When I began reloading card & fiber or felt was about all there was. If you are going for real fast production it's not quite as fast as popping in a one-piece plastic wad. Most of the really bad leading comes about from an overbore or long cone, either of which allows blowby which melts some lead. With a standard bore & cone, I never had any problem with leading that a bore brush wouldn't take care of. I did at that time use the "Ring-Waxed" fiber filler wads which also help resist leading.
Plastic hulls & plastic wads both began to hit the US market in the 1960s. In the beginning, there were several plastic obturating cup wads which were still used with filler wads. WW even brought out a line of shells which used a cardboard cupped wad in conjunction with a plain wrapper for the shot.
By the 1970s the one-piece plastic wads had pretty well taken over the field, due mainly to their ease in loading. What many did not realize then & still don't is they did not truly increase the choke effect. For the most part, a given choke would show a slightly higher pattern percentage, but this was primarily from bringing in the deformed & useless shot from the fringes, not an actual reduction of the "Killing Circle" of the original pattern.
