I recently bought an AR. Yeah I know, poor time for buying one, but the bug bit and I had to itch the bite.
After shooting it a bit I decided I wanted to trade the flash hider out for a muzzle break.
This is where it gets sticky. The barrel is 14.5” with a 1.5” flash hider that is pinned and welded.
Can that legally be removed and replaced with a MB? I assume the MB would have to be pinned and welded to be legal.
Can this be done or should I just let it go and live with the vicious recoil from the 5.56 round?

I would buy another upper that suits you better. You can keep the one you have, or you can sell it. ARs are a mix-and-match proposition - Legos for grownups.

Curly

Yeah, that 5.56 recoil is a beast

I don't think that you will gain anything by the swap. If you must do it, let a gunsmith do it to avoid running afoul of the BATFE and related agencies.

Or, just buy a complete upper the way you want it.

__________________
On the Oak Savannah

Muzzle brake on a 223 rifle is loud, side muzzle blast is obtuse. Bad idea unless your strictly a competition shooter. AR15 is a very mild recoiling rifle.

Yes, you can do it. A pro should. Yes, it'll have to be pinned and welded if you want to remain legal; the brake will also have to bring the barrel length to at least 16 inches.

Waste of time and money in my opinion.

How is the factory flash hider failing you and why do you think an MB will fix it?

__________________
Pickpocket

You may be best suited for a PCC and ditch the AR

Living in the People's Republic of New Jersey I have never had a flash hider or even a muzzle break on any of my guns and I have never noticed -- let alone been bothered by -- the recoil from a .223 or a 5.56. On the other hand, I am often annoyed by muzzle breaks on .223 and 5.56 guns to the immediate left or right of me at the range.

__________________
Buy American
Vote Responsibly

What you need to do is find an M1 Garand shoot about 100 rounds through it. Then go back to the AR15 problem solved...

__________________
Randy

Im in agreement with the comments so far. Either go with a 9mm, swap for a new upper (they really are adult legos), or keep what you've got. Lots of upper sources and even more choices.

__________________
Who watches the watchers?

Does Idaho mandate a pinned and welded barrel device?

Either which way just save your money for ammo and practice!

Smiles,

You can replace the flash hider, but the replacement device does have to be welded in place to make the gun NFA compliant.

And vicious recoil and 5.56 don't belong in the same sentence.

I'd leave it as-is, a muzzle brake won't help that much, for the trouble to cut the welds and then re-weld it, and they are unholy loud to anyone standing beside you at the range. I have a brake on my 6.5 Grendel, which does help, but people tell me the gun is louder than their 30-06, .308, or whatever they have.

If you want to change something, swap out the barrel for one with threads and add a suppressor. Or, what SAFireman says below

You have some options.

You can go the Form1 route and SBR it. As soon as it's approved (6-8 weeks for a form 1) you can put as short a barrel as you want on it.

If it is not registered as an SBR, the barrel length must be 16". With a barrel less than 16" a muzzle device can be "permanently" attached to bring the barrel length to at least 16".

It can be "permanently attached by sweat soldering it on with high temp silver solder (melts at about 1360 degrees F). That's hot enough that removing the muzzle device with heat tends to screw up the barrel.

The other alternative is drilling the barrel and muzzle device part way through for a cross pin. That pin must then have a weld placed on top of the pin. If it's skillfully done and filed to the profile of the muzzle device it can be very hard to spot. Removing it then requires the weld over the hole be drilled out, so the pin can be pulled out. Easier than removing a silver soldered part, but still meets the requirements of not being readily removable with hand tools.

----

That said, I'm in total agreement that putting a brake on a .223 is a total waste of time - even on a competition gun.

For example I shot my first tactical rifle match around 1990, mostly because it was being held in the morning at a range where I was shooting my M1A in a High Power match that afternoon and I planned to use that for the "battle rattle" category, but I needed something for the light rifle portion. I didn't have an AR-15 at the time (and didn't really want one at the time). So I bought a nice surplus M1 carbine and the only 2 boxes of .30 carbine ammo the gun shop had (surplus Lake City ball ammo) and three 30 round magazines.

Early in the morning before the match, I took 10 rounds to zero the M1 carbine and confirm the adjustable rear sight was more or less on out to 250 yards (max distance for that match, with most of it 100 yards or less). I loaded up the other 90 rounds and registered for the match.

There were a number of people there shooting AR-15s in the light rifle class, and many of them had muzzle brakes. Most of the AR-15 shooters saw me as a total non contender. I ended up winning the battle rattle and I took second place in the light rifle division, with the first place finisher being the match organizer who was shooting an HK-93. In other words my old school M1 carbine beat every AR-15 in the field, including the race gunned muzzle braked AR-15s.



Eventually I switched to a heavy barrel AR-15 for high power competition and I also started using an AR-15 in tactical rifle matches. I had two that I preferred.

The first was an XM-177E2 semi-clone. It had a 12 inch heavy under the hand guards barrel for more stability in sustained fire and where longer ranges were in play.



The second was a lightweight 16" pencil barrel carbine with a fixed entry stock. With a slick side upper and carry handle sights, it's about as light as you can get without going to a composite lower.



You won't find a muzzle break on any of them, even the 5.7 pound pencil barrel carbine. it just isn't needed.

You don't want a muzzle break, that means the muzzle is broken.

If you want a muzzle brake, you might consider one of these. It's a muzzle brake that directs the sound away from the shooter.

I'm considering one for my .308.

Sound Mitigation Device

Had an M1. Loved it but keeping it fed ran afoul of my limited shooting budget at the time. Not a cheap beast to feed. Recoil was not that bad.

Judging from the responses I will leave well enough alone. No sense in going Mall Ninja with it.
Mfg. guarantees the gun to shoot MOA or better @ 100 yards. It did that with Sellier & Bellot 223 bulk I had laying around. No point in changing the upper.

The comment about the vicious recoil of the 5.56 was tongue in cheek.

Thanks for clearing my head on this.

To the right gunsmith, your question will be met with a sly smile and the response “With some Benjamins, all things are possible”.

Many options:
Unpinning, drilling and replacing usually runs at least $150.
Buy another complete AR upper.
Pull the existing P&W barrel, replace with a new one.
You could buy a pistol or virgin AR lower to use a non pinned 14.5” lower.
Look at the Faxon Arms integral barrels.

My personal experience:
I have a P&W on a custom BCM 14.5” lightweight barrel with special BCM muzzle device... At the time, it was so cool and innovative that no commercial uppers like that existed. After shooting it for a year, I decided it is okay, but just okay. I would not buy another P&W - lots of money to save a half inch +/-.

Shot next to a guy with a dual muzzle break on his 16” barrel in a carbine class. Felt less blast next to full cyclic M60s... Even on a concrete pad with wraparound sunglasses, the muzzle break was knocking dust, pebbles and considerable concussion into me at a 90-degree angle. We swapped guns, so he could “enjoy” it; we both agreed it was like being about 10 feet from a flash bang detonating. That said, the muzzle break almost pulled the rifle forward off the shoulder - very effective.

I can't see why you'd need a muzzle break on an AR. You're just upping the noise factor as others have pointed out.

That is COOL. Almost like a mini suppressor.

__________________
Send lawyers, guns & money...

If the recoil is too harsh just change out the butt stock or put a pad on it to soften the blow, it's a lot cheaper and easier. I got a pad that was designed to slip over the stock for about $30, made the felt recoil a lot lighter for the 50 Beuwolf.

that FH has to be longer, there is .5" of overlap in threads

A standard A2 FH is 1 3/4" and unless you shim it on a 14.5" barrel, it is too short. Pinning does nothing. Are you sure about the length? you can pin a standard MD on a 14.7" and be legal.

Also, if it is an A2 FH it already functions somewhat as a MB, so the time, effort and money spent isn't worth to me.

Chukar60, barrels are cheap. your 14.5" barrel is probobly carbine gas length, I'd get a 16" carbine lenght gas and switch it out. very easy to do. watch a few youboob vids and you too can be a youboob ar15 gunsmith.

The easiest, and probably cheapest option would be to buy another barrel, upper, or even another rifle.

Never thought the recoil was that bad from a 5.56 gun.
What I never liked was the side blast from a muzzle break.

Amen brother!
Better yet, try the lighter than a Garand 1903 Springfield, or any bolt 30-06 without the recoil softening gas system. The OP will beg for his AR back.

Chukar - is it the recoil discomfort or the barrel rise you want to lessen?
If you want to lessen recoil rise to stay on target for followup shot, get a varmint bull barrel upper, 20"-24". The extra length and weight will get you there. Your neighbors on either side of your shooting position will thank you.

Or better yet, buy an M1 Carbine and sell the AR. I don't seem to shoot my ARs at all since I found the M1 Carbine.

Back your point though, it's your money but I don't see that you're gaining anything making that swap.

*
That is a requirement of federal law to ensure that the actual barrel length is and remains at 16". My BCM M4-gery has a 14.5" barrel, to which a flash hider long enough the keep the barrel over 16" is added.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.