which I'm only pointing that out so nobody gets misled
I think something must have changed in the FARs then. When I did my IR in 2001 (blimey, 5 years ago!), it was as ca_flyer said, i.e. when entering IMC the PIC stops. Same when carrying an IR'd safety pilot .....For the same reason you cannot log PIC time in a ME aeroplane without haveing a ME
rating, you could not log PIC time in IMC as you were not
rated to be there (depite being sole manip. and all that as you could also be in a ME aeroplane).