Lee enfield 1911 symbols

[rockintheenfields]

Hello, Wondering if i could pick some brains here . Just bought my third enfield. Im about to start reversing the sporterization but there's a few symbols on it that i am not familiar with. Ive included some pics. On the band under the bolt one of the symbols under the crown says "LSA Co Lo". im assuming the lsa is london small arms company, no idea what the "Lo" means, may also be "Lu". under that it says "Sht.le never seen the ht underlined int sht.le wondered if that meant anything.

On the breech it says N S very clearly and what looks to be a W or a V. above the serial number is an L which i believe stands for land army. Above that is a large six pointed x, -X-.
is a very different style six sided X more like a cross with an x over it which i am to understand indicates its sale to the public. The inside of the forsight is stamped (in the wood) with the Lithgow A star with an H beside it. Looks like a pretty botched armourers repair on the sides of the forearm. Other than that just the usual inspection stamps and broad arrows. I spent a good bit of time researching this stuff but cant come up with all the answers, Any help would be awesom, Thanks, Mark.

Information

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[butlersrangers]

rockintheenfields: Your Short-Magazine Lee-Enfield was manufactured by London Small Arms Co. Limited. I think what you are reading as "Lo" is actually an abbreviation for "Limited" (i.e. Ltd). The marking on the Knox Form (the flat area at the barrel breech) appears to be "NSW", for New South Wales, a State in Australia. The crossing lines you call a "star" are Broad Arrows facing each other indicating the Government sold it off. The stock screw repair appears to me to be the remains of a screw, used with copper wire wrapping, to prevent the forearm from splitting. This rifle was probably used with a cup style grenade launcher and 'blanks' to launch Mills Bomb Grenades. The Australians used older rifles for this purpose and wrapped the forearms with Copper wire to protect the Firer in the event the barrel burst.

[butlersrangers]

Photos, from "The Lee-Enfield Rifle" by Maj. E.G.B. Reynolds, showing an SMLE set-up for Grenade Firing.

[rockintheenfields]

Thanks for the info, i heard of this but never knew much about it, makes sense because when i bought the gun i noted even though the serial numbers matched and the barrel was not marked as being replaced it seemed to have deep rifling, not as good as my 1942 model but definitely better than my 1921 model, if it was used as a grenade launcher firing blanks. However if they wired the barrel in fears of it bursting i kind of question the integrity of the barrel, it has been sporterized so someone has been shooting since service and if i restore it will only shoot it on occasion not regularly. Is it worth restoring? I bought it for the matching #s and no rejection stamps, also the volley sights only being of such limited production. Thanks again for your pics and original response.

[butlersrangers]

rockintheenfields: I would try 'slugging' the bore of your rifle, if it were mine. (Drive a soft lead bullet or round ball of around 8mm diameter into the muzzle with a plastic mallet and then push it down the barrel with a strong cleaning rod). The effort should be fairly consistent. You are looking for a "ringed" or bulged area in the barrel. If the bore is fairly consistent, not obviously bulged, and measures .311-.315 inches inside diameter (and the bolt headspace appears 'OK'), I'd feel safe shooting the rifle. I imagine the gas pressure from the Blank Cartridge propelling a 'gas checked' grenade out of a Cup Discharger clamped to the SMLE nosecap, tested the barrel. However, I doubt there were many failures. The wire wrappings on a 'grenade-launching rifle' were just good insurance against injuring a soldier, who was kneeling and holding the SMLE at a high angle with the butt on the ground.