I just bought my first preban Colt, an SP1 in excellant condition. Where can I find out more info on Colt preban AR-15's, info like serial numbers to find out what year the gun was made? Thanks!

Welcome to the board!

You could search on serial number lists, there are a few of them.  You could also contact Colt directly.  If you have an original with the three prong FS its of 60's vintage.  The bird cage came later.  Also a lot of them were mutts as Colt used up parts left over from previous runs.  You may also find the BBL has a lot of copper fouling in it, so don't be surprised by blue patches.

This might help:  [url=http://www.biggerhammer.net/ar15/]BiggerHammer[/url].

If you go to the front page of the site, you'll find this list under "Legal Issues"

[url]http://www.ar15.com/content/legal/serialNumberList.html[/url]

You should immediately get yourself a copy of "The Black Rifle: A Retrospective" by R. Blake Stevens.

Yes, it's about the M16, but it goes into a lot of detail about the development of the Armalite family of weapons and their life after moving to Colt.

The AR-15 so closely parallels the M16 that the information is extremely useful.