Springfield's importation and distribution of the XD line of pistols from Croatia has been a huge success over a number of years. Now a commonly found handgun, the XD is a striker-fired, delay blow-back centerfire handgun line with a safety lever in the face of the trigger, a drop safety and a grip safety. Some consider the XD line to be high capacity. It's certainly not traditional, which holds 6-9 rounds of ammo in a magazine. Modern designs begin at 12 rounds and work up. A few years back the XD line was updated. While keeping the original product line, a buffed, sculpted and re-gripped gun was born. The slide was slanted, narrower at top than along the rail surfaces. A changeable backstrap was added with a pair of different sizes in addition to "medium." The Modern XD (XDM) expanded the ammo supply. The XDM-9 holds 19 rounds of 9mm in the magazine. It's long, top-to-bottom to accommodate the addition gunload. Recently, they bobbed the barrel/slide unit, designating this the XDM 3.8 - the 3.8 being the barrel length in inches. Since then, they bobbed the frame and made a shorter magazine - 13 rounds instead of 19! The XDM-9 Compact 3.8 is a 27 ounce autoloader that, with the short mag, has no place for my small finger. It ends up curled under the floorplate of the 13-shot magazine. It is packaged in a oversize black box with a 13-round magazine and a 19 round magazine that wears the X-Tension - this magazine "boot" makes the gun feel like a full-length XDM-9 as it takes the place of the extra grip frame available on the bigger gun. A black finish over the steel parts and black plastic making the frame, the barrel is treated with Melonite. The dovetail sights have the 3 white dots of modern convention. A dual magazine pouch, polymer holster and magazine loader are provided as well as a padlock and instructions. Two spare magazine boots - X-Tension units - are in the box for another pair of 19-round magazines. If you live in a free state and want this gun, invest in the extra magazines. Carry at least one when you carry the gun. The website shows that the 3.8" .40 Compact is or will soon be available. (http://www.the-m-factor.com/) I took the gun out on a cloudy, gusty day with a wind chill in the low-20s. While the gun didn't seem to notice, I did. I took a few spare 13 round magazines the factory provided to ensure an orderly flow of the test. The first 30 rounds out of the gun were used on the FBI Instructor Class Bull's-Eye Course fired on their FBI-1P target. The first ten rounds are slow fire from 25 yards. Two strings of timed fire and two of rapid are accomplished at 15 yards. You tend to hurry those up some when it's cold but I did my best to live up to the gun. You need 90% to stay in instructor school or 270/300. The XDM-9 Compact 3.8 turned in a 286 using CCI Blazer 115 grain ball. I did use the long magazine with X-Tension for this test. I could reshoot it with the short magazine but I'm thinking I'd still pass. I then shot "The Test" - 10 rounds in ten seconds from ten yards from low ready on an NRA B-8 Bull's-eye target. The objective is to stay in the black. It didn't happen. Using Federal American Eagle 147 grain TMJ with toxic free primer, I managed to let one get out into the 8 ring at 3 o'clock. I spent a little time doing handling drills. I determined that I had to lose too much grip to get at the ambi-magazine release with my dominant index finger. It's no loss really, as it was narrow enough around the frame to allow easy access to the left side button with my thumb. The gun is easily a 2.5 - 3" shooter at 25 yards all day long. I found it competent and easy to get along with. Often found at reasonable prices, I think the XDM is a good choice. --Rich Grassi