LTT AVOIDING WX ESTABLISHES VISUAL APCH WITHOUT CLRNC.

Narrative

I WAS THE CAPT ON A 30 PAX ADVANCED TURBOPROP ACFT OPERATING SCHEDULED COMMUTER SVC. ON OUR APCH INTO THE MSL MUSCLE SHOALS; ALABAMA ARPT THERE WAS A CONFLICT IN ATC CLRNC. WX AT THE TIME OF OUR OP WAS TSTMS; RAIN SHOWERS WITH RAGGED CEILINGS; VISIBILITY WAS RPTED 2 MI. THE MSL ARPT HAS AN ARPT ADVISORY SVC (FSS) ON FIELD AT THE TIME OF OPS. I HAD ADVISED CENTER THAT THE WX WAS MOVING RAPIDLY AND WE WOULD LIKE TO CIRCLE TO THE S FOR APCH TO THE WNW. WE WERE CLRED TO 2700 MSL; CLRED FOR ILS 29; MAINTAIN 2700 UNTIL ESTABLISHED ON PUBLISHED SEGMENT OF APCH; CLRED TO MSL RADIO. WE SWITCHED FREQS AS WE ATTEMPTED TO PENETRATE WX; THE TURB AND RADAR RETURNS REQUIRED US TO MAKE A 180+ TURN INSTEAD OF CONTINUING TO VOR; WE ADVISED MSL RADIO OF OUR TURN AND IN ROLLOUT OF TURN WE HAD SIGHTED ARPT. I ADVISED RADIO OF OUR CURRENT POS AND ASKED FOR UPDATED VISIBILITY RPT. SPECIALIST RPTED 3 MI AND IMPROVING. I TOLD THE SPECIALIST WE WERE GOING TO TRY FOR A VISUAL APCH. SPECIALIST TOLD US OK AND THAT MEM CENTER WANTED US TO RETURN TO HIS FREQ. HE WANTED TO KNOW OUR POS AND INTENTIONS. I EXPLAINED (SHORTLY) TO HIM OUR INTENTIONS TO SHOOT VISUAL APCH. I WAS CHASTISED ON RADIO FOR NOT HAVING THE VISUAL APCH CLRNC. MY POS IS THAT WHILE OBTAINING A VISIBILITY RPT FROM FSS I WOULD HAVE HAD THEM RELAY TO CENTER OUR REQUEST FOR VISUAL CLRNC. THIS OPPORTUNITY WAS NOT AFFORDED ME BEFORE THE CENTER CTLR'S INQUIRY AND OUR SUBSEQUENT RETURN TO CENTER'S FREQ.