Looking for some advice on a project

[Joseph]

Give this a try.

X and Y zero at lower left corner.
Z tool offset on the surface, Z+.100 for clearance
F10. for plunge and contour (you may want to slow down)
1.48 wide 1.49 high

Special thanks to BR549 for the coloring page.

[RICH]

Mike,
Joe's posted NC is a good example of how to reduce the amount of Gcode by using arcs instead of lines.
It will cut the machining time down significantly.
Thanks for the time Joe.

There is a difference between the pictures and that is a decision you need to make.
Requested a picture of the reciever. You just don't pluck a pic onto it ......
I would assume that you will do some kind of boarder for it and consideration should be given to the shape it's going on.
You mention that the reciever is in the blue and you'll be cutting thru the blueing and you need a fall back plan in case of tool breakage.
Hopefully it's not hardened.There is a different apperance of a white on black background and you can't touch anything up.
Since additional  engraving is going on the other side both sides should have a common look to them.
So what is the overall game plan?

Just something to think about,
Rich

[liquidmetal]

My plan is to do the Flag raising with the text "Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue" in an arc around the image, the text is no problem as I have 2l's wonderful text engraving program. The other side of the receiver will have the Eagle Globe and Anchor USMC image with his ame on top of the image and "Semper Fideis" below it. It's not like I've never done any engraving before, I know how to place things and to avoid damaging cutters. I think a single line type image will work better and just because I'm cutting bluing does not mean that if something goes wrong I'm screwed. The way I learned from master gunsmiths is the worst you can do is to F it all up, then all you have to do is to fix it, then to learn from it and to not do it again. Worst I'll have to do is to reblue the receiver ( I do traditional hot caustic bluing) which I'm considering doing anyway after engraving it, I think it would look great. As always, the help I get from this forum is absolutely the best, bar none and I sincerely appreciate the outpouring of both images, code and just plain advice. The shotgun is a JC Higgins model 20, 12 ga., the right side, ejection port side has a 2 inch tall by 3 inch long flat and the opposite side has a 2 inch tall by 5 3/4  inch flat. Excellent surfaces. These SG's are excellent hosts for turkey shoot guns and the idea is to give him a shooter he can compete with that's been personalized to him and to show the VFW's appreciation to both him and his service. 

[engraversoflight]

As a business owner that runs Mach on 3 machines (and 99% of our work is V carving) and owns a laser engraver, I have to say, laser engraving is the way to go.  The resolution will be so unbelievable that you'll think it's an actual photo on the gun.  And it would probably take no longer than 5-10 minutes.  If I were you, I'd ask around to see if there's anyone within reasonable distance that has a laser machine.  You're not giving any work away, since it's a free job!  And I can just about guarantee a v engraved image will not be anywhere near the quality (or at least the resolution) as a laser.

My 2 cents.

Bill Sines