I'm new to AR's and would like a little help with them. I want a carbine with a collapsable stock.

I went to a gun show yesterday and found 4, all Colt's. Three were marked AR 15 SP1. Two of these were in about 80% condition and the third was used but looked new. The fourth was marked AR 15 A2 Government Carbine. It was new in the box (box had a blue lable). What's the difference between the SP1's and the AR 15 A2 Government Carbine?

Also, is it better to buy a complete gun or buy an upper and lower and put them together? At the gun show I found a DPMS preban lower and upper in the carbine configuration I was looking for.

Thanks

The AR-15 Gov't Carbine is worth more. It was produced in fewer numbers and has the "AR-15" designation. AR-15s were banned, meaning that you could produce the exact same weapon and call it the "Ass Reamer-15" legally, (after 1994) but you could not stamp one "AR-15". Therefore the gov't carbine is a collector's item and the SP1 is a soon-to-be used gun after the crime bill sunsets in 2004. Even if something worse replaces the crime bill there will be a window of time before the replacement passes. in that window of time you can convert post bans to "pre-ban" configs. Therefore, any pre-ban that doesn't have a collector's value is merely a used AR.