Dude, here is my take on your question. I am nowhere near an expert, and will never say I am. But if I am flying along, and not on an IR flight plan, then I have to ask for a specific clearance (FAA IR Rated) to desend below the clouds, and no I cannot go below MSA(My view of going below MSA is not favorable). so what would I do. if the airport has an IAP then I would request the approach from present position or fly to an nearby airport that has an approach and shoot the approach to a missed with instructions or request to stay below the cloud layer toproceed to my destination. I now carry current plates for England. The plane I also fly doesn't have ADF so I am limited to ILS, LLZ and VOR approaches. It does have a very nice in panel IFR certified GPS.
This is my view, not necessarilly correct.
Always looking for new folks to fly with, so contact me if you want to go shoot some approaches at different airports.