Do some Gems have leather piston seals?

[45flint]

I was surprised to find that my Gem and ones on Utube had no leather piston seals but relied on oil to seal the metal piston. Just wonder if some Gems maybe higher end, used leather piston seals?

[DCL_dave]

Yes, some later post WW1 guns like the FLZ composite type Gem patterns were fitted with a leather cup seals, but I have also seen other types of seal used including stacked flat leather washers and even jute string wrapped around a boss on the piston face.

Interestingly, JM Gem patterns of post WW1 were still using machine fit hard steel pistons…I once had a completely original JM no2 Demi Tir that would hold a consistent 4fps variation over the clubs chrono, it was the one of the most consistent guns at the club.