I've been looking a while for velocity data on the short barrel Shield 40 (or any other 3" barrel in 40S&W), but haven't found much. I finally just bought my own chrono. I've been reloading for 30 years, so guess it was time to buy one anyways. I absolutely love the Shield in 40. It handles the 40S&W great. I don't notice much "snap" to it and I can do quick double taps very accurately. My friend who's been shooting the 4" Glock 23 in 40S&W for years, just shot my Shield 40 for the first time last week. The next day he ordered one.

My concern with the Shield is the short barrel. I carry factory 155gr Gold Dot and have seen some reports of the bullet not performing well with the lower velocity of the 3.1" barrel. The 155gr is designed for 1200fps as an optimum velocity. Here is some data on different loads. I took 5-10 shots with each and the average velocity and muzzle energy is shown. Data was taken at 8 feet from muzzle and temp was 60F.

Factory Gold Dot 155gr: 1063 fps, 389 ft-lbs

Pow'rball 135gr: 1130 fps, 383 ft-lbs

Handload 150gr Nosler JHP:
8.0gr of Longshot (light load): 1077 fps, 386 ft-lbs
8.6gr of Longshot (Medium load): 1213 fps, 490 ft-lbs
9.3gr of Longshot (Max load): 1245 fps, 516 ft-lbs
Note: max load is still only 33,600 PSI (SAAMI is 35,000)

Handload 135gr Nosler JHP:
9.0gr of Longshot (light load): 1182 fps, 419 ft-lbs
10.5gr of Longshot (Medium load): 1347 fps, 544 ft-lbs
11.5gr of Longshot (Max load): 1436 fps, 619 ft-lbs
Note: max load pressure is well below SAAMI at 31,900 PSI

The 135gr can produce a lot of energy. I thought the Pow'rball would do better than 1130 fps. It's rated at 1325 fps out of a 4". I used Hodgdon Longshot due to the high velocity and low pressure it produces. It apparently does very well in a short barrel. I always carry factory loads for self defense, but I may load my own gold dots with Longshot after seeing this data. My goal was to get 1200 fps out of the Shield with a 155gr. I can easily get that with a medium load of Longshot. There is, however, more felt recoil with the medium and max loads over the factory Gold Dot load, but also more power.

Pilot
This is good stuff. If you're not an engineer, you shoulda been one.
How did you calculate the PSI and muzzle energy?

I don't know how the OP calculated PSI unless it's off a loading table or Quickload, but muzzle energy is 1/2 * m * v^2

for instance the 135 grain 1130 fps:
you have to convert the mass in grains to mass in slugs
1 grain = 4.44/1,000,000 slug

0.5 * (0.0006 slug) * (1130 f/s) * (1130 f/s) = 383 ft*lbs

I know that SD folks like to calculate loads in terms of energy, but us paper punchers are more concerned with the recoil Power Factor (PF) which is simply momentum (mass of bullet in grains * muzzle velocity in fps)/1000.

Your typical 9mm load has a PF of about 138, a 45ACP is close to 200. A PF of 200 in a steel 1911 really doesn't bother me. A 40 is typically 180. Much more than that with a plastic gun, and you really start feeling it in your hands after about 50-100 rounds. I've loaded 180g bullets to shoot @ 750 fps and the recoil feels almost exactly like a 120g 9mm bullet @ 1100 fps. Both loads have a PF of 135.

Thanks for the numbers Pilot172P

Many modern inexpensive Chronographs, such as the Pro Chrono Digital, do all the work for you automatically. Just shoot, then press a button to see results.

An example from my Shield 40.

String:,2
Date:,8/26/2013
Time:,8:58:58 AM
Grains:,155
Hi Vel:,1063
Low Vel:,1031
Ave Vel:,1047
Ext Spread:,32
Std Dev:,10

Velocity,Power Factor,Ft/Lbs
1044, 161.820, 375.089
1063, 164.765, 388.866
1059, 164.145, 385.945
1043, 161.665, 374.371
1044, 161.820, 375.089
1031, 159.805, 365.806
1036, 160.580, 369.363
1056, 163.680, 383.761
1051, 162.905, 380.136


And to see why a S&W 500 can be painful to shoot:

String:,4
Date:,9/1/2012
Time:,1:52:57 PM
Grains:,440
Hi Vel:,1768
Low Vel:,1387
Ave Vel:,1504
Ext Spread:,381
Std Dev:,135
500 lead 440gr 35.3 to 35.8gr oal 2.137
Velocity,Power Factor,Ft/Lbs
1424, 626.560,1980.953
1474, 648.560,2122.508
1447, 636.680,2045.462
1458, 641.520,2076.679
1461, 642.840,2085.234
1768, 777.920,3053.647
1387, 610.280,1879.348
1501, 660.440,2200.978
1736, 763.840,2944.108
1391, 612.040,1890.203

As a matter of fact, I am a professional engineer, which is probably why I wanted to know the data and how far I can push the Shield 40. I got the PSI from the Hodgdon reloading tables and I did use the Pro Chrono Digital but did the calculations myself for KE.

Appreciate the info guys, thanks.
EE here. I guess after a career in eng, I can sense the symptoms. ;-)

You never answered your question though. Did the 155gr bullets perform well? Velocity is nice, but how was the grouping?

__________________
Freedom isn't free.

Excellent... I've been wondering how much drop in velocity there would be.

I wonder how the 180gr Gold Dot compares against the 180gr Gold Dot Short Barrel