I'm with you on everything you said, butlersranger. That would explain the double "P".

I purposely shown the end of the forestock to show that the cleaning rod fill was round bottom versus the later square bottom fill-in.

So what I'm trying to figure out is why the cartouche is dated 1896 (in the the right light it does end with 6). The serial number indicates it was built in September/October of 1895. Would it be possible as Dick suggests (if I understand one of his earlier posts) that before the gun was issued from the armory that it was held to perform the updates? When did this inspector's initials start showing up in 1896?

Thanks for everyone's responses.