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Chew the rag

Posted by Jason McKelvey on November 24, 2007

I heard when I was young that "chew the rag" came from black-powder rifle days when men sat around talking as they chewed the rags used for wadding a ball into the rifle. The material needed to be softened and lubricated to make starting the ball easier. I've actually done this way back when I used to shoot cap locks. Anyone else heard of this?

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