I'm lookin' into grabbing up some new uppers for my Bushy XM15-E2S, though I see there are so many choices. What does everyone recommend here? .50 Beowulf? 9MM? 7.62x39? Any recommendations are gladly welcome!

Why complicate the issue? .223/5.56 does the trick very nicely. I just don't understand why people buy different caliber uppers for a rifle that is damn near perfect in every way. Then you gotta worry about mags and a different caliber of ammo to spend money on. Why not just get an AR10? With the .308 you can shoot long distance and use the rifle for hunting larger game. For plinking and SHTF scenarios, the .223/5.56 is perfect. Why not just purchase different configurations of the same rifle. Like M4gery,Dissipator or Varminter?

edited to add: This is merely my opinion. Some will agree and some will disagree. This is just my $.02!

I love the AR-15 for plinking, but the .223 round still is a bit expensive for me (call me a cheapo if you want, sorrrrrry). Then I thought about .22LR, but I figured that would be too weak. Then I thought 7.62x39 MM upper, but those seem to be a bit rare. Then I thought 9MM, but then I figured if I wanted a pistol cartrodge with some power I should go for a .45, but then I thought if I wantd more power I could always get a .50 Beowulf....see what I mean about the choices!? ;)

[b]RoryDiffin posted

the .223 round still is a bit expensive for me[/b]

Only the .22 and some 7.62X39 is cheeper than .223, so that does seem ro limit your choices.

Bah...I guess I should take that off. Price isn't my only factor here....there are others as well, I'm just looking for some recommendations.

was thinking either the 9MM or .22LR would be great plinkers. The only problem with the .22LR is that the max mag capacity is 10 as far as I can see. At least you can use Sten Mags in the 9MM system.

Does anyone know were I can find a good 7.62x39 Upper? This one looks decent but the description is a bit sketchy:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=12648288

There is also a 7.62x39 pre-ban upper. Would it be illegal to slap a pre-ban upper on a pre-ban lower?

no. a preban is just that. You can add any pre-ban upper you want of any caliber, as long as you have a pre-ban lower

It's food for thought. If you can't keep up with .223 ammo costs, then forget about .50 Beowulf. It too has a 10 rd mag restriction (currently). Buying a .22 is waste IMO in that you can get a new Ruger 10/22 & a couple accessories for less than the cost of the upper & a few mags. My main complaint about 9mm is that it's not very effective & can be pretty expensive to get an upper, but you do have an abundance of mags once you do & a SBR may be interesting. You can buy an AK and have 2 rifles (and change) or you can buy the upper & costly frankenmags... seems pretty obvious to me there.

I would say that the only benefit to buying one of these uppers (before 9/04) is that you can use a different caliber on a familiar platform. The drawback however is the high cost for parts and accesories (mags). That being said, an Eagle arms AR-10 may not be a bad way to go. An AR 10 would definitely be my next non-.223 AR purchase. HTH

I guess the only reason the Beowulf seems appealling to me is because I've been wanting to get into reloading anyway. This could give me the perfect excuse ;).