Working on the book, and these trade pattern carbines will be covered in detail. Just returned from two weeks' research in the UK, wrapping up loose ends...I didn't get fully 100% of my research questions answered, but close... definitely enough to finish the book. Sometimes, you just have to confirm what's NOT there, in addition to what IS there. Even if the answer wasn't available, I had to confirm that it really wasn't available. Jet lag---hope that makes sense.

What is sobering is that when you ponder some questions about these old guns, you realize there's no one left alive who knows the answer... AND there were maybe only half-a-dozen people who EVER knew the answer!

Status of the book: manuscript about 50% finished (page count will be about 336 pp), but the writing is fairly easy and goes fast... what lies between here and publication is crunching the numbers. I have info on over 600 surviving Lee-Speeds (and about the same amount from ledgers), but all that data on markings, features, specs, needs to be entered into Excel and made to speak.

Hendo...if you send me some pics, I can tell you pretty closely when it was made. Still catching up on email and PMs, so I apologize if you have already sent it.

Short story: these carbines were produced for about twenty years prior to WWI. Sporting models and target models continued to be made for years after that. The type you have enjoyed its peak popularity in 1899-1902 when officers were outfitting themselves for the Boer War. (The Boers used them too). How many were made? We don't have exact figures, only educated estimates. Not too many.

If you know it's a "No 3 Pattern" then I assume you have a reprint of the c1912 BSA catalog. For now, that's as good a source as any on these carbines. Be aware that there were other variations not listed in that catalog.

They are handy rifles, aren't they? It's easy to see why people liked them, and still do. There are similar carbines from this same era that have the same appeal: the cavalry carbines, the New Zealand carbine, the RIC. These BSA trade patterns were likely the inspiration for the NZ carbines that came soon after. Doug Munro wrote a great article on this subject a few years ago in Ian Skennerton's "Collector" magazine. I highly recommend that piece for further reading.

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One last bit about the book, though I may have mentioned it elsewhere: I took some of the material from my manuscript on the .375 Express version of the Lee-Enfield sporting rifle and produced an article for the next HBSA Journal. If you want to see a preview of the Lee-Speed book, check out that article when it is published (by end of the year, I hope). The article is strictly about the history and development, not a reference guide or collector's guide. The final book, however, will serve as both a history and a reference. I decided to omit any coverage of reloading and/or using the rifles today. Mainly because I'm not an expert there, and I'll leave that for others to cover.