Help dating a tintype

[TheFlyingCamera]

I recently purchased a cased tintype of an armed soldier. The soldier is wearing a pith helmet, a jacket that looks like something out of a Wild West show, a belt buckle that says US on it, the trousers appear to have a Marine Corps blood stripe down the leg, and is armed with what appears to be a percussion cap rifle with bayonet. I'm going to assume this is post-civil-war. Whatever it is, it's highly confusing.

Any help identifying the unit and the time frame would be greatly appreciated.

 

[paul_c5x4]

About half way down this page: http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer70u_hero23_mckerihen1_helm.html - The helmet looks very similar to an 1898 issue.

Another explanation is possibly a travelling fair, and this client dressed up for the part.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Unless the traveling fair is the explanation, the 1898 date is highly unlikely because of the type of rifle (percussion cap rifles were replaced by bolt-action and/or repeating lever-action rifles like the Winchester in military service by the 1880s, and the belt buckle he's wearing was phased out of US military service by the early 1870s. My personal take on this is that it "feels" like an earlier tintype from the Civil War period (1860-65) or slightly thereafter.

 

[removed account4]

Another explanation is possibly a travelling fair, and this client dressed up for the part.

this sort of thing is and was very common

fwiw the helmet looks like an 1880s sun helmet
http://www.militarysunhelmets.com/2013/the-american-summer-sun-helmet


maybe it is from the spanish expeditionary forces in the 1880s/90s