It's not a military action. This was purposely built for commercial sale to civilians. The Crown/VR markings are not missing and were not removed---they were never there. Also, there was never a volley sight on this rifle, and no provision for one.
Be cautious when trying to apply military service dates to commercial rifles. Official military changes (e.g., "adopted in 1895,"or "made obsolete in 1902" etc) have very little relevance for commercial models made for private sale. BSA and LSA offered a .303 carbine years before the British military adopted one, and they continued making Lee Metfords (and Martinis for that matter) for years after they had been "replaced" in British service.
LSA made commercial actions and supplied them to retailers, such as Greener. They could not and did not offer government-stamped, military marked actions or rifles for private sale. Those belonged to the Queen.
If we can see all the markings on this rifle, we can probably date it.
As for being a "Lee Speed," the short answer is yes (at least as I loosely define the term). The long answer is that "Lee Speed" was never really the name of a model of rifle. It was patent acknowledgement that was applied to a rifle during the years when the patent was in effect. Afterwards, it was no longer stamped, but the rifles continued to be made. For convenience, I call all the commercial Lee Metfords and Lee Enfields "Lee Speeds" regardless of whether they have the "Lee Speed Patent" stamp. Other collectors disagree and use the term only if the rifle has the patent stamp.
I agree, it's a nice rifle!
