USBP379
Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2005
- Messages
- 709
As many of you have seen, I have a thread going about a Browning Hi Power that was worked over by Karl Sokol of Chestnut Mountain Sports. Based on my experience with Karl and that first gun, I decided to send him another.
The original thread is found here: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/karl-sokol-browning-hi-power-build.858094/
The handgun that's the topic of this thread was a “gunsmith special” purchased via GunBroker from Mach 1 Arsenal. It had quite a bit of finish wear and other cosmetic stuff like a crunched/rolled front sight. It also had some sort of crude job of de-horning done to the slide. The flat edges of the slide were roughly beveled by what I believe was a ball peen hammer. The right paddle of the thumb safety lever had been broken off at some point leaving a “fork” at the end of the safety lever shaft. The worst of the abuse was a bent trigger guard. It was bent up slightly in the middle and actually rubbed against the trigger.
Despite the external damage the pistol has a clean shiny bore. Frame to slide fit is decent but the gun was just plain ugly. Mach 1 had appropriately named this a gunsmith special. To me it made perfect sense to send the gun to Karl for a bit of magic.
Before I sent the gun off to Karl I sent the frame to Pullman Arms in Pullman, MA. Pullman Arms straightened out the trigger guard. After this, I put everything back together and then sent the pistol off to Karl along with an EGW hard sear and a set of Navidrex grips.
I asked Karl for his $750 package which is pretty inclusive. To this I requested a Heinie rear paired with a gold bead front. I asked Karl to round off and clean up the broken safety shaft and to dimple the end of the slide stop axle. I also requested a blued finish rather than the painted finish that’s part of the $750 package.
Overall, a spectacular transformation. The gun has truly gone from a sow’s ear to a silk purse!
Here are a few photos of the pistol as sent to Karl:
And now here is the pistol as received back from Karl:
The original thread is found here: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/karl-sokol-browning-hi-power-build.858094/
The handgun that's the topic of this thread was a “gunsmith special” purchased via GunBroker from Mach 1 Arsenal. It had quite a bit of finish wear and other cosmetic stuff like a crunched/rolled front sight. It also had some sort of crude job of de-horning done to the slide. The flat edges of the slide were roughly beveled by what I believe was a ball peen hammer. The right paddle of the thumb safety lever had been broken off at some point leaving a “fork” at the end of the safety lever shaft. The worst of the abuse was a bent trigger guard. It was bent up slightly in the middle and actually rubbed against the trigger.
Despite the external damage the pistol has a clean shiny bore. Frame to slide fit is decent but the gun was just plain ugly. Mach 1 had appropriately named this a gunsmith special. To me it made perfect sense to send the gun to Karl for a bit of magic.
Before I sent the gun off to Karl I sent the frame to Pullman Arms in Pullman, MA. Pullman Arms straightened out the trigger guard. After this, I put everything back together and then sent the pistol off to Karl along with an EGW hard sear and a set of Navidrex grips.
I asked Karl for his $750 package which is pretty inclusive. To this I requested a Heinie rear paired with a gold bead front. I asked Karl to round off and clean up the broken safety shaft and to dimple the end of the slide stop axle. I also requested a blued finish rather than the painted finish that’s part of the $750 package.
Overall, a spectacular transformation. The gun has truly gone from a sow’s ear to a silk purse!
Here are a few photos of the pistol as sent to Karl:
And now here is the pistol as received back from Karl:
