What are some of the most popular lowers currently being used to build kits? Why is one brand better than another. Is PWA still around?  

PWA is no longer in business. As I recall, most of their equipment (if not all of it) was bought by Rock River Arms. Speaking of which, IMHO, this is the latest up and coming AR maker. They have taken the highpower crowd by storm. Price, quality and fit and finish are superb. Others that have good reps are Bushmaster and Armalite among others. Personally, I have a Colt, Bushmaster and Rock River and I will only buy RR from here on out.

[url]rockriverarms.com[/url]

It seems that PWA lowers are no longer being manufactured / sold.  They seem to have been unavailable for about 1 to 1.5 years now, but you might find a dealer somewhere that still has some in their inventory.

There is an urban legend floating around on this site that implies that PWA was bought/acquired by Rock River Arms within the the past year or so.

PWA has always been a really low profile company that never advertised much.  They used to retail/wholesale their parts and kits through an outlet located in Olympia, WA that ceased doing business back in late 1995.  Their receivers have always been marked Milan,OH as the place of manufacture, but I have never seen or heard of anyone that had a complete address of phone number for them.

The quality, fit and finish of the PWA receivers was superb.  Too bad they are now history. Since their departure, I prefer Bushmaster lowers as an alternate.

Many people build kits from RRA lowers. There are many places out there too, like Bushmaster, Olympic Arms, I think JTDistributing.com, etc.

If you hurry, I suggest call them and talk to someone IN PERSON (not the machine), you could pick up a SWEET DEAL on a CAV15 lower-- going dirt cheap right now for AR15 members (at least 3 months)!:
[url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=2&f=61&t=138964&w=myTopicPop[/url]

Thanks to all of you for the info. KEEP EM IN THE 10 RING!!!