This parkerized Colt Commander in .45 ACP was crafted by the late Rutland, Vermont gunsmith Karl Sokol. The grandson of Polish immigrants, Karl grew up in Massachusetts as a third-generation meat cutter. Tragedy struck early in his life—his mother passed away when he was just 17. After the later loss of his father, Karl and his high school sweetheart, Pam, made a life-changing decision. Together, they sold the family business to pursue a shared dream: Karl would attend gunsmithing school. Pam supported him while he studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he was considered among the top of his class. After graduating, Karl became a police armorer in Hatfield, Massachusetts, a role he held for 14 years. But Karl and Pam had another dream—to own land and live simply in a small log cabin, off the grid, where Karl could hunt right in his backyard. After years of saving, that dream became reality. They purchased 44 acres in Rutland, Vermont, and built their forever home: a modest log cabin heated by a wood stove, exactly as they had envisioned. It was in Vermont that Karl founded Chestnut Mountain Sports, a gunsmithing business specializing in custom 1911s, revolvers, and Hi-Powers. He spent the rest of his life there, doing what he loved—gunsmithing, hunting, and being a devoted husband to Pam and father to their daughter, Kristen.
Karl was deeply respected and loved by his neighbors. Despite his success as a gunsmith, he never lost touch with his roots as a meat cutter. Locals would bring their deer to his home, where he would generously and skillfully process them. At the age of 61, Karl began experiencing severe headaches that were initially misdiagnosed. It was later discovered that he had a large aneurysm. An attempt to treat it with a stent was unsuccessful, and he passed away tragically just weeks after the diagnosis. Karl left behind a storied career in gunsmithing and a loving family who remain together to this day, in that beautiful log cabin in the back woods of Rutland Vermont. These guns have stories. This post is dedicated to my second favorite gunsmith named Carl with a K
Scattered Shots 