No chronograph. Don't even own one. The rounds all felt same when fired. As for factory ammo, I haven't fired many. Cheaper to shoot my reloads, and since the Shield has digested at least 500 of my reloads without an issue, I'm not sure a few boxes of factory would be an accurate assessment.

Truth be told, the Shield is not my carry piece. A Ruger Lc9-S is. I just got the Sheild because of the rebates. I do like shooting it.

As for the light load, it's not what I would call light. SR7625 and that bullet calls for between 4.3 and 4.9. The round fired yesterday, like the 500 others the Sheild fired fine, was 4.7 grains of SR7625.

I have switched to HP38, but haven't fired many yet. Only made 20 to make sure they functioned in all my 9MM's, including the Shield. 4.2 grains of HP38. Recipe calls for between 3.9 and 4.4 grains. I suppose I could bump it up but never saw the need to shoot maximum for range ammo.