Yesterday at a big antique festival I discovered several bags of white discs that appeared to be shotgun cards. A quick inquiry produced a ruler, and I figured out there were 2 sizes. The smaller were .735 and the larger were .775. I guess there were about 100 in a bag. I told the vendor I would take 5 bags of the 12-gauge. She said, "the what"? "These 12-gauge cards", I replied. She asked to see them and put her hand out. She said, "Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about, but these are communion wafers"! She explained that they are made of rice with a soybean/starch coating to keep dry yet flexible. They are accompanied with wine when Churches provide Communion. Well, they sure look like shotgun cards to me and are certainly the right size for 12 gauge and 10 gauge! 500 for $3.00 I bought them anyway. Today I loaded powder, three cards, shot and another card. Patterns beautifully! The few I recovered looked discolored on one side and some had chipped edges, but they otherwise held up. An after-thought was that these are biodegradable! They'll either dissolve with the first moisture, or birds and small mammals will eat them! I've heard of the "Holy Black" moniker for powder. Now I have the Holy Black with holy shot cards too. Man, I wonder if I should clean this shotgun with holy water. Life is good!
.
