More GECO - Czech DUO .25 pistol

-Once I start down a rabbit hole I won't stop 'til I hit bottom. Lately I've been keeping an eye out for anything GECO marked. This time around I was bidding on a Steyr 1911 and got shellacked, yet again. But the auction had just started so I decided to see if I missed anything interesting in the upcoming lots. As it turned out I did! Have been looking for a nice Czech Duo pocket pistol for a while but always had something else shiny distract me. I always figured "they built 110k of these so they're not difficult to find". So up comes a slightly worn DUO which normally would have me passing as they can easily be found in excellent condition. But this one had me stop for various reasons...

1.) 1940 date. In fact it had a SN in the mid 6k range, very early example. The 2 digit date "40" was stamped to the right of the Czech L/N proof mark. Every example I've seen has the date below this mark.
2.) Unique grips. Every DUO I've ever seen has what I'd call a square basket weave pattern and a centered round surround for the "DUO" text. This example had checkered grips with an oval surround and the DUO text forward slanted. Totally different.
3.) A single line of stamped text on the slide. All others I've seen have a 2 line slide.
4.) GECO mark. I knew that GECO imported and sold DUOs so when I saw this I was totally hooked. Very uncommon.
5.) Both Czech Lion N and German Eagle N proofs. Again, very rare to have both. Managed to find just one 1942 dated example posted on Jan Stills site back in 2007.
6.) Unique SN location on left side of frame, no SN on the right side of the slide as found on later dated examples. What looks like a property number on the left side, near the L/N proof.

-So after doing a deep dive into what was available on the 'net I realize this is a rare gem. Slide has holster wear but the frame is immaculate. A deep, high polish blue, just like early Colts. I'm all in and put in a firm proxy bid.
-Lucky for me nobody else bidding against me had a clue and I got it for a Mawkie price. Postman dropped it off today and now the search for a proper holster starts (surprisingly there are Czech made repop holsters available for the Duo but I'll hold out for genuine).
-Bought a copy of James Browns reference book: Cold War Pistols of Czechoslavakia. Should arrive next week.

-Did a quick field strip and got a better photo of barrel proofs. Found that the last 3 digits of the SN were marked inside of the slide.
-Actually found a video up on Youtube with another early example like mine! In much rougher condition and no GECO import mark. But at least I can see another early example. SN is 2k higher than mine and the slide now has the familiar 2 line text. So the single line stamp went away at some point between my the mid 6k - 8k range. Also has a property number like mine.

Great find!! I’ve always liked these little pistols too and yours is the first early one I’ve ever seen with that grip style and single line address. Add to that being GECO marked and you really do have a gem. Nicely done!!

Nicely done. I have one of these little guys and it shoots surprisingly well.

Nice find. That lever on the back right, That's not a safety but a lever to hold the slide back only?

Nice pick up! I have one myself and I just love those little 25 caliber pistols. They are good shooters! Mine was a WWII bring back by General then Colonel Albin Irzyk. This was likely presented to the General when he was in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war.

Neat. I’ve got a Belgian made, GECO marked double barrel 12 Gauge shotgun I picked out of a batch of stuff imported from Switzerland.

Melnic said:

Nice find. That lever on the back right, That's not a safety but a lever to hold the slide back only?

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Yup. It's a take-down lever that holds the slide back for field stripping.

That's pretty neat, especially with the E/N proofs, then add the Geco... let alone being a real early example.

And so of course I couldn't rest until I found a proper holster for the Duo. While searching for a Czech holster I ran across a period German .25 auto sized example that was a gem. Fits the Duo perfectly.

Until three minutes ago I'd never heard of this gun. Now I've seen a very nice example. Thanks Mawkie.

joppaj said:

Until three minutes ago I'd never heard of this gun. Now I've seen a very nice example. Thanks Mawkie.

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Brown's book arrived and I was able to glean a bit more info...
-The number next to the proof mark and date is called the Proof Sequence Number. At the beginning of the year, in my case 1940, the first DUO proofed got a proof sequence number of 0001. So mine was the 1846th example to be proofed in 1940 out of approx 5,000 built that year.
-In 1941 the serial number location was changed to the right side of the slide, between SNs 23356 and 26900. At this time enough changes had been made to markings to designate as the Fourth Marking Variation. Mine, with the SN on the left and a single line of slide markings is denoted as a First Marking Variation. At some time in 1940, after mine was built, the second line of slide text was added. This marks the start of the Second Marking Variation. In all there were 13 marking variations over the roughly 40 year production run of the DUO/Z.