Apex Tactical does make the trigger kit for the original Shield that will both "reduce trigger pre-travel and over-travel." It is Apex SKU#100-050. (
Action Enhancement Trigger for M&P Shield).
Don't sweat the loss in velocity as it will not lesson your chances of stopping an attacker. I know I'll probably receive some flack for this, but let me explain. For those interested, read on. If not, I won't be offended.
9mm is very effective in part because it is about as good as the other calibers even when using BALL ammo (full metal jacket, a.k.a. FMJ). The military has understood this for decades. We were never signatories of the Hague conventions which prohibit dumb dumb bullets (hollow points), so if they really thought it was critical they could have used them, but for logistical reasons regarding NATO, it my understanding they conformed by using FMJ ammo.
Of course the military has different needs than civilians, but the Buckeye Firearms Association study in my state of Ohio sampled about 1800 bodies shot with the various calibers in civilian/law enforcement situations (as opposed to military encounters), and not only did 9mm hold its own against .40 and .45 and even .44 Magnum (regarding its failure to incapacitate rate), but it was the only caliber where MORE THAN HALF of the bullets were FMJ!
Ask any trauma room surgeon, especially one familiar with firearm ballistics, and they'll tell you it's always worse when the bullet stays in the body (or barely leaves) because most of the bullet's energy will remain inside the body to do damage (instead of passing through and wasting most of its energy).
This is why .44 Magnum, which is TWICE as powerful as 9mm, also tied it with a 13% failure rate along with .40 S&W (.45 ACP had a 14% failure rate which is within the margin of error). As one medical doctor wrote, he had never seen a .44 Magnum stay in the body. This is important in such a powerful caliber because when it leaves the body, half the energy goes along with it, so its failure to incapacitate rate is tied with the 9mm sample for this reason (again, MORE THAN HALF OF WHICH WERE FULL METAL JACKET ROUNDS).
The FMJs gangbanger-types use (who make up the plurality if not the majority of shootings in our nation) are typically not loaded as hot as hollow points (this is not always true, but it's true most of the time). So whatever velocity you lose from porting a 3.1" barrel will not make a difference.
This opinion is also substantiated with the results form .380 ACP. While .25 ACP and .32 ACP had a failure to incapacitate rate of 35%-40 %, .380 ACP was only 16%. This was certainly within the margin of error of .45 ACP (which had a 14% failure rate)! And like 9mm, most people shooting .380 ACP carry FMJs (or at least they did about ten years ago when this study came out:
An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power | Buckeye Firearms Association).
I'm not advocating that we should all shoot 9mm and .380 ACP with FMJ bullets. I'm just making the point that what's critical to their effectiveness is that they have less power when compared to .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .357 SIG, etc. so they typically either stay in the body or leave it with comparatively little energy left over.
Remember, the purpose of HP bullets, contrary to popular belief, is not primarily to shred tissue because the permanent wound cavity will almost always far surpass the diameter of the bullets after they have expanded properly. The purpose of HP bullets are to slam on the breaks and prevent over penetration to conserve energy to do as much damage as possible.
I heard one person with a large Youtube channel claim it's better that a bullet leaves the body so that blood has somewhere to go, but I confirmed with more than one trauma room surgeon that this is not true because there is more than enough room in the body cavity for a person to RAPIDLY bleed out (which is what you need to happen if you can't take out the central nervous system). That YouTube personality, who will remain nameless, is a loudmouth who says a lot of stupid things and I don't know why people still subscribe to him.
Anyway, I apologize for the long post, but I wanted to explain how the slight loss in velocity is absolutely nothing to worry about (it may even help in some situations). Anyone who buys an aftermarket barrel for a ported Shield to compensate for the few fps lost is utterly wasting their money in my opinion unless accuracy is that important to them (with the caveat that they see it improve). Some aftermarket barrels do increase accuracy, but most either don't or do not improve it significantly. If you read the study I linked carefully, the increase in accuracy of .45 ACP and .44 Magnum did absolutely NOTHING to prevent them from failing to incapacitate as much as the other less accurate calibers. Most pistols have all the practical accuracy they need for 99.9% of gunfights (people trained to take headshots in hostage situations would clearly be an exception), but I don't knock wanting increased accuracy because it inspires confidence when training in my opinion.
I love my Performance Center Shield. I bought it last year in lieu of a P365 even though I am a big SIG fan (I carry a P229 chambered in .357 SIG as well). I have a lot of confidence in the mighty Shield. I'm not knocking the P365, but the track record of the Shield was worth losing a couple of rounds (I carry my Shield appendix in its 8+1 configuration). I actually opted not to get an Apex trigger despite the trigger being horrible for a performance center trigger when I first got it. But somewhere after a thousand rounds the trigger improved dramatically, and it pulls as well as the SA triggers of both my $1,100 SIG P229 and my $800 LTT Beretta PX4 Storm compact. I'm not claiming the pistol is as accurate, but the trigger itself is great. No, it's not as smooth perhaps, but I get zero front sight disruption when I dry practice with my Shield and the pistol is very accurate for the type in live fire. The reset is a little better on those other guns (which have also been upgraded), but it's a great trigger nonetheless in my opinion. Heck, I even liked the one in my original 1.0 Shield. If the sight doesn't move dry practicing, I'm generally pretty happy.
Anyway, I hope I answered all your questions. You should have complete confidence in your awesome PC Shield despite the porting!
