles lower production make them slightly scarce, they are not "rare" and you can usually find a couple of them as larger military gun shows on most occasions.

London Small Arms ceased business in 1935, due to economic times of the Depression.
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