i have a postban bushy and want to get a muzzle break for it.
here is the question.  i have been told and read many times that a postban must slide over the barrel and be pinned or welded on.  but the other day at the gunshow some guy at a AR-15 booth told me that i can have my postban threaded and install a pre-ban break then have it welded on and it will be all legal?

is this true?

Yes its true.  As long as it's permanently attached.

A "preban" muzzle break? Don't know what he was trying to sell you. Never heard of a "preban" muzzle break. The issue isn't just whether or not your rifle has a threaded muzzle, but also if it has a flash hider on the end.

A "preban" brake sounds alot like a flash hider to me. Especially knowing these gun show dealers.


You can have any muzzle break permanetely attatched. You can't have any sort of flash hider attatched to your postban rifle though.


Make sure you know what you are buying.


Some, in fact many, muzzle breaks do thread on. So don't get confused between the two.

I think by "pre-ban muzzle brake" he means that it's a muzzle brake with threads on it so it can be threaded onto a preban rifle. As opposed to a post-ban brake which whould have a pin or a screw or something.

Actually the threaded muzzle is part of the equation, but generally it boils down whether it has a FS or has a threaded muzzle that will suport a FS.

In either case, I believe when the gun show guy said "preban brake" I believe he meant a brake that can be threaded on, as opposed to one with set screws or those that need to be pinned.  If you look at the Bushmaster catalog, you'll see the Comy Y and the Mini Comp Y come in both threaded and unthreaded varieties.

As far as the original question, Yes, you'll need to high temp soder the muzzle brake permanently (or at least so it can't be readily taken off revealing the threaded muzzle, since we all know, NOTHING is permanent)and I believe it needs to be sodered at least 3/4's of the way around.

thanks guys.
i was refering to threaded as "pre-ban" and the larger ones that slip over the barrel with pins as "post-ban"