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German Geco ammunition

6K views 33 replies 29 participants last post by  Bottom Gun 
#1 ·
Got a email from SGAmmo.com. They have a 5000 round case of .22LR 40 grain lead ammo, optimized for bolt actions, on sale for $209.50 plus shipping.

Anyone familiar with Geco ammunition. They have an American geared WEB site
that lists a wide range of shooting related products.
 
#5 ·
It's becoming my fave. Couldn't tell you about group sizes. I'm more of a plinker. It's greasy and discolors your fingers. BUT the greasy residue seems to stay soft in my suppressor, making it easier to clean. I'm still experimenting on extending the cleaning interval.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Been using it a lot the last couple of years. My Russian guns especially the Izhmashes love it out thru 350 yards. Most of my other target guns shoot it very well and only a couple don't like it.

Nearly all the mid-range stuff we shoot shoots well at our long-range matches. Shooting at 197 yards it might shoot a tad tighter for the majority of rounds but that sneaky one or two really dropped rounds will show up that may drop in under the target which you hope it isn't one of the smaller or even worse one of the sighters shots I allow in the match.

The Geco Rifle might be a slightly larger grouping but I haven't had near the amount of dropped rounds which overall gives a better grouping. So, what do we go with? Very slightly smaller groups but the better chance for a round totally missing the target or the ammo that shoots slightly bigger but more consistent?

The Geco Rifle is easily good enough for PRS/NRL matches, shootingn positions and Mother Nature will be a bigger factor than ammo. ELR and BR is another ball game where the Geco might not be a good first choice but you never know about these crazy rimfires.

One thing we have noticed in my Son's suppressed Izhmash Biathalon is the occasional crack. The ammo must be barely subsonic and an occasional round breaks thru and let's us know. It will hit very slightly higher but still within the limits we need for my long-range matches.

I'm very impressed with it and got a few cases last order and going to get more this spring before they get smart and Jack up the prices. I pretty much use it at most of the long-range matches I attend mostly just to show you can be competitive without spending big bucks. I'm sure the top dollar stuff in top dollar guns group better but in long-range it's more about being one with Mother Nature and getting hits as she messed with you.

Topstrap
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the info.
Wasn't sure if any of the group was familiar with the ammunition, so I thought I might bring some attention to the offering. For myself, I don't need 5000 rounds.
I just bought some centerfire cartridges from them and am satisfied with their service.
 
#10 ·
My CZ 512 REALLY likes the Geco Semi-Auto ammo, but I've been told it's discontinued. I've shot many, many consistent groups under a 1/2" with at at 50 yards, which is all I want, need, or expect out of a lightweight carbine. I'm down to about 100 rounds, which makes me sad.
 
#11 ·
I bought a case after reading some glowing reports here. My GECO "bolt" is reliable, decently accurate. The lubricant is vaguely reminiscent of Eley, ie., kinda messy.

But my lot demonstrates an ES of more than 100 fps (from two 64 sporters). This really surprised me. To be fair, it shoots tighter than any HS domestic stuff I have - including Blazer.

But accuracy is not as good as CCI-SV. At 50 yds my sporters usually print 5 GECO between 5/8" and 7/8". SV goes into 3/8" to 3/4" for 5.

At 100 yds CCI SV will occasionally put 5 into 1". Best group so far with GECO bolt was about 1 3/8".

GECO Bolt is usually priced around 4 cents vs 5 cents for CCI-SV. Not inclined to buy more GECO, partly because SV ammo does not reliably cycle semiauto rifles and pistols. And as for bolt guns, would rather pay 5 cents for CCI SV.
 
#12 · (Edited)
We have good luck with the Geco semi auto, at least to 50 yards. It is slimy on the fingers, loading into magazines. Reliable with our autoloaders. Kinda stinky and smoky (probably from all the grease). I have three different lots, one of them is only about 1070 fps, but the others are in the 1150 range. Like all inexpensive rimfire ammo...if you find a good lot, buy a bunch!
 
#13 ·
Was that the stuff that was $150/case about 7 months ago? I bartered for a box of it and found it to be incredibly "slow" out of my CZ 455:


Stats - Average 1005.97 fps
Stats - Highest 1063.97 fps
Stats - Lowest 943.43 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 120.54 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 24.47 fps


Poor SD, but wasn't what I was looking for in terms of practice ammo for my matches. Accuracy was decent, but POI was "down and to the right" in my rifle.

The performance/price would have probably been OK @ $150/case, but not what I'm looking for. YMMV.
 
#18 · (Edited)
As a Britisher and being closer to Germany i can honestly say that Geco isnt what it used to be.

RWS hit the panic button a few years back when they realised it! Geco was outselling all of the other offerings they where making virtually no money on Geco
As a result they dropped to quality control and removed the greasy-ness which was a fact of life with good ammo, I can honestly say I never once had a misfire or stovepipe jam with it in 3 years. My Volquarsten barreled 10/22 was a very good friend with that ammo! it was very, very well made! too well made in fact for £2 a box!

Then something happened with Geco I was at a comp in Southern England and had nothing but failures to fire and stovepiping due to squib loads.

Our friend is the main importer for RWS ammo in the UK, told me, That RWS recalled all the Geco as it was misfiring and we even had a round stick in the barrel of a fellow competitiors Ruger 10/22 Luckily our Range officer was on the ball and spotted this so no detonation/ruptured barrel event occurred

The importer told us he was embarrassed to sell this stuff any more and upgraded our purchases to RWS Match rifle, which worked flawlessly but had poor accuracy..in my gun anyways.

No one in the Gallery rifle competition community ever went back to Geco rather we use RWS Club which is basicly Geco but £4 a box! And even Club is now going bad as a had a few failures to fire in a new box of 500 Club!

I wish I had a decent camera as I could show you the old vs new Geco and you can visibly see the difference in the quality of the bullet heads.

All I'm saying is beware you can get some really bad batches of Geco and that last batch could have been Remington bulk judging by the dry lube and poorly extruded heads.But at least bulk goes bang rather than phut!

yes they'll work in a bolt gun but you may get a lot of vertical stringing due to inconsistent loads

I would personally avoid it!
 
#20 · (Edited)
Shot today with GECO Rifle (bolt) vs. CCI-SV (new design) in my inexpensive bolt (but good glass.) Close call... but I give the cigar to GECO Rifle with these comments.

CCI-SV did have a bit tighter center group out of my 10 shots for each round of testing. But there was always one or two shots that were clearly not in the main hole where the other 8 or 9 had landed. Not far but yes, a consistency issue.

GECO/Rifle usually had a near continuous single group. I like the look of that better. The winner in my book.

What would I choose for my next purchase? I would pick CCI-SV for two non-accuracy reasons.
1) I'm a plinker. I do not bench shoot much (occasional ammo comparisons, messing with a different scope, or adjusting for distance), prefer off-hand target shooting which is far worse then the difference between how these two ammo's perform.
2) GECO Rifle is waxy (whatever.) Fingers get gummy fast, then the firearm when handled and then maybe the mags/chamber too. Ick.

YMMV.
 
#23 ·
SG Ammo sends emails every week about specials, and all the Geco ammo, both centerfire and rimfire, is being discounted.
Seems all Geco ammo is going to be rebranded next year as Norma ammo, so all remaining stock of Geco is being sold at discounted prices.
Good case prices on the bolt action, semi auto and Match Grade .22's.
 
#28 ·
At a recent match, I put 5 out of 5 shots on a standard playing card at 125 yards shooting Geco Match through my CZ 455
My Winchester 52 Pre A slow lock shoots this very well at 25 yards. On the Black Death Challenge on one card I was able to shoot all 5 targets keeping all shots fired out of the black for a perfect score without a flyer. At 25 yards this is my go to ammo. At 50 yards not so much.
at a recent match I put 5 of 5 shots on a standard playing card at 125 yards shooting Geco Match through my CZ 455
 
#26 ·
If you have several to many 22's to try the Geco ammo you are sure to find some of your rifles that will shoot it and do very well with it. I have several different lot numbers of Geco bolt rifle I bought in the case lots and when I find which rifles likes a certain lot I put a sticker on the butt plate or the scope turret with the lot number that particular rifle shoots the best. Some lots of my CCI standard will shoot as well in some of my rifles but I think the Geco would be ahead of the CCI in accuracy overall. I get better prices on the Geco than the CCI standard. The new CCI with the orange band that says target is one I will no longer buy.
 
#30 ·
GECO Semi-Auto shipped by mistake

I generally like to shoot standard velocity ammunition in my rifles, so I ordered a case from Target Sports USA of GECO Bolt-Action since it is rated at 1083 fps. I ended up getting a case of GECO Semi-Auto instead which is rated 65 fps higher at 1148 fps.

I am not a precision shooter, I just like the lower report in my bolt and lever-action rifles. It's probably not worth sending back, also it is priced $3 more per brick.

Has anyone tried both and noticed a performance difference between the two?
 
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