doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Geco 16ga

I recently picked up a 16ga Geco / Gustav Genchow. From what I have read, Gustav Genschow was a wholesaler in Germany who had guns made for the German market by various makers. I also read that he purchased a Spanish maker and manufactured his own rifles at one point. He also had an ammunition business which is still operating today.

This gun is a 16ga, weighs approximately 6 1/2 pounds, LOP is 14 1/2", barrels are 28" and it has 2 3/4"/70mm chambers.

From what I can tell from the marks, it was made in Belgium in 1929 and the inspectors mark is a N (Louis Couchant). I am not sure; 1) if the 16.7 is the bore diameter or choke 2)each barrel has a G with a star on top 3) there is a W stamped on one barrel 4) there is a C, O & R stamped on the barrel by the forearm latch 5) VIII is stamped on the receiver and barrels.

Any additional information or comments would be appreciated.

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My GECO is very similar, but has a POW grip
65mm chambers

When there is only one size marking then it is the bore. The word choke tells you it had some amount of choke but does not say how much. If you had two marks such as 16.7 & 16.0 then you would know it had .7mm of choke when proofed. 16.7 incidentally converts to .6575" or about .0045" under nominal. Under older "British" proof this would have been marked as a 17/1.
I do not know why but early L C Smith 16 gauges guns were bored to .650" so this slight undersize will present no problems. In spite of what you may read or hear otherwise it will not cause it to "Kick" harder.

Do they all have the cross-bolt through the stock cheeks, or is this a repair? It seems that area is not shown on the pic of skeetx's Geco.

The strange looking "y" on the barrel flats (watertable) is the date code when the gun was Belgian proofed. It looks like 1946 to me. If you consider that Germany was in a bad shape in 1946, the gun may have been sent to Belgium for proof.
Joe

The date code is a "h" (not a y) and makes the year of manufacture 1929.

The cross-bolt appears to be original and not a repair. (similar to a Bayard / Pieper which was my first thought as to who the maker was)

No cross-bolt on mine
Please see here on the h yes, 1929
http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html

Barrel lug on mine

I have the stock off to refinish and the cross-bolt is original and not a repair. I was hoping someone would be able to help identify the maker.

Memory shaky and wouldn't apply directly to these pre-war guns but I met a Canadian firearms importer in Moscow in 1956 who I think had a distribution business in Toronto called Geco or GECO. He was bringing in low-end Baikal shotguns.

As others have noted side-by-sides marked GECO were made over the years by a number of makers from various countries. A friend of mine has a pre-war 16 marked "S" over "S", a Sauer and Sons of that period retailed by GECO. He got this VERY nice solid shooter for about $400.