If you stain the wood, the end grains (normally where the cheek piece and pistol grip area are) soaks up more stain and presents a darker colour (if you look at the first photo, you can see the end grains have soaked up more water). You can get around this by sealing the grain with a sealant before applying stain (the stain will still take, but it will be a uniform colour). If you wanted to get the wood back to its' original shade, you can bleach the wood after you've removed all of the old lacquer. Here's an '80 stock I did in walnut finish:
After lacquer removal and a bleach
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Walnut stained and starting to tru oil finish
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