The London Small Arms Company Ltd (LSA Co) was a British Arms Manufacturer from 1866 to 1935. Based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, LSA Co was formed to compete against the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) at Enfield by the gunsmiths who made up the

London Armoury Company The London Armoury Company was a London arms manufactory that existed from 1856 until 1866. It was the major arms supplier to the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. The same company name was used during World War I to import arms from Amer ...

, which had gone out of business as a result of the end of the

US Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. Like their counterparts at Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), LSA Co were contractors to the British armed forces and produced many British service rifles, notably the Martini–Henry,

Martini–Enfield Martini–Enfield rifles were, by and large, conversions of the Zulu War era .577/450 Martini–Henry, rechambering the rifle for use with the newly introduced .303 British cartridge. Whilst most Martini–Enfields were converted rifles, a numbe ...

, and Short Magazine Lee–Enfield rifles. They also produced sporting arms and shotguns for the civilian market. Unlike BSA and RSAF, however, LSA Co never achieved high levels of production, preferring to focus on maintaining a greater level of workmanship on their firearms. LSA Co guns are highly regarded by collectors of British military firearms because of their workmanship, which has led most of the existing and surviving LSA Co guns to be in (generally) better condition than their contemporaries from other manufacturers. The market for military and civilian arms dropped markedly in the inter-war years, and LSA Co closed down in 1935, unable to compete with the more efficient factories of BSA Co and RSAF Enfield.

References

* ''The Lee-Enfield Story'' (1993) Skennerton, Ian. Arms & Militaria Press, Gold Coast, QLD {{ISBN, 1-85367-138-X

External links

Royal Bank of Scotland Archives: London Small Arms Co. Ltd
Firearm manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct manufacturing companies of England Defunct firearms manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in London