I searched quite a bit for my answers and had some trouble coming up with them.

Title says the gist of it.  I want to play around a bit with a new upper and start a nice sweet fighting carbine thats moderately light and compact .  I live in a ban state, but I was thinking what are my options for muzzle breaks that keep me in the 16.1" legal range that would still allow me to use a suppressor later on down the road?  At this point I'm seriously considering the FSC556.  It has an overall length of 2.10", is this sufficient when permanetly attached to a 14.5" barrel to get it out past 16"? I can't find the OAL of the A2X FH, Phantom FH, or the Vortex FH.   Is the silver solder still and option on 14.5" barrels?  A suppressor is an option that I may explore farther down the road so I was considering keeping my options open.  At this point in time I'm also assuming if I were to use silver solder If I wanted to change the break again I could just reheat it and take it off and replace it with whatever I needed to swap it out for?

Thanks for you insight.

if youre willing to get a stamp for a supressor why not a SBR? as long as you cant take the muzzle devise of with a wrench i think you would be ok with silver solder

At this point I just want the carbine up and running, I had to sell my last one due to financial troubles and got a little more experience this time around, and I know what I want/like a little better at this time.  I was only considering the suppressor option.  Quite frankly more likely then not it won't happen until the money coming in is SUBSTANTIALLY better.  So at this point I guess the main question is, will a permanently attached FSC556 on a 14.5" barrel make it legal to own without an SBR tax stamp.  My train of thought is, if I can find the OAL on either a Vortex, Phantom or Extended A2 FH, I should be able to surmise it it will or will not be legal.

FSC is good to go. Had mine pinned by ADCO.

phantom flash hiders are 2 3/16" long

Here is my 14.5" WOA with SpecWar2 and it goes perfectly with the LT 13.2 rail.
I have 2 different Quickcomp/G5 FSC mounts, one is a bit longer which allows suppressor mounting on a 10.5" with bayo lug, but this is the setup with the shorter one.





I haven't permanently mounted it yet, but will so Ican use the upper with not just my SBR tax stamp lowers.
I wouldn't use any method other than pin and weld.

I use the FSC brake/bi-lock mount to mount my Gemtech suppressor. It will bring the barrel up to 16" if permanently attached. The Vortex and Phantom will too, but they are not suppressor mounts.

Here are a few pics of the Surefire 556- 212 on my rifle:






linky to site

I have read that on your site as well. Why does it void the warranty? Does it damage the suppressor some how or is it just another way for them not to have to warranty a $600.00 suppressor?



 

I have a 14.5" upper with a Surefire brake (built by ADCO.)  Works and functions fine....but yeah, voids the warranty.  I have another 16" with a Surefire muzzle brake that isn't permanently attached too...so....whatever.  I don't lose any sleep over conceivable warranty issues.

As far as fit n' function goes - the weld is flush, polished over, and other than a slight cosmetic blemish - hard to see unless you're looking for it.

Where can you find a $600 surefire can?

Screw SureFire!!!  It seems nobody remembers that SF didn't even want to sell their cans to civilians originally.  Their stuff was MIL ONLY until greed won over their Political Correctness.

markm, you should have taken the blue pill.  I'll second the raised eyebrow for a $600 Surefire can!

Does anyone know if the concentric vs crush washer issue is a non issue when mounting the HALO to the vortex FH?

I just got my LMT 14.5 back from ADCO this week with a Phantom Suppressor Mount pinned on. He pinned it under the floating collar. I couldn't even tell he pinned it until I took the collar off.

14.5" with a A2X FH is ~ 16.1"
http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-M4-14-5-Upper-Receiver-Group-A2X-p/bcm-urg-m4-14%20a2x.htm

Here's my FSC556 pinned to a 14.5" by Addax Tactical.  Unfortunately no can yet (stupid Iowa )

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll192/Geno_84/Other/ATACandMegaLower3.jpg

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll192/Geno_84/Other/ATACandMegaLower.jpg

Excellent.  Thanks for the help, info and pics guys.  Lotta nice carbines in here.