Enigmatic markings on a Metford Mk1* Volunteer/Lee Speed

[englishman_ca]

Good pics. They tell me a lot. Now this is all off the top of my head without referring to notes or my library so I might be out a bit or have some near misses.

The front sight is mounted onto the replacement barrel, yes? It belongs to the replacement? It appears to be a solid ramp, so not a converted Lewes.

The base not having any calibration on its side is strange. I can't comment because I have seen so few commercial rifles. None of them were unmarked like this one without any yardage shown. I would have expected it to have 200/300 on the left hand side.
But being a commercial arm, it was not made to a sealed pattern, so comparing it to features on martial rifles is a minefield. with commercial, all bets are off.

The rear sight base still has its Lewes sighting ramps. The leaf I believe sighted for 1600 yards is the original Lewes leaf calibrated for the black powder cartridge with a replacement leaf cap. The leaf cap and leaf slider with the low cut V is correct, not a hand file modification, in as much that I have seen exactly the same V notches on other commercial Mk.I* rifles.

I ask about the volley arm pivot because if the rifle originally had provision for a safety catch as some early Mk.I rifles did, when the catch was removed from production, the void was filled with a little turned spacer that was a press fit into the machined inlet and presented a flat end shaft on which to mount the volley arm. Later production did not have the inlets machined so no need for such a blanking spacer. The body was changed in production to have a threaded hole for a screw in volley pivot. So a slot in the shaft end tells me that this body is late Mk.I or Mk.I* style.

The cocking piece has provision for the safety, so yes, it is Mk.I style.

The fore end also is cut for a Mk.I with safety. There is a scallop in the wood behind the rear volley arm to allow the safety lever to be hooked by the finger and flicked on. The fore stock is likely a replacement taken from from an earlier rifle. Any inspector stamps or military markings in the barrel channel? It is a nice matching walnut to that of the butt stock and hand guard, maybe they came from another rifle together as a set?

I ask about markings on the butt tang looking for factory mark or inspector stamp. Just wondering if the butt plate is commercial or military.

The trigger guard not having inspector mark on the underside of the bow suggests commercial, so could be well original to the receiver. I thought it to be a replacement but have since changed my mind. I was looking at the right side just above the mag release at the wood line. If you look at the RIA example, there is a small hole drilled, just peeking out from under the wood. This is early production, the function of the hole is bit of an unknown. It is a legacy from earlier prototypes perhaps. It disappeared from production by 1891. Without the hole would be the one I would expect to see with this receiver as now it has been determined that the receiver is not early production.

So what does all this mean? I haven't a clue. But I can say that the rifle is assembled from parts from different rifles commercial and martial.
There are others who have more experience with these. I am good with military marked rifles, but the commercial versions or volunteer pattern rifles are new territory for me.

My OCD will keep me looking at the pics for a while. I'll let you know if I find anything else.Somebody might be able piece the clues together.