Brent, that was surely what I assumed and you may be correct, but Buck Hamlin tells me the makers poured this stuff in the hole; that he has seen many guns with this treatment, and that it has to be "dug" out to be removed. I've never claimed to be a gunsmith, and have no idea how this was done; but I've never caught Buck pulling my leg in the 20 plus years he's done work for me. All I can tell you for a fact is that whoever put the stuff in there did a good job, as the fit is as tight as if the wood grew around the plug. Even after 123 years it still ain't going nowhere!
