Ever dream your gun malfunctions?

[Irving]

Ever had a dream that your gun malfunctions? I think EVERY dream I've ever had that had my gun in it, it would not fire. I get click, tap-rack-click, tap-rack-click, tap-rack-click, mag change, click, tap-rack-click, tap-rack-click, tap-rack-click, etc. Every time it is the same thing, with variations of who I am defending myself against, or how much my gun is physically coming apart as I try to get it to fire.

It is very frustrating and stressful in the dreams, and it always feels the same. Once or twice the has fired; but those times I end up shooting the equivalent of low velocity pellets, and it just makes the target either angry or laugh.

Anyone else have those?

[Teufelhund]

Oh man, I just had one of these a couple nights ago. I've never had a good dream that I remember, they are always nightmares of being pursued in some form, but this was the first one where my weapon malfunctioned. Being hotly pursued, as usual, I went for the .45 that I know is always condition 1, aimed, squeezed, and "click." Alarm went off a second later.

I disassembled, cleaned, and function-checked every weapon in the house the next day.

[airborneranger]

I haven't but the author of On Killing had a psychological explanation for that. His theory was for combat Soldiers and he explained that if you had those types of dreams that you would have a problem pulling the trigger in combat. He suggested playing paintball or other similar games that gets you used to actually shooting a person.

I usually take those explanations with a grain of salt.

[Flatline]

Dreams are considered to be reflections of the subconscious by most psychologists. That doesn't mean it's the only thing going on or that it means anything necessarily.

If you are having repeated nightmares about anything it is not a bad a idea to do a bit of self reflection.

Why are you having dreams where you have to defend yourself?
What do you think precipitates FTFs (or other gun malfunctions)? (bad ammo, a bad gun, not maintaining your weapon, ect)
Why do you not stop the bad guy when you do fire at him? (bad aim, bad ammo, concerns about caliber)

None of this is to say that any of this is the cause, of if there is any specific cause. But I can say that it does bother you enough to mention it to other people (and seek confirmation that other people do/do not have the same problem) so it may be something you want to figure out.

I haven't but the author of On Killing had a psychological explanation for that. His theory was for combat Soldiers and he explained that if you had those types of dreams that you would have a problem pulling the trigger in combat. He suggested playing paintball or other similar games that gets you used to actually shooting a person.

I usually take those explanations with a grain of salt.

Keep in mind that On Killing is written more statistically and meant to reflect the military and police structure and that Dave Grossman taught undergraduate psychology at west point. His opinion probably don't translate well to civilian self defense.

[kidicarus13]

I haven't but the author of On Killing had a psychological explanation for that. His theory was for combat Soldiers and he explained that if you had those types of dreams that you would have a problem pulling the trigger in combat. He suggested playing paintball or other similar games that gets you used to actually shooting a person.

I usually take those explanations with a grain of salt.

In Dave Grossman's book, "On Combat", he says these dreams are the result of performance anxiety and can be combated by practice and preparation.

[airborneranger]

In Dave Grossman's book, "On Combat", he says these dreams are the result of performance anxiety and can be combated by practice and preparation.

I haven't read that one yet. Playing paintball was example that he used as a way of being better prepared.

Grossman was also an advocate of children being desensitized to killing via video games. He advocated that our youth were becoming more violent because of the violence in video games. More specifically, he went on to say that it was teaching kids to kill. I think there is certainly some truth to that but he took it a bit far.

Did you see his interview on the Today Show from years ago? He wrote crib notes on his hand and was constantly looking down at them.

[StagLefty]

The voices are worse

[sniper7]

You must be dreaming you own a glock irving!

I don't really dream and have never had anything like that.

Have you ever killed anything? Like at least a small game animal? If not go shoot a rabbit or two, clean it and eat it and see if your dreams change.

[CareyH]

I have had almost all of these dreams. I thought i was the only one. The one i hate the most is when your gun works and you make your hits, but it has no effect.

[Irving]

I figure it was just a transfer of a regular anxiety dream where my pants are down, to a situation where my gun doesn't fire.

I honestly do wonder if I'd be able to pull the trigger though.