I have a question concerning PWA pre-bans.  A friend of mine is selling his "pre-ban" PWA, complete with collapsable stock and threaded barrel, but it has a serial number in the 40XXX range.  I ran a check on this board, and it says that the cut-off for pre-ban PWA's is 36000.  However, my friend says PWA lowers are pre-ban, as they were all made prior to '94.  What's the deal?  Were the <36000 lowers grandfathered in as assempbled weapons, and the >36000 lowers simply not assembled in time to make the ban?  Thanks for the help!

Your friend is wrong.

The cut off for PWA pre-bans was 35222. Anything after that is post-ban.

Just to be curious, but is it considered post-ban because it wasn't a fully assembled weapon prior to '94 or because it was manufactured after '94??

Manufacture date.

Some of the <35223 lowers are also post-ban, because they were not fully assembled weapons before the 94 ban went into effect.