Magnum, your best bet would be to take a class. In five days, you'll be farther along than I was after a year of trying to learn on my own. It still takes time and practice. Don't expect to come back from a class and jump right into gun engraving. I cut practice for a year before I touched a gun.
Check out the Firearms Engravers Guild of America,
www.fega.com . It's a great group of people that are more than willing to share their knowledge. Many of the top members also participate on another forum that is dedicated to hand engraving,
http://igraver.com/forum/index.php .
If you have any questions, post them here or email me.
David