Nightmares and guns

[Shorts]

Last night I had a pretty wierd dream, just wondering if anyone had similar:

I was walking into a parking lot out to my truck. It is daylight. There is a car, with two good-for-nothings sitting in the front seats, windows down, smoking cigarettes and watching me intently as I near my truck. I see their ill intentions, and I'm already reaching for my keys to unlock my truck, thinking of where my pistols are and what to do when I get inside the cab. I'm only steps away and begin reaching for the door handle when the pair bolts from the car and towards me. I quickly get in the truck and reach down to lock the doors, but for some reason, the LOCK position is up on the switch, instead of down like normal. I see one thug on the passenger side, pulling on the door handle so I think to reach for my Beretta on my hip, except is isn't there! "Where the he!! did I put it?" The thug is in the passenger seat by now and its a standoff, no one moves, just stare. Now I remember where it is, I put it in my backpack so I wouldn't have it on my hip when I went inside the building. My revolver is in the glove box, I'll dive for it, pull it and make it a close range battle with the muzzle in his stomach. The thug seems to read my mind, while I flip open the glove box right in front of him, BUT THERE'S NO GUN! The second winner is on my side of the truck, but I jump out as I hear him yelling to his buddy "Dude! Pull out the firing pin!" Pull out the firing pin?? This guy has my revolver! I back up away from the truck as he pulls out the revolver....FROM MY GLOVE BOX :banghead: With one hand, he takes off the "firing pin" from the revolver and hands it to me with a smug look on his face. I snatch it from his paws and point it towards him and pull the trigger.......click...click.... The trigger moves, but the hammer just sits there, limp and disconnected from my life-saving Hydrashoks. The jerk just stands there and smirks, the other laughs and points. I try thumbing the hammer...but it just flips back, with no kind of forward springy power to be found. I try tossing the hammer forward to smash it on the bullet, but no contact I'm furious with this jerk for taking a part from my gun. I desperately want to beat him and take it back. He seems to read my mind again, reaches into his pocket and hands me the firing pin. The stands and smirks again. I feverishly try to install it, but things just don't go together. By now I'm frustrated but decide to turn tail into a nearby building. As it turns out, one of my bridesmaids was waiting for me in a barbie-pink colored dress, trying to get my dress all fitted up because the wedding was about to start.............

What the heck did I have for supper last night???

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of who knows what, but I got dressed and went to the range and told my husband about the dream this afternoon.

If a scenario like this should ever materialize, I hope that my thinking will still be as clear and that ALL MY WEAPONS WILL BE WHERE I THOUGHT THEY'D BE And if the little punks are as smart-attituded as they were in my dream, heaven help them....

 

[mnrivrat]

Hi Shorts !
Wicked little dream there. Not uncommon I don't think to have these types of dreams from time to time. Not involving firearms necessarily, but involving the everything goes wrong thing.

Not sure what the source either but I've had my share. They create anxiety to the point where you wake up with heart racing and a feeling of deep frustration.
Maybe something one eats or maybe a sign of other stresses in our lives ?

Good thing they're just dreams.

 

[crashresidue]

Cheers,

Even after 30 something years, I still wake up from a "dead sleep" with "gooks in the wire" ringing in my head! Or wake up, falling to the floor with the sound of an "ashcan", incoming - seconds from impacting - screaming in my ears!

Dreams are stress relief. Be glad you can vent them this way. Other wise - they'd eat you UP!

Back in December, I got on 'justhelicopters.com" about re-living the loss of a "wingman" in a dream. I hadn't had that dream in YEARS! It was the 37th aniversary of that particular event - but it still SCARED the Hell out of me!

Don't sweat the dreams.

Gentle winds,
cr

 

[Dionysusigma]

Whenever I have dreams about guns, it's never good. My aim will be terrible, the bullets have about the same stopping power as cotton balls, the gun will jam in a manner rendering it unfixably useless... stuff like that. I don't think it's connected to anything in real life, AFAIK, because the "worst" gun I have is a Marlin 60 in perfect working order.

You know, I wonder...

Do people with extensive training on a platform or three have these dreams?

 

[Model520Fan]

I am told that dreams like this are pretty common. I know that I have them every once in a while, but yours sounds a little more technical ("removing the firing pin") than mine. Maybe you'll end up being a gunsmith!

 

[Declaration Day]

I don't know how often I dream about gun related situations, because I rarely remember my dreams.

But the gun dreams I do remember usually involve my guns either being lost or stolen. I then proceed to go off on some adventure, looking for them in the most off the wall places........sometimes Canada....??????

 

[HiWayMan]

I have these dreams from time to time. I switched to carrying revolvers only based upon a series of dreams. Crazy, perhaps, but I still can't shake those helpless feelings I had in my dreams when my Hi-Power jammed (odd because in real life she'll eat anything). I hear about a lot of these types of dreams from guys at the range. I think maybe it has something to do with how tuned our minds are to weapons and tactics. Or we are all bata$$ crazy.

 

[HighVelocity]

I've had one dream similar. Wake up in the dead of night to barking dog and alarm siren, roll out of bed and grab pistol just as badguy enters the room, yell at badguy and start squeezing trigger and NOTHING happens, Cycle slide and squeeze trigger, nothing, wake up yelling and sweating. :banghead:

What ever happened to dreams of going to work in my underwear?

 

[Shorts]

Glad to hear I'm not the only "defensively ready" person here

What ever happened to dreams of going to work in my underwear?

Maybe you'll start having dreams of going to the range in your underwear

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Many years ago, in a galaxy far away (wait, wrong story line) I used to do counseling, and when people would come in with wierd dreams I relied heavily on Carl Jung's work to help them through it.

First point is that all dreams that are intense enough to either frighten you or for you to remember with any clarity for more than 5 minutes after you wake up have a message for you. Usually the message is on a number of different levels ... a superficial level, a deeper level or three, and a very deep, subconscious level. Dreams (themes) that pop up once are often just a way of working out something you were worried about during the day and didn't get closure on. Perhaps you've been reading stories about carjackings and wondering if you are prepared to deal with one if it should happen to you.

When you REALLY want to start paying attention is if you have the same dream (or dreams sharing the same theme) three times in close succession.

From what you have related about that dream, I feel that I can get two messages out of it: (1) You carry, but you're not paying sufficient attention to keeping track of your weapon(s); (2) your subconscious doesn't feel that you are fully prepared to react if you are attacked.

I could be way off base on all of that, but perhaps it'll help.

 

[cuchulainn]

I have an negligent discharge dream at least once a year.

Wow, that sounds like I'm saying something different

 

[Rexrider]

Whenever I have dreams about guns, it's never good. My aim will be terrible, the bullets have about the same stopping power as cotton balls, the gun will jam in a manner rendering it unfixably useless... stuff like that. I don't think it's connected to anything in real life, AFAIK, because the "worst" gun I have is a Marlin 60 in perfect working order.

lol...
Yeah have had a few of those. It always involved the Colt Mustang I used to have.

I think that kind of dream is the equivalent of running has fast as you can but not going anywhere.

 

[SLCDave]

I have dreams occasionally where I'll draw and try to fire, but either nothing happens, or the bullets are all squibs, and pretty much fall out of the barrel. In the dream, I will either WISH I had my .357, or ask my wife to quickly get my revolver while I cover the bad guy with my non-functioning gun.

 

[sturmruger]

Shorts I unfortunetly have dreams like that all the time. For the last 5 years I keep having dreams where I can't do anything right when it comes to protecting my family. The bad guys are always trying to kidnap or kill my loved ones. Since I always have a gun on me in my dreams I pull it out and try to stop the threat.

This is the point in my dreams where things always start to go wrong. Something always happens to my gun, it will either jam, not fire, fall apart, have no ammo, or be highly inaccurate!! :banghead: I get so worked up from these dreams that I have to get up and go watch TV. I have tried everything I can think of to get the dreams to stop. Lately I wake up and go in the basement to practice dry firing, that always makes me feel better. Every once in a great while my gun will work flawlessly and I can end any threats in my dream.

 

[VietVet 67-68]

Shorts

I have dreams like this to. In mine it is always the same. Bad guys comming toward me with guns out. I have my weapons but can never find the right cartridge to load it with, and my guns are always loaded. Just as they are about to shoot in comes my 23 lb Main Coon Cat unzipps his fur coat in the front, pulls out a Thompsn 45 ACP and cuts down all the bad guys. Happens every time. I know I love this cat, but this is getting silly!! Ive had this same dream at least 6 times. Who Knows!!


Keith

 

[Thrash1982]

Whenever I dream about guns I'm always in a situation where I need to use it for defence. But for some reason the bullets always have an arching trajectory and no stopping power so I have to aim up on my target just so the bullets get there. Also it seems that my finger has barely enough strength to pull the trigger. I usually have to do a little dry fire practice to convince myself that I can still do it.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

The only gun nightmare I had recently, was I received my Glock slide back from being refinished and it had foam stickers on it in the color I wanted, pasted on the sides and top of the slide. My have been reading too much of that thread...

 

[Andrew Rothman]

I'll take a stab at interpreting this dream. The key, I think, is to step back and look at not the details, but the theme of the dream.

In this case, I think your dream themes are: 1) a loss of control, 2) frustration and powerlessness and 3) a feeling of being overwhelmed.

Are you, by any chance, actually planning a wedding? I've been there, and it can lead to all three feelings above!

There's a fun show called "The Dream Doctor" on the radio in my town. Here are some dreams he has interpreted that are somewhat similar to yours. See if anything there resonates.

http://www.dreamdoctor.com/common/chased1.shtml
http://www.dreamdoctor.com/common/attack1.shtml
http://www.dreamdoctor.com/radio/DE69.mp3

 

[Shorts]

Are you, by any chance, actually planning a wedding? I've been there, and it can lead to all three feelings above!

LOL lord no, not planning a wedding. We just got married this past June. Funny thing is, even then, planning the wedding I never had wedding nightmares

I think the guns thing is that I've been so delved into shooting and guns and all that good jive for the last several weeks that its short on my mind. Heck, I was even having dreams about specific guns

I use to go to a website that broke down dreams and the meaning of objects and animals in them. I should do find it again lol

 

[Bigdog57]

I periodically have similar dreams. The most common is the "pull the trigger and it won't shoot" - the trigger doesn't move!

One I used to have often was, since I collect old milsurps, I have this cigar box of old pistol parts. Somebody is breaking into the house, and I am frantically trying to build a working pistol of disparate parts. "Dang, the CZ27 frame won't take a P-38 slide!" I finally get the stupid thing built, just as the goblin is coming in the door. Now, I pick up another box trying to find the right ammo for this pistol - out of about twenty different calibers! :banghead:

I also have a recurring dream about having some really neat old unique semi-auto rifles. When I wake up, I really wish I could find them! Arrgghh!

 

[SLCDave]

I remember another one I had about a month ago.

I was in an old gunshop, and was trying to arm myself because something was outside. The only problem is, even though there were over 100 rifles, none of the ammo was for any of the rifles in stock.

 

[cidirkona]

I've had dreams similar with firearms involved... I can't remember the beginning of the dream anymore... but I had to draw and fire in my dream... I did everything I could not to have to... but once I knew it was my only hope, I pulled the trigger. I saw the hammer fly forward and I woke up sweating and terrified. No bang, no flash, nothing. I couldn't go back to sleep until the next night...

PS Nicotine patches will make you remember you dreams... take 'em off before you go to bed... and don't ever start smoking...

-Colin

 

[SMLE]

I've had similar dreams. Usually in my dreams the gun won't fire, or if it does, the bullets have no effect. But I can often "cognitivly dream" where I am aware that it is just a dream and can often manipulate the action. My favorite trick if I'm having the "usless gun" dream is to turn into a werewolf and just bite the heads off the bad guys or rip them apart with my claws.

 

[pax]

The reason it's so hard to get a gun to fire in your dreams is because your brain is expecting to hear a loud noise when you pull the trigger. The loud noise doesn't materialize, so your brain then goes and finds some within-the-dream explanation for the missing sound. (No firing pin, the gun is broken, the gun is empty, etc etc)

If you kinda-sorta know you're dreaming, your brain knows the sound won't be there, but it still looks for a within-the-dream explanation of why it won't be there (the gun is missing! I can't find it! etc)

It's basically the same reason you can dream you got up to pee five or six times before you do get up to pee -- your brain expects your bladder to empty when it dreams you emptied your bladder. When the expected result doesn't happen, your brain has to improvise. It either gives you a really long dream that you are tinkling and can't quite empty your bladder, or you simply dream that you got up to pee again and again and again until you finally wake up enough to actually take care of it.

Basically, if you dream something that requires an external input in order to be convincing, your brain's dream factory has to work overtime filling in the missing details.

Hawkmoon's post is a good one. I'd piggyback on what he said: it sounds like your subconscious is telling you to get some training.

pax

 

[Travis McGee]

Very common dream! In my case, the trigger won't move, the hammer is too big to fall forward, the barrel is bent...you name it. It won't shoot!