Shooting is not really a team sport like football, for example: everyone competes for themselves and, if necessary, for the country they represent. Of course, the individual results of three or four shooters can be combined to form a team score, which is no different for shooters in the Olympic events. The dozen action shooters from no less than five EU countries that we want to present here are motivated by another common factor: they want to be able to rely 100 per cent on their equipment in the competition.
To this end, they equip themselves with the best sporting firearms, customised with the help of custom gunsmiths, which have hardly anything in common with their standard "factory" relatives. And they make sure that their match ammunition always delivers the same precision and reliability – they rely on cartridges from GECO for their pistols and revolvers, their semi-automatic rifles and their shotguns.
GECO not only has more than 130 years of experience in the manufacture of ammunition (see company portrait), but also often acts as the official ammunition supplier and sponsor for major IPSC events, including European and World Championships. For many years, the company has supported the best IPSC shooters from various European countries, including the GECO IPSC team presented here. Last year, GECO was the main sponsor of the "IPSC Rifle World Shoot" in Finland and has also been the namesake of the renowned IPSC Level III competition "GECO Masters" in Germany for years, which all4shooters.com regularly reports on. This news has just arrived: GECO will be the match ammunition supplier and area sponsor for the IPSC PCC/ Mini Rifle World Shoot in the Czech Republic in 2025. Reliable products such as the successful GECO 9mm Luger Special Selection and the .22 LR GECO Semi Auto cartridges are sure to contribute to many a success there too.
Not only is the manufacturer present on site at such competitions, but the team shooters from all over Europe often meet there, exchange ideas and provide the GECO service staff with valuable feedback on the performance of the ammunition, which is gladly accepted due to the great experience of these top shooters and may be incorporated into future production.
New sport shooters from all over Europe in the GECO IPSC team
France is now strongly represented in the GECO team with four athletes, including police officer Cyrielle Vivo, who trains with the French national team under the world's best IPSC shooter Eric Grauffel. Patrick Baculard is also a trainer, but also shoots actively, preferably with his Beretta 92X Performance (test report here). His compatriot Emile Obriot also relies on the Italian pistol. For training, Emile loads his cartridges with GECO 124-grain FMJ bullets, RS12 powder and GECO primers. In competition, he relies on GECO 9mm 124-grain FMJ ammunition and appreciates its even recoil. Finally, Julien Boit completes the quartet from France. Julien was born in 1977 and started shooting under the wing of his father and uncle. After starting traditionally (like many GECO team colleagues) with air rifle and air pistol, he first switched to rimfire and then to centerfire handguns. A few years later, he discovered IPSC and has been competing in local and international competitions since 1999. He mainly shoots pistol, but has also tried rifle and shotgun.
27-year-old Dylan Keppel joined the GECO team from the Netherlands. Nicknamed "The Calculator" because of his thorough pre-planning of every single IPSC stage, the pistol shooter starts with a Tanfoglio Stock 2 Extreme, the only modification being the optic (Shield RMSX 4 MOA dot). There are two GECO team shooters from Hungary who have also been part of the team for some time, namely police shooting instructor Györgi Batki (born 1974) and Csaba Szaszi (born 1968), an ammunition expert with a military background. Both use not only the German GECO cartridges, but also German pistols, including the 2011 models manufactured by Karl Prommersperger Custom Sport Target Pistol STP. Batki's greatest successes to date include 3rd place at the 2010 IPSC European Championships and 5th place at the 2011 World Championships. The 13-time Hungarian champion in the IPSC standard class is also at the forefront of police sporting competitions, so that he can be proud of his 14 national titles as Hungarian champion.
Finally, the GECO team also includes two successful medallists, Swedish shooter Cecilia Lindberg and Spaniard Eduardo de Cobos (click here for his portrait on all4shooters.com): De Cobos, who competes for the Beretta team, is a globally recognised IPSC legend. His career began in the late 1980s with classic series weapons. He honed his skills through intensive training and with limited resources. Numerous successes in the Open Division and later in the Standard and Production Divisions demonstrate his versatility and determination to drive technical innovation. With 32 Spanish championship titles in IPSC and IPA, he remains a formative figure in shooting sports.
The new addition to the GECO IPSC team comes from Scandinavia: Cecilia Lindberg from Sweden, who teaches correct shooting and marksmanship both as a police instructor and as a private trainer (here only for female participants). Her credentials? Including the bronze medal in the women's category at the IPSC Handgun World Shoot XIX 2022 in Pattaya and the title of European champion in the Production Optics Division 2023 in Greece.
Picture gallery: the international shooters in the GECO IPSC team
GECO IPSC Team: the German starters, internationally successful
Firstly, there is Sascha Back: born in 1972, the management consultant (married, three children) is known far and wide for his shooting skills with the revolver. He is a 14-time German champion in the IPSC Revolver Division as well as European champion in 2010 and European runner-up in 2013 and 2016. He also came fourth in the World Championships three times in 2011, 2014 and 2017. He is also at the forefront of the "Steel Challenge", the lightning-fast shooting on steel plates, which is impressively demonstrated by his seven European championship titles in the Revolver Open and Standard classes. But he can also handle long guns. Four "German Champion" titles in the IPSC Rifle 1500J discipline, also known as PCC (Pistol Caliber Cartridge), in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 speak for themselves. In addition, this outstanding shooter secured first place in IPSC Rifle in 2021 and 2022. His preferred competition gun in IPSC is a Smith & Wesson Model 929 revolver in 9mm, equipped with a 8-round cylinder. The S&W 586 and S&W 627 models are also used, all of which have been modified by the renowned German tuning specialist Karl Hamann from Wolfsburg. A detailed portrait with further details can be found here.
We have also already profiled other members of the GECO team, such as Stefan Rumpler, who competes in IPSC for Germany but was born in Austria and who, in addition to the sport shotgun and the IPSC pistol, also masters the full-time professional aspect: the trained firearms technology engineer works as a product manager at RWS GmbH in Fürth. The youngest member is probably Luis Erhardt (27), who once started with the rimfire pistol as a 13-year-old with special authorisation and now swears by the GECO Hexagon cartridge in 9mm Luger as well as the four events of the Bianchi Cup, one of the most highly endowed handgun competitions in the world.
Most readers may not yet be familiar with this shooter from the GECO IPSC team: born in Nuremberg in 1985, top IPSC/action shooter Patrick Kummer works mainly in the private security industry. He is a versatile shooter who demonstrates impressive precision with all types of firearms, as emphasised by his title of German 3-Gun Champion 2020. In this discipline, dynamic stages are shot with rifle, shotgun and handgun. He is a multiple German IPSC champion in various firearm divisions such as Classic and Production Divisions. He currently competes in the Production Division with an extra heavy CZ A01-LD in 9mm Luger, which was manufactured in the US CZ Custom Shop. In the Classic Division, he favours the 1911 Perfect Classic model in 9mm Luger from the German STP (Sport Target Pistol) made by master gunsmith Karl Prommersberger. His 2011 Black Major in .40 Smith & Wesson also comes from this workshop .
And which GECO ammunition is used in his guns? He loads his 9mm pistols as well as his 3G-Sports 3G-TEC9 aka Quarter Circle 10 carbine in 9mm Luger for the IPSC discipline PCC with GECO 124 grains FMJ ammunition. The magazines of the .40 pistol are loaded with GECO 180-grain full metal jacket flat-nose ammo. In the 3-Gun discipline or the IPSC Rifle Open Division, he uses an STI-AR-15 self-loading rifle in .223 Remington and GECO 63 grains FMJ ammunition. In 3-Gun and IPSC Shotgun Patrick relies on his Benelli M2 self-loading shotgun in 12/70 with Rottweil 28-gram Sport or GECO 29-gram Sport ammunition.
By the way: if you are as enthusiastic about the successes of this colourful IPSC team as we are and would like to find out more about IPSC shooting and its disciplines, as well as firearms, ammunition and equipment, why not take a look at the free GECO IPSC MAGALOGUE, over 20 informative pages about this attractive action shooting sport. You can also get a taste of the IPSC atmosphere in the following video:
VIDEO: what motivates the GECO IPSC team
All information about the GECO IPSC team and much more can be found on the GECO IPSC World special website. There you will also find interesting information about the best and most suitable ammunition, rules and regulations, as well as stories about the dynamic shooting sport.
