James the stock hasn't been sanded, I think that is a shadow of my melon head. The buttplate with the door in it is flush with the stock. The reason I said 1884 is because that is the date on the breech block. The cartouche is dated 1891 as you said. Does that mean the breechblock has been replaced?
This is my second antique military gun, which I got with the intention of shooting. My last one was a Burnside carbine and I was in the process of getting brass to work up some loads but was convinced by a collector it was too nice to do anything but look at it. He now owns it.
