thats my luck also!
@USMCSGT0331 The only one with a badger dbm I've seen was a guy from m40rifle.net who purchased a CMP prototype with the dbm. I modeled mine after that one but I havent see any in service pics like there are of the fluted barrel variants.
I've followed all of the CMP auction sales for XM3's, and they've never sold one at auction that has detachable magazines. I know some details about the XM3's that the CMP received, and they never once mentioned to me that any of the rifles they received have detachable magazines. I'm even the person who told the CMP auction people that USMC XM3's were being shipped to them. They told me a lot about the rifles they received, but not a single time did they ever say that any of the XM3's had magazines. So, if you remember someone somewhere buying an XM3 with magazines from the CMP, why is it that they never told me about that rifle (even though I have far more detailed information about specific rifles they received) and why has that mystery rifle never been seen on their auction site (even though the CMP auctions have has 2 takedown rifles)? All of the XM3's the CMP has ever taken possession of have been USMC rifles. So, there aren't any IBA prototypes at the CMP, unless it was an issued USMC rifle, like the 2 they sold with takedown stocks.
I was also on the M40 Rifle forum, but I've never seen pics a military XM3 with detachable magazines. However, Remington produced a few XM3's at their Custom Shop many years after the original IBA rifles were made, and those rifles had magazines. I remember seeing photos of the Remington XM3's on the M40 Rifle forum, and those had detachable magazines, but they weren't IBA/USMC rifles. You could have seen photos of the Remington rifles over on that forum as well, and maybe that's what you're remembering. Here's an article that reviews one of these Remington XM3's:
https://shwat.com/i-shot-a-10000-rifle-today-and-some-other-cool-guns-too/
This is not a real IBA XM3, this is a Remington Custom Shop XM3:
I've seen plenty of people confuse the Remington XM3's with the issued IBA XM3's. The rifle in the link has a camo stock, but Remington did produce a few with the correct green stock. Pretty much everyone I've ever talked to about XM3's with detachable bottom metal have actually been referring to these Remington built rifles.
IBA had numerous prototypes of various rifles. Talking to Norm Chandler, he was a proponent of keeping things simple, that's why he used a stock with almost no adjustments and why he used an M4 bottom metal with solid floorplate. There's photos of all the XM3's sold at CMP auction on the CMP's auction site. There are no USMC photos of an XM3 in the field using magazines. I even have photos of 1 of the 3 IBA XM33 prototype rifles, and I own a Manners stock that has inletting for an XM33. I also have photos of an IBA XM1 that was used in combat by Marines, and it even has a few skulls drawn in sharpie on the stock to ahow that rifle's kill count. There's a photo of an XM2 rifle in the testing documents. I have information about these IBA rifles that are far more rare than the 52 USMC XM3's and I have photo evidence to show that these rifles actually exist. And yet no one can provide me with a photo of a USMC IBA XM3 with M5 bottom metal and detachable magazines. And when a photo of one does pop up, it's 100% of the time a Remington Custom Shop built rifle.
Like I said before, I'd love to be wrong about this because that would add an interesting variation to our collections. Hell, it would give me an excuse to build one! However, I've never seen any indication that there were ever XM3's with detachable magazines. And the Corps certainly didn't field any with magazines, and even the DARPA tested prototypes didn't have magazines. We have photos of a USMC XM3 with a fluted barrel and photos of 3 USMC XM3's with a removable butt, but there isn't a single photo that shows a USMC XM3 with detachable magazines. There's literally nothing to suggest that any XM3's used magazines, except for the Remington Custom Shop rifles and clones that collectors have built (one of them is even in this thread.
Rumors are easy to spead, and people love to believe everything they read online. Once you get people saying that there were USMC XM3's or prototypes with detachable magazines, people take that as gospel. What I'm asking for is proof. No more speculation on this subject, this needs to have proper documentation in order for it to be true. Even if IBA did make one single XM3 prototype with detachable magazines, why bother cloning it? They weren't issued that way, and there's zero proof that any of the USMC XM3's were like that, so why bother cloning a one-off rifle? Also, the DARPA tested prototype XM3's had M4 bottom metal with a solid floorplate. We know for a fact that DARPA didn't even test an XM3 with magazines, they tested XM3's with a solid bottom metal.
You can read about the actual DARPA and IBA testing in the PDF's below. I encourage all of you guys to read these documents. No where is there any mention of an XM3 with detachable magazines, there's only XM3's with the M4 bottom metal. So, no USMC issued XM3's with magazines, and no prototype DARPA tested XM3's with magazines. The difference between an XM2 and an XM3 was a 20" barrel vs an 18" barrel. That's it, nothing else. IBA made 5 different XM rifles, so possibly one of those had a bottom metal with detachable magazines, but it for sure wasn't the XM1, the XM2, or the XM3.
https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...ifle_accy__crane_report_04-18-07-pdf.7823288/
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/attachments/darpa_iron_brigade_report__final_-pdf.7823289/
As far as I'm concerned, until real proof of USMC issued IBA XM3 with detachable magazines actually surfaces for all of us to see, this discussion is settled. I'm not trying to be an ass about it, all I'm asking for is proof, and I just added a ton of proof to this post that the XM3's never had detachable magazines. As a community we pride ourselves with proper research and building the most historically accurate clone rifles that we possibly can. We need to stick to the actual information that we have on hand, and not rely on speculation or "somebody saw something somewhere." Nothing gets a pass because it's cool or adds increased functionality to the rifle, we rely on actual proof. If people want to build their XM3's with M5 bottom metal and use magazines, then go right on ahead and do so. But don't say that was how the rifles were issued, because right now there is nothing that proves it to be true.
If someone can prove me wrong and actually send me photos of a verifiable government issued IBA XM3 with detachable magazines being used by Marine Scout Snipers (in the field, in training, in the armory, or wherever), I'll give that person a gift from my personal collection.
