LSA 1905 with "P" prefix?

[Strangely Brown]

Nice to see the butt disc marked as many were replaced when sold out of service.

W.Y. = Prince of Wales Own, (West Yorkshire Regiment)

[CoatiMundi]

Thanks for posting pics, my LSA I*** was overhauled at Enfield too but it kept its LSA buttstock. Sounds like a similar history to yours, though. The serial is interesting, mine is a “K” suffix.

[Surpmil]

Interesting for sure, wonder how it never was replaced at the time.

Because it is most likely a war trophy brought home by a German soldier, which would also explain the quite worn finish to the metal.

Thank ____ no one has ruined the stock by cleaning or sanding it.

[telperion]

That's what I thought, too. We will be never able to prove it, though.

What do you think about the prefix? Are there any other "P-"prefixes known out there? I think it's legit, not added later.

Thanks for all your kind replies, btw!

Many greetings!

T

[harlton]

I have a 1908 LSA rifle sold out of service, then obviously given back and ended up in Pakistan, they have overstamped the L to resemble a PSA but a close look and it becomes obvious.

[Surpmil]

I presume the butt disc refers to the 18th Battalion The Prince of Wales Own West Yorkshire Regiment ("The Bradford Pals")? The "pals" or "chums" battalions were recruited from particular areas in the hopes that this would encourage recuiting via social pressures. The result in fact was local disaster when one of these battalions was decimated in battle, as happened to almost all of them in fact.

I read that the Bradford Pals, that is the 16th & 18th Batts. P.W.O W.Y. Regt. had the highest casualty rate of any formation on the first day of the Somme, so quite conceivable that there were rifles about to be picked up after the battle. The Somme seems to have been the 18th Battalions baptism of fire on the Western Front. What Happened to the Pals? - Bradford WW1 Group

One might wonder how such an early rifle was still around in mid-1916, but it seems the Battalion was in Egypt previously. Maybe check your rifle for some desert sand under the stock?

If you know where this rifle turned up in Germany, and what formations were opposing the Pals in 1916, you might be able to make some interesting conjectures.

All in all a historic piece. You should try to track down the provenance through the auction house if they will forward correspondence to the consignor.

Check the butt trap and under the forend in case a note was tucked in? It does happen.

[Alan de Enfield]

so quite conceivable that there were rifles about to be picked up after the battle.

Scavanging parties were sent out most nights to pick up the wounded and any equipment that could be found.

Rifles being collected on the Somme July 1916 for return to Armourers workshops for cleaning, repair and re-issue :

[Surpmil]

No doubt, however like nighttime patrols and wiring parties etc. they could only work a certain distance into no man's land.

As one can imagine, a good amount of dead and wounded and every kind of equipment remained inaccessible due to proximity to the enemy trenches or the impossibility of approaching an exposed area with any degree of safety.