etymology -- "bust a cap"

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Kaylee

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I've only ever heard this phrase in the modern "gangster" movie setting, but it would seem from the structure to have originated in the percussion lock era.. perhaps as late as cap-and-ball revolvers. I mean, how many gangbangers get into the details of projectile, case, powder, primer, etc...

Anyone have more details on the origin/history of the phrase?
 
Though "cap" does have a legitimate firearms usage as a "percussion cap", I doubt any of the gangsta wannabes have any idea of that history; they probably came up with it while thinking of "cap guns".
 
AFAIK, it was military slang long before it was gangsta argot. "Busting caps" or "popping caps" dates back to at least the Vietnam era...
 
I can't remember where or when I heard this, but there was a gangster (as opposed to gansta) movie where the boss tells one of his henchmen to "cap him". The gangster then shoots the victim in the kneecap (ouch!). I wonder if that has anything to do with the current usage, but we are so attuned to firearms, we try to put an ammo slant to it with primers/caps. The kneecap angle makes a little more sense when used with the word "bust" as in "bust a cap" since the "cap" in that case is, indeed, busted, but a primer is never busted.
 
Hrmm -- do we have any evidence of it being in military usage prior to VietNam then? It does sound like a perfect description of a percussion cap splitting somewhat as it's set off on the nipple by a hammer.

Could it have originated in the 1850's-1860's era military, and been passed down there long after the advent of cartridge firearms, then passed into civilian use from Vets?

-K
 
I remember reading an interview with Frank Hamer that was done shortly after he had run Bonnie & Clyde to earth. He said that he "hated to bust a cap on a woman", IIRC. That was from 1934.
 
My understanding is the term originated in the Viet Nam era.

I always assumed that since most Viet Nam soldiers grew up shooting cap guns so thats where the slang term came from ... then some kids in the hood picked it up from '70s era gang bangers (their older brothers, uncles and fathers) who served in the military douring Viet Nam.
 
It certainly dates back to the Civil War -- I recall seeing it in print in such books as "Gone for a Soldier" -- a memoir originally handwritten and only discovered and printed more than a century later.

Many gun-related terms are in common use, by people who have no idea what they really mean, for example --

"Lock, stock and barrel" -- meaning not the stock of a store, but the three parts of a gun.

"Going off half-cocked" -- meaning not "doing something without thought or preparation," but "doing something dangerous when thought safe."

"Sure as shootin'" -- meaning, "You'll never have to deal with HIM again.":D
 
hey -- another possibility.. wasn't VietNam fought largely by guys who grew up on Westerns in the 50's era? Could the term have been picked up from holdover frontier slang in the 30's, as bobs1066 suggessted with the B&C quote, inserted into a Western in the 50's, then popularized in VN, etc...?

-K


bobs -- a reference to Hastings?
 
I know for certain that the phrase was used in Korea. GI's on the MLR or returning from patrols spoke of "bustin' caps," or "popping primers."
 
I first remember the term being used by my dad and his brothers when I was first invited along on their shooting practice at age five. That was 65 years ago, and they said it began with percussion fired weapons - "bust a cap" moving up to replace "make sparks". Some shooting terms might be traced, as colloquial lingo, to a certain locale, but this one apparently grew so fast that its origin will never be known. Growing up, from elementary through high school, we lived in AZ, TX, NM, CA and OK. It was a common term around guns all that time, and AT LEAST over that area. That's just from old family lore, so don't get fouled and bust a cap on me over it :rolleyes:
 
I know this is an old post but I just watched the original True Grit (watching the new one later today) and heard the phrase "busted a cap" It just so happened that earlier I was playing around with Google labs and found a search engine that looks for phrases used in books dating back to 1800's or earlier.

Anyway, It says it was first used at around 1840 or 1880 depending on the "smoothing"

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?...start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?...tart=1800&year_end=2011&corpus=0&smoothing=50

thanks for your time.

-Chad
 
Was watching True Grit yesterday night and they said it!My 2 boys 17 and 15 were watching it with me.I said do you know who that big guy is in the movie? (refrencing the Duke) They said no, then my older says Client Eastwood?I think a tear fell out of my eye!
 
Primers are often referred to as caps (in fact many early "cap guns" used primers).

Looking at these types of caps, they look a lot like primers.

Robert Johnson made several references to "caps" in his songs recorded in the 30s (many of which were delta blues standards from just after the turn of the century).

Note this verse from ".32-20 Blues"
She got a .38 special but I believe it's most too light
She got a .38 special but I believe it's most too light
I got a 32-20, got to make the caps alright
 
I was reading "True Grit" yesterday, and noted the phrase- original copyright there was in 1968, however the usage of it made me think "percussion cap."
 
I was reading "True Grit" yesterday, and noted the phrase- original copyright there was in 1968, however the usage of it made me think "percussion cap."
Click to expand...
That's exactly the origin of the phrase -- "bust a percussion cap."

If you shoot muzzle loaders, you note the cap fits tightly on the nipple. It's designed to "bust" or split on firing, so you can get it off quickly when reloading.
 
True Grit

funny you should bring this topic up. Just this weekend I watched the original True Grit (with the Duke) and noticed at one point the Bad Guy played by Robert Duval used the phrase "bust a cap"
 
Bust a Cap - and some other sayings

I thought this was interesting, so I figured I would do my first post. I've been lurking here for the past year.
There are a lot of words/phrases used by "gangstas" today that can be traced back to at least the old west - probably even farther than that.
"Mac Daddy" was a pimp back in the 1870's - today "gangstas" use it as a compliment. A "crib" was a prostitute’s room, today it's a general term for someone's living quarters. "Bust a cap" goes back to the 1830's. I read a book entitled "The Prairie Traveler" which was written about that time - and the term was used in it (if I recall correctly)
 
Wow, how many of us watched the Duke marathon on AMC this past weekend? I am not alone in that I also watched the original True Grit the other day. The wife looked at me and said "wow, he (refering to John Wayne) can't act." I was also surprised to see Dennis Hopper was in the film, I hadn't realized that before. He played "Moon" the guy who was stabbed in the guts, for those who didn't know.
 
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