saw a pwa a.r today,in about v.g.c lower reciever has pwa and commando on it.a-1 buttstock,upper has a-1 sights,a-2 handguards,birdcage flashhider that is supposedly"fixed"was wondering how to tell if its pre or post ban.whats it worth. thanks!

Check the serial number against this website: [url]http://www.mp5.net/info/preban.htm#PWA[/url]

Marc

are pwa a.r any good?i dont have any experience with them.

I've never owned one and I can't remember reading anything bad about them.  Hopefully some others with some first hand knowledge will jump in here but I would buy one if the right deal came along (and I had the money).

[:D]

Good luck!  If it's in good condition and a preban I don't think you can go wrong.

Marc

I have been building and shooting AR's built on PWA (Pac West Arms) lowers for over 10 years now.  

All have have had good, clean forgings, the machine work has been excellent, and the finish has always been a nice uniform true black color.  All the other manufacturers parts have fit perfectly except one Olympic Arms flat-top upper many years ago.  It's takedown lug was slightly wider than the opening in the PWA lower.  I just simply machined a few thousandths off each side of the takedown lug and the fit was then perfect.

By the way, PWA NEVER built any complete rifles.  As late as 1995 they sold kits that never had barrels as part of the kit.  It was some sort of a tax thing.  It's too bad they are no longer in business.  I thinks the overall quality of their lowers was superior to Colt , Bushmaster, and other I have seen.

One of my ARs is a PWA and I would rate it as excellent. Fit and finish are very well done. I highly recommend PWA. AIRBORNE!

 Have built a couple of ar on pwa lowers, fit and finish was excellent, had 1 lower with a problem, or could have been the hammer out of spec, but had to "loosen" up the lower to let the hammer fit and not drag.Like I said it could have been the hammer out of spec, failed to measure it, but functions fine.

Danny

I have a full size flat top rifle built on a preban PWA lower. Fine receiver!

Yea PWA is a fine lower reciever, the preban cut off serial # is 35,222. anything above that is post ban.
            FREE

I have had two PWA's the first one had reliability problems but I think they were mostly related to the crapulous Nessard parts kit I used to put it together.  The current PWA is a total bastard parts gun.  PWA lower, God knows who made the upper, FN 1/7 twist barrel and gun show guts.  Runs like a champ, I hate to jinx myself but no malfs in 1000s of rounds over the years. As above fit and finish on the lower is second to none.
Q