Is it permitted?  Have you ever?  

I ask because I have a gen 2 Noveske chainsaw lower.  My local guy only does inside the trigger guard or the side of the lower.  Being a gen 2, no go inside the trigger guard.  Being a chainsaw, I don't want the chainsaw on the trigger guard disturbed.  I definitely don't want either side done.  My preference is the front of the mag well or inside the mag well bevel.  I know there's a company I can send it to to do either, but I'd prefer to not ship it out.  

Is there anything stating that I can't neatly do it myself?

As long as the letters meet the criteria,  you're ok.

Id practice on a scrap piece of aluminum before shanking your lower.

Get out the Dremel and go for it!!

Others use a stamp kit.

Only legal requirement is it has to be at least .003" deep. Doesn't matter how ugly or crooked it is...it won't make the rifle inaccurate.

I'm not exactly concerned with aesthetics if it's in the mag well.  I don't plan on ever selling it either.  My only concern is legality.

.003" deep is all you need to worry about then...

 

No problem at all doing it yourself. I used a Dremel with a sharp pointed diamond bit. Just make sure you practice on a piece of metal before you start. You need to find the speed that works for you.  I used to be a draftsman so used a pencil and ruler to draw my lines, wrote my info in block letters with a the pencil so that I had the spacing right, and then just traced with the diamond bit. It might take a little pressure to get through the anodized coating but easy once you do. Does it looks as good as laser engraving? Hell no. Not even close. But since I will never sell any of my SBRs it really doesn't matter and I saved the $$ and headache of sending them off to the engraver.

I did my first one a couple of weeks ago. Does it look good? Hell no. Do I care? Hell no. Like others said this lower is for life and has no resale value. I used a dremel with a diamond tipped bit. Worked very well but I think my speed was too fast which made the tip want to walk a bit. I'll slow it down on my next engraving. A little spray paint goes a long way.

Is inside the magwell an acceptable location?  Thought it had to be visible from the exterior without any kind of disassembly or removal of parts/components.

I'm sure it will be fine done by you, but just keep in mind that more and more places are getting their hands on the lasers that can do this work. The technology has progressed forward even from a few years ago, and these fiber lasers are smaller and more affordable. Google industrial laser engraving for your local area. I was surprised when I found a trophy/gift shop just down the road with a Tykma mini lase in house.

Turns out they were cool and very 2A friendly. 10 minutes and $15 later I had my lower done!

I have 3 SBR right now. One was done by a CNC machine one by subsurface laser and one by a hand by a "master" engraver.

all three got the job done but the hand engraved job is crap compared to the other two.   The CNC milled lower is just absolutely awesome, my favorite with deep perfectly formed letters.

Do it by hand... It's fun... Then you will send your others to someone els.. I did...

I did this one by hand. I already had the dremel engraving tool, not just the regular dremel. I scribed a stencil I cut out onto the anodizing then went for it. It doesn't look great, but it isn't terrible either.

I use a 3/16" letter stamp kit. On all of my regular AR-15 lowers I disassembled the lower and stamped inside the trigger guard area on each side of the trigger "hole". On my LR308 (fixed/permanent trigger guard) I stamped on the front of the mag well. Looks more than good enough for me. I use about 3 layers of masking tape as an "underline" to keep all my letters lined up and looking nice, then touch up with alumablack when I'm done. Easier/faster/cheaper than sending it off. I've done 4 of my own SBRs and 3 or so more for friends.

How much force is required when you strike the letters? I had considered this option myself, but I was concerned that I would be unable to break through the anodizing sufficiently, leaving me with a bunch of half-depth and crooked letters.

that looks awesome, good job for sure.

I had to add the word "the" to my lower after I had the rest engraved.  I dremeled it.  It looks like crap, I don't care, saved me $40 to have one word put on the lower.

Whats a good option for engraving a lower that has already been cerakoted?  Lazer? I would like it on the front of magwell or bottom of trigger gaurd.

I would ask the same question.  I guess it depends on ATF's interpretation of conspicuously.

(2) By engraving, casting, stamping (impressing), or otherwise conspicuously placing or causing to be engraved, cast, stamped (impressed), or placed on the frame, receiver, or barrel thereof certain additional information. This information must be placed in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed. For firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30, 2002, the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of this information must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch. The additional information includes:

I am always amused by some of the attitudes regarding NFA engraving.  First the argument whether it needs to be done or not,  Where it can be done etc.
 Many people want a high dollar lower as it is a lifetime purchase because "once you drop $200 on the tax stamp", because they want their name to be eternal...  When I suggest buying a blem lower and dropping the $200 on the tax stamp and have a NFA lower for $250 and you would think I was some sort of alien.

You have a $300 lower and you are trying to cheap out with a crappy self inscribed electropen engraving job?  Send it out to an appropriate place and have it look good.  When you give it to your kids, they will say, "wow dad, that's cool!"  That lower may make it to your grandkids, a modern day family heirloom.

This is my plan as well.  My wife already has the letter stamp kit.

That looks very good. If my DIY jobs turned out like that I'd be very pleased.

Thanks. Not too hard. Just make sure the lower is really locked into place and cant shift at all. Then use a good sharp bit and go slow.

I'd also like to know how hard to you have to strike them?

I printed a proper size label on my Brother label maker and placed it inside the trigger guard.   I used a Dremel and traced the letters, and then went back with an automatic center punch over the marks to get to the proper depth.  After that I hit it with a black sharpie.  They are properly marked, yet invisible.  

I did an 870 barrel in the same manner.

My last name is long, so I will say to watch out for hand cramps.

Sorry for the late reply.

FIRST: PLEASE PRACTICE ON A PIECE OF SCRAP STEEL OR ALUMINUM!!!!! It will make your lower look a lot better.

OK- Be sure to always support the backside of what you are stamping. You don't want to crack an SBR lower. I'd hesitate to use this method on the SIDE of a magwell unless I were to make a very tight wooden magwell insert to take the stress of the sides of the magwell. When I stamp trigger well areas, I remove the hammer, trigger, trigger guard, and bolt catch. this leaves a flat surface on the top of the upper to lay it upside-down on a 2x4 for support.

I use a little 3 lb drilling/sledge hammer with a short handle and use medium hammer blows. I raise the hammer no higher than 5" above the punch for each hit. I hit each letter at least 5-6 times while slightly rocking the punch back and forth and side to side to make sure I get a nice even stamp and the entire letter is transferred. Before I started doing that, I had parts of letters not getting transferred. It is much easier to get each letter stamp done in the first attempt because it is sometimes tough to line the stamp back up to a partially stamped letter in your lower if that makes sense. (don't hit the stamp once and pick it up to see how it looks because its probably not done after one hit). Hope this helps. Good luck!


Remember- practice makes perfect!

How did you scribe the template? Seems very small to cut out.

I have a vinyl design printer I use to make small templates for wood burning and glass etching. I just typed in my name and printed it out.

This is a very poorly written section.  Here's one reasonable interpretation:



(2) By engraving, casting, stamping (impressing), or otherwise conspicuously
placing or causing to be engraved, cast, stamped (impressed), or placed
on the frame, receiver, or barrel thereof certain additional
information. This information must be placed in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed.
For firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30,
2002, the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of this
information must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch. The additional
information includes:



Alternatively:

(2) By engraving, casting, stamping (impressing), or otherwise conspicuously
placing or causing to be engraved, cast, stamped (impressed), or placed
on the frame, receiver, or barrel thereof certain additional
information. This information must be placed in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed.
For firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30,
2002, the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of this
information must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch. The additional
information includes:
In which case, I don't see anything that says it can't be, for example, under the stock when assembled.  All of the modifiers are "or".  Furthermore, the "conspicuously" refers to the "placing", whatever that means, but in any event, the "conspicuously placing" is adjoining the phrase "or causing to be engraved".  I don't read these requiring "and".  Look at the clause again, with the "and" and "or" and the alternatives highlighted.



(2) By [engraving, casting, stamping (impressing)], or [otherwise conspicuously
placing] or [causing to be engraved, cast, stamped (impressed)], or [placed
on the frame, receiver, or barrel thereof] certain additional
information. This information must be placed in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed.
For firearms manufactured, imported, or made on and after January 30,
2002, the engraving, casting, or stamping (impressing) of this
information must be to a minimum depth of .003 inch. The additional
information includes:



I agree best practice is to make it readily visible when assembled, but I am not personally convinced it is necessary.  Not legal advice of course, just my opinion.



 

Sent mine to Ident.  They engraved the necessary info in the trigger hole area.  Then I had them engrave the 2A on the right side of the receiver in a scroll script.  Looks awesome.

Don't do it yourself. This first one was done my a manufacturer using a laser for $40:



These were done by my friend in his garage using a Tormach CNC milling machine for free. He's also done an AK for me but I don't have pics of that yet:

To those of you worried abt the inside of magwell, are you handing the ATF agent a firearm with the mag in it??

Did a little engraving today. Not going to say it looks great by any means, but it accomplished what I was after. The issue at hand is my 6.8 SBR doesn't have the caliber engraved anywhere. It started out as a 16" barrel, and I either lost the marking when I had 4" cut off, or the marking is under the delta ring/barrel nut. The lower is marked "multi", so the caliber must exist somewhere. (This isn't usually an issue as most barrels are clearly marked). Since I build dedicated SBRs instead of swapping uppers around, I chose to engrave the lower in an area out of the way. Put it right between the ears for the pivot pin. Drew it with a sharpie, hit it with the Dremel, blackened it with Aluminum Black.

Nobody's going to notice it...but it'll meet the legal requirements if that ever becomes an issue.






I will definitely do this again if I end up in a situation where I have a lower marked "multi" and neither the upper or barrel are marked for caliber.

Good work and good to know. I might have to do this as well as I'm thinking of chopping a barrel down.