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Give them a call. They will make it right. I just got my ultra compact back because it was shooting about 3" low at 7 yds. They replaced the barrel, the back night sight, did a trigger job and paid for all and overnight shipping both ways. Excellent service from SA.

Is it just as hard to place the magazine if you do it with the slide back? If so, something may be wrong.
When my XDm was brand new, it resisted having the full magazine seated if the slide was in battery so I just seated it with the slide back and then pulled the slide release.
Without the slide back, the solution was I just didn't put in the last bullet at first. After about 100 rounds fired at the range, it had loosened up enough to allow the final round to be in place while seating the magazine with the slide in battery. It may just be new and needs the same "break in". I've never had a failure of any kind with it no matter what ammo I use. Hope this helps.

TexasGal wrote:Is it just as hard to place the magazine if you do it with the slide back? If so, something may be wrong.
When my XDm was brand new, it resisted having the full magazine seated if the slide was in battery so I just seated it with the slide back and then pulled the slide release.
Without the slide back, the solution was I just didn't put in the last bullet at first. After about 100 rounds fired at the range, it had loosened up enough to allow the final round to be in place while seating the magazine with the slide in battery. It may just be new and needs the same "break in". I've never had a failure of any kind with it no matter what ammo I use. Hope this helps.

I tried to place it in with the slide locked back and it goes in fine that way....Thank you for the suggestion.
So like you said it just needs to be broke in? I wonder what exactly needs to be "loosened up"?

That is a question for the gunsmiths among us
All I know is it worked that way with mine. It is normal for a completely full mag to need a bit of a smack with the heel of your hand to seat completely if the slide is in battery. The springs are pretty strong in those mags and a full mag has the spring compressed a lot. It still should not take more than a firm smack to seat it.

If you have the slide locked back, seat the mag, and pull the release; does the bullet feed normally into the chamber? Does the slide go completely into battery? Does the bullet eject normally if you pull the slide back again? (Please be cautious when checking these things out, the four safety rules apply to the max). Also, don't keep putting the same ejected bullet or two back in the top of the mag over and over to check this. A bullet can become deformed this way.

I would check all that before firing it the first time if you are concerned about the function. Also, double check that the size of the ammo matches the size of the gun. I know that is a no brainer, but I have seen that happen more than once that a person is given the wrong size ammo at the store. Myself being the person. One more thought, if you have not field stripped it and cleaned out all the factory gunk and properly lubed it, that would be an important step before going to the range the first time. There are some youtube videos on that for that gun if you don't already know how. It's easier than a lot of others.

Sorry, I don't know how much you already know, so I hope that didn't all sound like I was pointing out things you are wayyy past needing to know. I absolutely love my XDm9 3.8. It is awesome! I think you will love yours too. It is one of the most reliable guns you can own.

There are far more experienced persons on this forum who can probably offer you more details than I can too. (and are welcome to correct me if i am leading you astray in any way)

Mine is quite hard to put in when full as well, but I have never had an operational issue with it, it is only hard to put in as you said when the slide is forward. I think it is just the way it is.

I was afraid of shooting it after having to force the mag in that hard. Maybe something would get jammed on the first shot.
Didn't get to the range today....most likely tomorrow where I can get it checked out while there.

Your experience is normal with a new XD series pistol, and with a number of other high cap magazine guns as well.

The workarounds of loading with the slide locked back, downloading the magazine by one round, and shooting it until the springs relax a little are also a normal part of the breakin process.

Even after that, it will still be much harder to seat a fully loaded magazine with the slide closed than with it open, because you have to compress the spring more than you did to load that last round (remember how much force you had to use to do that?) to bring the magazine latch notch into line with the latch.

If you find that to be more than you want to deal with, just keep downloading the magazine to 1 below its full capacity. The minuscule loss in continuity of fire is more than made up for in ease and reliability of magazine insertion.

As long as the gun goes "bang" every time you pull the trigger with a loaded magazine fully seated in place, you're good to go.

Excaliber is right, it will take a pretty good smack to the bottom of the mag to seat the mag when it is full unless you decide to push it in hard, which isn't really recommended. When you train a malfunction drill, you slap the mag you don't push on it to make sure it is seated. Getting off topic, but yes it is normal to have resistance putting in the mag underneath a closed slide. Just think of how hard those last few rounds are to get into the mag. It's that same tension you are pushing against to get the mag in. Glocks are the same and some instructors teach you to also download your AR-15 mags by a couple of rounds (depending on the mag) to avoid the same issue in the rifles. As has been stated (correctly) if the mag seats properly and easily with the slide locked back then you probably don't have a problem. Especially if you aren't getting malfunctions.

Glad it turned out well, Jim