Pinned FSC556

[No Bananas]

I'm considering a BCM upper 14.5" w/ pinned FSC556 or a 16" and a FSC556. Obviously, I'm a a fan of the PWS brake. I've had one for about a year on my SCAR and it's already got noticeable wear. I want this BCM upper for hard use, and although I'd like the better handling of the 14.5 (and saving some ounces), I don't want the brake to wear out before everything else does.

Anybody have a pinned FSC556? How's it wearing?

[BufordTJustice]

I am a huge fan of the PWS FSC556. I can tell you that I bought one perm'd on my BCM 14.5" middy about 1.5 years ago and recently started to see some light pitting on the back of the blast baffle face (immediately rearward of the flash hiding tongs).

I emailed some pics to Stacey Nagy at PWS and he immediately (as in 12 minutes later) emailed me back with instructions for a return of my entire upper to PWS. They sent me a UPS label, removed the old brake, installed a new one (perfectly timed it, I might add), and perm'd/welded it in place...and then shipped it back to me. For free. With an apology. And a VM on my phone by Stacey making sure everything was done perfectly and to my liking.

So, needless to say, I'm a customer for life with CS like that. I did notice that the blast baffle's thickness on this new FSC556b is about 3 times as thick as the previous version that came on my BCM upper according to my mk1 eyeball.

I should note that I have owned two FSC556 comp/brakes and one FSC47 and on none of the other comps did I see any kind of wear or pitting. I shot a LOT of frangible ammo through my first FSC556, which was mounted on my old BCM 16" middy upper. I know that several rounds did disintegrate as they hit the comp and no pitting resulted.

I suspect that a batch of FSC556 comps went out without a proper heat-treat. If you are familiar with the blast that you get as the shooter (which is not that much IMHO...not nearly as bad as a 10.5" w/ an A2), I would buy with confidence.

[BIGUGLY]

Mine is not pinned but there does not seem to be any amount of really noticable wear. The gun has roughly 1500 rounds through it mainly silver bear and american eagle. I like it just remember the people next to you may not. It makes it very easy to hold the aimpoint dot right where you left it when firing.

I would think other parts would fail before the 556 wears out.

[Russell92]

I am a huge fan of the PWS FSC556. I can tell you that I bought one perm'd on my BCM 14.5" middy about 1.5 years ago and recently started to see some light pitting on the back of the blast baffle face (immediately rearward of the flash hiding tongs).

I emailed some pics to Stacey Nagy at PWS and he immediately (as in 12 minutes later) emailed me back with instructions for a return of my entire upper to PWS. They sent me a UPS label, removed the old brake, installed a new one (perfectly timed it, I might add), and perm'd/welded it in place...and then shipped it back to me. For free. With an apology. And a VM on my phone by Stacey making sure everything was done perfectly and to my liking.

So, needless to say, I'm a customer for life with CS like that. I did notice that the blast baffle's thickness on this new FSC556b is about 3 times as thick as the previous version that came on my BCM upper according to my mk1 eyeball.

I should note that I have owned two FSC556 comp/brakes and one FSC47 and on none of the other comps did I see any kind of wear or pitting. I shot a LOT of frangible ammo through my first FSC556, which was mounted on my old BCM 16" middy upper. I know that several rounds did disintegrate as they hit the comp and no pitting resulted.

I suspect that a batch of FSC556 comps went out without a proper heat-treat. If you are familiar with the blast that you get as the shooter (which is not that much IMHO...not nearly as bad as a 10.5" w/ an A2), I would buy with confidence.

Hi Buford, just how bad was the pitting on your brake that PWS felt it needed to be replaced? Below's a picture of mine with only 900 rounds through it. This is my only PWS brake so I have nothing to compare it to. Not sure if this is normal wear with less than 1,000 rounds through it or if I should bother contacting PWS. It's perm attached so I'd really prefer not to have to send my whole upper in. Thanks.

[logan09]

Hi Buford, just how bad was the pitting on your brake that PWS felt it needed to be replaced? Below's a picture of mine with only 900 rounds through it. This is my only PWS brake so I have nothing to compare it to. Not sure if this is normal wear with less than 1,000 rounds through it or if I should bother contacting PWS. It's perm attached so I'd really prefer not to have to send my whole upper in. Thanks.

You sure that's not carbon build-up? My PWS looked like that after several thousand rounds of 5.56/.22LR. I spent over an hour chipping off carbon/copper/lead build up on it. Looked brand new right after(Minus all the finish wear)

[BufordTJustice]

Hi Buford, just how bad was the pitting on your brake that PWS felt it needed to be replaced? Below's a picture of mine with only 900 rounds through it. This is my only PWS brake so I have nothing to compare it to. Not sure if this is normal wear with less than 1,000 rounds through it or if I should bother contacting PWS. It's perm attached so I'd really prefer not to have to send my whole upper in. Thanks.

Great picture.

If you can scrape it off with some elbow grease and a dental pick...it's obviously carbon.

Carbon will build up on any brake's blast baffle (also a big reason why suppressors are best used with brakes/comps). There will always be some erosion on the blast baffle due to the hot propellant gasses. But my first FSC556 and my FSC47 each endured several thousand (est of 3k on the FSC556 and 5k on the FSC47 on my SAR-1 AKM style in 7.62x39mm) and they both only had very minor surface roughness on the back of the blast baffle after all those rounds. It took a LOT of scraping and soaking in solvent to get the carbon off to see this. It was so slight, it MIGHT show up in a photo like yours.

For YOUR gun, I would say that if it does not scrape off to contact Stacy Nagey at PWS. I would give him all the info on your upper, the roundcount through the brake, and who perm'd it to your upper. Also include this picture in native (full) resolution.

That is about what the pitting looked like on mine after I removed the carbon fouling (which can be deceptively hard).

I'm assuming that it has been permanently attached to your barrel because it is under 16" in length. If it is, unfortunately you will HAVE to ship it to PWS. As soon as the FSC556 is removed, your upper becomes an SBR and is subject to all NFA and ATF regulations. PWS gets to skip all that crap if they remove the old and install the new before they give it back to you.

[deni]

Wow, that's excellent CS.

[SomeOtherGuy]

I'm assuming that it has been permanently attached to your barrel because it is under 16" in length. If it is, unfortunately you will HAVE to ship it to PWS. As soon as the FSC556 is removed, your upper becomes an SBR and is subject to all NFA and ATF regulations. PWS gets to skip all that crap if they remove the old and install the new before they give it back to you.

I don't think that's correct. An upper is not legally a "firearm" and can never be an SBR. Now, if you take off the device while the upper is attached to your lower, you then have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device and put them back together, you have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device, and leave it lying around the house for weeks as a 14.5" upper, you MAY have a constructive possession issue (=illegal SBR), but the law in that area is a bit confusing.

My point is simply this: while a manufacturer with the appropriate license/SOT can do things that an unlicensed person cannot, I am fairly sure an unlicensed person can remove and promptly replace a muzzle device on a less-than-16" upper without breaking the law. I would welcome comments from those with more expertise.

[CarbonCycles]

I don't think that's correct. An upper is not legally a "firearm" and can never be an SBR. Now, if you take off the device while the upper is attached to your lower, you then have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device and put them back together, you have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device, and leave it lying around the house for weeks as a 14.5" upper, you MAY have a constructive possession issue (=illegal SBR), but the law in that area is a bit confusing.

That is also my understanding...the upper cannot mate with the lower until the paperwork has been fully approved.

[BufordTJustice]

I don't think that's correct. An upper is not legally a "firearm" and can never be an SBR. Now, if you take off the device while the upper is attached to your lower, you then have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device and put them back together, you have an SBR. If you separate the halves, remove the device, and leave it lying around the house for weeks as a 14.5" upper, you MAY have a constructive possession issue (=illegal SBR), but the law in that area is a bit confusing.

My point is simply this: while a manufacturer with the appropriate license/SOT can do things that an unlicensed person cannot, I am fairly sure an unlicensed person can remove and promptly replace a muzzle device on a less-than-16" upper without breaking the law. I would welcome comments from those with more expertise.

You are very wrong and please do not post that again. If you think the ATF are not watching this and every other major gun board, think again.

You do NOT need an entire gun to possess an NFA classified SBR, just like the lower receiver in the AR15 is considered a "gun" by the ATF. If you take your perm'd muzzle device off your less-than-16" barrel and you are NOT a certified gunsmith who is running a legit gun shop that is open for business, please don't post about it here.

My advice stands.

EDIT: I'm a local LEO and I've talked with our local ATF liaison agent several times about this. Feel free to call a local field office yourself.