before the 41F or 41P or whatever it was called, I said what the heck and decided to form 1 a 10/22.  This was the first gun I purchased in a private sale, out of the Greensheet, that was like craigslist in paper form for you youngsters.   Around 1992 or 1993 I think.  Given the value of a 10/22, I didn't feel like spending $40 plus for engraving so I said what the heck, lets try the HF punch set.

I think it came out a little better than expected, I really only messed up the O in Phoenix, I didn't use enough pressure and despite my best attempts not to rotate a punch by accident, I may have done so on the second strike.  I tried to hit the punches on a scrap piece of aluminum to make sure I had them properly aligned before the first strike of each letter.  On the actual receiver, I used multiple strikes starting from bottom edge and then all around depending on the letter.  Something like an I you could make do with a couple strikes rotating up from bottom, the receiver surface was slightly curved which made it a little challenging.  One giant strike did not yield good results on my scrap piece.  The bigger the letter, the more force and strikes from different angles required.  A letter like O, B, R and E would require more strikes and from all angles.

Better punches would have helped too, you notice some of the letters are really not in the same scale.   The top bar in T was a little small no matter how hard I hit the punch.   W was too small too, part of my ID that is blurred out so you will need to take my word for it.  Also doubt how well this would work on any material harder than a 10/22 receiver.  Not sure I would do this again, but it was a learning experience.

I decided that city state should be the learning curve and done first:
IMG_20171219_132319 (2) by Quake Guy, on Flickr

My attempt to create a consistent placeholder for the punch, esp if a restrike was needed, by using a second piece of two sided tape.  I should have added some metal or plastic edges to the top of the tape to make a more consistent starting point for the punch.
IMG_20171219_133203 by Quake Guy, on Flickr

finished product, if I had to do it over again I would have tightened up the spacing and put all the stamping on one side
IMG_1022_norailedit by Quake Guy, on Flickr

with NDS rail installed:
IMG_1022 Edited by Quake Guy, on Flickr

complete gun with Octane 9, my 22 Spectre looked too small with this stock.  I don't live too far from AGP and will try out one of their Blem stocks next time I am over there.
IMG_20171220_115612 (2) by Quake Guy, on Flickr

I had a broken AR lower that I tried some punches on, way too faint so I didn't bother trying with any of my actual guns.Other than the "O" you mentioned, it doesn't look horrible, it just looks home-down, so works fine really. :)

Damn fine little gun you have there. Punchwork looks fine

Local Arfcommer does laser engraving for less than 30 bucks. I'll stick with him.

yeah, not bad, but considering the wait-time and "associated value" I feel that adds to the rifle, I think I'll continue shipping mine off to Tar Heel for laser engraving

Should have laser engraved...especially with that small of a piece! Would have been duck soup to send off.

I did the same thing with a 10$ hand engraver from Menards. Mine looks wose

After sending out a dozen I couldn't care less what it looks like, great work

My first SBR if the letters were 1 degree off I would have cried lol

Isn't the city and state supposed to be stamped below the trust name?

What part of GA? I'm trying to avoid shipping anything if I can. PM me if you prefer.

I'd have stamped it top dead center, then installed the rail

Looks great, though.

I like your style, but be careful making funnies in Tech. Someone will come along and tell you how wrong you are, even though we both know you weren't serious!

And at least OP didnt use a Dremel

I'm totally serious.  It's been done for years, and is still being done as we speak.  In the Pistol Caliber Carbine forum, there is a thread where a guy is 3D printing vertical fore grips, and everyone is bolting them over the serial number on their TP9s.

I once put a 10/22 in plastic housing that looked like a G36, and covered every single marking on the gun (the only thing you could see was the trigger/trigger guard, and the ejection port.  Oh, and the end of the barrel). I think it had a hole for the serial number.

What about the Pachmeyer wrap-around grips on my Browning Hi-Power?  The cover the serial number on the front of the grip.

Illegal?  Nah.

you got me worried, although my dog has been pissing me off lately so it would have solved that issue...

According to this link with the .gov address, just marked somewhere.  Although depending how you hold the gun and don't mind the orientation of the letters, the city and state is still below the trust name.   I would go all on one line if I had to do it over again.

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/atf-national-firearms-act-handbook-chapter-7/download

New to the game just got my first Form 4 approved and waiting for my first form 1, but wondering why everyone is so worried about having the engraving so hidden?

That's a smoking deal, I paid $60 locally.

ATF is telling manufacturers specifically not to hide it (or at least not to cover it).

Mostly this affects HK owners, who like to engrave on the boss the hides under the grip housing...but once it's lawfully engraved, there does not seem to be anything to prevent someone from covering it up with an accessory or other part.

I thought there was something in the regs about the NFA engraving being visible without any disassembly required. So if you bolt something over it, you would have to disassemble it to view the engraving. Same goes for engraving inside the magwell. Although I don't consider removing a magazine as "disassembly", it was discussed here years ago that th member was informed by the ATF it was a no-go because of the disassembly issue.

No just conspicuous.

Lots of my guns will require partial disassembly to see info - HKs with mounts, Shotguns with SideSaddles, Glocks with lights, etc.

You could have salt water electro etched a stencil you were satisfied with at home for cheaper then the harbor freight punches...

yours looks pretty good for homemade etc.. theres a guy on az he has a youtube channel and he did one.. i think with an engraving pen.. looks like uber shit