The other day, my friend Jim Shanahan, of Advanced Performance Shooting, published a YouTube video (embedded below) suggesting that the question we should be asking is, “How good am I?” This particular question is suggested in contrast to, “What is good enough?”, which is a question commonly asked in the firearms community. It’s a good video that discusses a lot of good points which I’m not going to get into in this post. Rather, I want to explore a common answer that often follows those types of questions. That answer is, “It depends.”

Let me backup for a second and provide a little context.

See, between this video and a recent side match, where a couple of friends and I decided to run our everyday carry (EDC) gear at a local match just to see how we stack up with it, the little gears in my brain have been turning. As a result, I’ve been looking back and analyzing several recent activities under the lens of different contexts because context always matters. Without context, the answer to most simple or vague inquiries is, or at least should be, “It depends.” This will become clearer as we look at some examples and dive into the discussion.

Let’s start with that recent side match I already mentioned. It was a local Hit Factor match that consisted of six stages where the goal of each stage was to collect as many points as possible as quickly as possible without leaving the shooting area. The scoring is simple total points divided by time (in seconds) to determine the hit factor. Placement is determined by hit factor from highest to lowest. I finished 26th out of 57 in a group of competitors made up of local regulars who also show up regularly to local USPSA matches.

I mention USPSA because while there are some differences in the rules, it is pretty similar to the way USPSA and IPSC matches are run and scored. This is important because it allows me to compare my performance at the Hit Factor match with my EDC gear and set up to how I perform on average at USPSA matches using a gun and gear set up that is optimized for competition instead of concealed defensive carry.

Before we look at the comparison between competing with the EDC or the gamer gear, let’s consider the questions on the title of this post. How good am I? On that day I was good enough to finish 26th out of 57 overall. In the division I competed in, I was good enough to finish 9th out of 12. Is that good enough? The answer, of course, is, “It depends.” To win the match or the division, no. It clearly wasn’t good enough. For defensive carry, I’d argue it would have been good enough to survive a wide range of different potential self defense encounters where the use of deadly force is justified. However, the two scored misses I had plus the handful of made up misses could have ended up in catastrophic negative outcomes. Remember, every missis hits something other than what we intended to hit.

Now let’s look at some recent USPSA matches where I participated in the same division with the gamer gun and gear:

• Match 1: 11th out of 22 overall, 5th out of 6 in division
• Match 2: 8th out of 22 overall, 4th out of 6 in division
• Match 3: 28th out of 70 overall, 7th out of 15 in division
• Match 4: 12th out of 29 overall, 4th out of 8 in division
• Match 5: 11th out of 23 overall, 4th out of 4 in division
• Match 6: 20th out of 51 overall, 9th out of 22 in division

How good am I with the game gear in similar competitive conditions? In my opinion, I think it is safe to say that I’m better or at least more competitive with the gamer gear than I am with the EDC gear.

This isn’t surprising. The skill used is the same, but the gamer equipment is better suited for competitive applications. It suggests that the defensive carry holds me back. The truth is that the smaller gun takes a little longer to recover from recoil especially when it isn’t loaded with bunny fart competition loads. Draws are slower from concealment than from an open carry race holster. Reloads are also slower from concealment and require a little more finesse since the carry gun does have a huge magazine well to aid with the process. Everything takes more time.

What was surprising, at least a little, was that the performance difference wasn’t as large as I expected it would be. Yes, everything takes more time, but not so much time that I can’t give other competitors with the same classification a run for their money. I’m simply a little less competitive with the carry gear.

Is that good enough? Regardless of gear choice, I’m still not good enough to win a match overall or win a division. However, it is good enough to take home a B-class win in the division from time to time, at least with the gamer gear.

Is that good enough for concealed carry? The gamer gear certainly isn’t good enough. First off, the game rig is an open carry rig that isn’t going to conceal at all. Whether I attempted to conceal it or not, I suspect I would draw a lot of attention to myself from those around me anywhere in public while wearing the gamer rig.

But back to the question, is that good enough for concealed carry with the EDC gear? For the most part the answer is: yes, probably. Over the past year I heard many reputable and skilled self defense instructors suggest that skills and abilities beyond B-class have diminishing returns when it comes to self defense applications. Furthermore, those same folks suggest that the large amount of monetary and time investments required to develop skill past B-class levels would pay better dividends if they were used to develop other aspects of a well rounded self defender such as: medical skills, hand to hand skills, social interaction skills, driving skills, and even better physical fitness.

While I agree with the other instructors in their good enough assessment, I sometimes wonder if the answer would still be, “yes, that’s good enough” if the violent aggressor had a B-class or better level of skill and ability with a firearm. That’s a scary thought. And, of course, if the question was, “Is that good enough to fend off somebody who is as skilled or better than me”. The answer to this would be, “No, definitely not.”

I’m glad that my friend, Jim, is asking these questions and provoking critical thinking in others. Measurement is a key component in skill development. As such, it’s imperative to ask and have the ability to objectively answer the question, “How good am I?” It’s also a good idea to follow up that answer with some context specific introspection using the question, “Is that good enough?” If it is, then consider moving on to something else that is important in contexts that matter to you.

I get it. Not everyone wants to become a world champion. Some folks just want to be competitive in local games. Others want the ability to be able to fend off deadly violent crime with confidence. There are also those who just want to carry a defensive tool safely. That’s why it’s important for each of us to answer the question, “Is that good enough?”, for ourselves. There is no harm in listening to the opinions of others on the matter, but the answer to that question is up to each of us. Furthermore, we really shouldn’t attempt to answer that question without knowing, or at least having a good idea of, how good we are.