Glock gun slide with a Trotec 80 watt laser!

[Gary Hair]

Without knowing what you engraved, is the time involved to set it up worth it? Did you use a CO2 or fiber? Does your fee go up and down based on the price of the firearm?

Absolutely worth it! I am not shy about charging what I feel is fair and considering the fact that I had the only fiber AND ffl in town, I had a captive market. I rarely made less than about $250/hour, sometimes more, a lot more. I used my fibers more often than my Trotec since they give more consistent results on anodized aluminum and were the only way to get depth on metal. I could also mark plastics with the fiber where the CO2 might just engrave a bit away. My prices were based on time - design time, setup time, lasering time, and "perceived value" - not on the value of the item. I paid more attention to the higher dollar value items because I didn't want to screw up and have to replace something. The only time my prices were completely disproportionate to the engraving was doing SBR's - they took about 45-90 seconds including setup, and I charged $45. I did so many of them that I had templates and fixtures for 95% of the lowers anyone could possibly bring in, and I could pretty much do them in my sleep. If I could do just lowers all day long, I'd be a VERY wealthy man!

[Gary Hair]

You can engrave all the slides and barrels-minus-receivers you want without an FFL. This fact courtesy of the ATF agent who served me with a C&D order...

You can also engrave all the 80% AR lowers you want without an FFL:




That all said, once you get used to engraving firearms, they can easily make you $100+ per hour....

slides, barrels, etc., are just hunks of metal as far as the ATF is concerned, same with what are referred to as 80% lowers (ATF doesn't recognize that term). As for $100/hour - if that's all you are making then you are leaving at least that much more on the table...

[Kev Williams]

you DID notice I put the + sign after the $100, yes?

[Tim Bateson]

slides, barrels, etc., are just hunks of metal as far as the ATF is concerned, same with what are referred to as 80% lowers (ATF doesn't recognize that term)...

That completely DEPENDS on your local agent!!!!! My agent disagrees 100% & that's what I have to work with. Yes, you can lawyer up and probably beat it, but as I've said before, I have a business to run & spending time/money in court is a waste. So the take away is yes, I agree with your statement, but your mileage may vary. Just an FYI.

[bill collier]

We have an FFL and use fiber lasers for gun work on any metal parts ... CO2 on wood stocks. If the part is composite/plastic we try to find an unseen spot to do a test mark, like the backside of a removable pistol grip.

Technically, the FFL isn't needed for the engraving - it's more about taking possession of the firearm.

[Gary Hair]

That completely DEPENDS on your local agent!!!!! My agent disagrees 100% & that's what I have to work with. Yes, you can lawyer up and probably beat it, but as I've said before, I have a business to run & spending time/money in court is a waste. So the take away is yes, I agree with your statement, but your mileage may vary. Just an FYI.

It's better to have one and not need it than vice versa!

[Kev Williams]

Considering all the debating and bantering we all do about the serious consequences and punishments we could face at the behest of the ATF, I just smiled when I ran across this:

http://www.oldglorygunsandammo.com/n...ss-iii-weapons
An interesting and widely unknown fact, since the NFA went into effect in 1934, there has only been ONE, yes, ONE single felony committed in the whole United States since 1934 that involved a legally registered NFA firearm. And it was committed ironically by a crooked police officer who went to a drug house and shot someone on the premises. He used his legally acquired UZI sub machinegun to commit the crime. You hear all the time of machineguns and sawed off shotguns in the news but these have all been by individuals possessing an illegal, non registered weapon. There are millions of records of legally owned entries on the NFA registry too, so it’s not like we’re talking just a few hundred or thousand potential individuals.

[Glen Monaghan]

How OLD is that, anyway? Not true today...

[Kev Williams]

I put the link to the website in the quote, it's an up-to-date site, the quote is from their explanations of class III weapons...