Looking for advice on what do first for a new XDM owner

[N.E. Tx.XD]

I like to give it a good lube with Tetra gun grease. But if your in a hurry,

Drive to range.
Remove from box
Remove red tag.
Load.
Fire.

[RobzXD]

The store I bought mine from had its own range. I went from the store, out to the car to get the 200 rounds I brought with me, back into the range.

Some people do have problems completely loading new magazines and some don't. If you can't get that last round into the mag, even with the mag loader, don't worry about it... You may be able to by the end of the range trip after exercising them a bit. For some, an "UpLula" (Universal Pistol MagLula) mag loader helps get that pesky last round (or last 2 rounds) into a brand new mag.

[john_bud]

Originally Posted by Xtreme Man

Field Strip it.

Spray the slide down with a spray can of Break Free CLP or Rem Oil or Ballistol, let it soak

Spray the barrel down outside and inside

take a clean rag and wipe down the internals

Get a 9mm bore snake and run it through the barrel starting at the BREECH END not the muzzle end.

wipe the excess off the slide and barrel

put a dab of oil on the metal locking block in the center

Reassemble

Put a smidgen of oil on top of the breech or chamber of the barrel that sticks out in the ejection port.

Put a smidgen of oil on the top muzzle end of the barrel where it makes contact with the hole through the end of the slide.

Go shoot that sucker.

^ what he said.

Plus -

Take the magazines apart. Clean by pushing a clean rag through them. Inspect the plastic followers and if there are any goobers sticking out from the molding process, gently sand them smooth with extra fine paper. While you don't have to, I like to spray the followers and inside of the mags with 100% silicone spray. It's a bit more slippery and has no residue to collect gunk.

Yeah, you can just load it and go, but that's not as smart as performing the correct maintenance. There are no benefits from the grab and go but there are from the 4 minutes it takes to field strip, clean & oil. Maybe it's advanced age, but I just wasn't in such a hurry to fire it that precluded basic maintenance.

The full mag will seat with just pinky finger pressure IF you have the slide open. If the slide is closed, then you have to compress the stack of rounds against the full spring pressure. You can make it a LOT easier if you polish the top of the mag retention tab. Either remove it and polish or "insert, remove, repeat" 500 times with each full mag against a closed slide. You need to do all mags to polish both surfaces. Mine has been polished to a high shine from use and is way easier than when it was new