Keith,
This gun is a 1927. At least by Walt's listing it fits in that year. Sometimes the deliveries were later. They were still doing indicators in 1927.

As far as the hacking of the inletting, it's clear that the donk that did it wanted to be able to remove the stock without removing the sears. The stock was almost in three pieces when it came to me. I was going to return it, but we settled on a deal.