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Gents,
Sorry to be away from the forum for so long! The Lee-Speed book is still progressing...

RLR, thank you for posting. This is a sweet rifle --I wish I owned it. I first saw this rifle #4573 back in 2008 when I was just starting my research and I didn't yet know the right questions to ask about it. Looks like it originally came from an attic in Canada and went through a couple owners since. Nice to see it again and glad it's in good hands. Did it come with a leather/canvas Parker Hale sling?

Let me take a stab at some statements in the thread and see if I can help.

First, Rowdy is correct (as he usually is about most things) about it being a pre-war rifle. London proofs didn't change much, so we need to find other ways to date an LSA rifle. First, it cannot be post war because the number of rifles that LSA made post-war was zero. More precisely, I have documented dates for two other LSA sporting rifles (#4536 and 4670) and they both date to 1909. LSA serial numbers are bit less wayward than BSA's, so we can be confident that your rifle fits snugly right between these other two. (It's worth noting that LSA used different number sequences for service pattern rifles--Long and Short--and for the trade carbines.)

Huvius wrote: ""The front sight on your rifle looks awfully Webley like to me the way it's shaped and sleeved onto the barrel." I agree. I have seen these front sights on Lee Speeds from Greener and Wilkinson too, not so much on those from BSA. Individual gunmakers often sought to distinguish their offerings in such ways.

Our friend superbee writes:" "Only about 10% of lee speeds were built by LSA" ... How do you calculate that? I'll be embarrassed if you say that I told you! I might have...but all my estimates of production figures are in a big folder covered in lunatic scribblings... I no longer keep the figures in my head. Ten percent sounds about right... but if you have some definitive source, I'll have to trade you a Lee-Speed for it.

TH44 writes: ""Certainly better all round than mine - a Westley Richards retailed early version with full length rib and tang safety"... I would love to see photos and learn the details about your WR Lee-Speed. Could you send me a PM? Every single surviving rifle provides valuable data.

On LSA... "The lack of any innovations eventually killed the company." The demise of LSA is a complicated story, and the post-war situation was dire economically. LSA never achieved comparable output with BSA because the size of the LSA works was very limited, with little opportunity to expand in Bow, London. Also, BSA's merger with Daimler really transformed it into a different company, and in 1919 it had to split into three companies, one of which was BSA Guns... which continued to make sporting Lee-Enfields. LSA was set up for government contacts and its ventures into commercial products were limited... the War Office Miniature was one and Lee-Speeds were the other. No air guns or bicycles for LSA! They did, also, offer a nice line of adjustable target sights for the civilian shooting market. The LSA Story is one still to be told and I will do my best, but as one approaches the year 1919, the surviving records become more scanty, disconnected, and hard to interpret.

Rule303 asks: ""Just wondering if anybody has Ian Skennerton books on the Lee Enfield and if that would have anything on the Lee Speeds in then." Yes, every Lee-Enfield owner should buy a copy of Skennerton's magnum opus (get the big 2007 edition). Get it before it goes out of print and then you end up paying 4x the price. You can still get now for under $100. A bargain for one of the best gun books ever written. It only contains a very small amount of info on Lee-Speeds, because that is not Ian's focus. But it is extremely valuable to understand where the Lee-Speed came from and why it is what it is. You can learn much about the patents too.

RLR... your profile says you are in Washington? I assume that is the state not DC! Are you a member of Washington Arms Collectors or Oregon Arms Collectors? There are a lot of knowledgeable Lee-Enfield guys in those groups. Latest issue of the OAC newsletter has a long review of Lee-Enfield literature, including Skennerton's.