JThompson Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 (edited) Does anyone know this guy? He's suppose to be a smith and retired cop out of southern IL. I'm getting some strange vibes from him and wanted to know if anyone had dealings with him, or knows him? He's looking at my Kimber... Edited November 11, 2008 by JThompson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonAnne9x23 Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 why deal with someone who gives you strange vibes. there are plenty of good smiths to deal with. First impressions are usually right impressions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 why deal with someone who gives you strange vibes. there are plenty of good smiths to deal with. First impressions are usually right impressions. It's not that bro... he's talking about buying it, but there were some flags. I just wanted to know if any of my friends on BE knew the guy. There are a lot of LEOs here and I thought one may have crossed paths with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonAnne9x23 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 "It's not that bro." umm, uhhh, not your or anyones 'bro'. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Looking at Google, I think he was a Chicago Fire Marshal. Someone with the same name has some ads on Gunsamerica. And I found this: Bradley Batka Gunsmithing825 Cottonwood Ln Carterville, IL 62918 618-985-6532 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 (edited) "It's not that bro." umm, uhhh, not your or anyones 'bro'. LOL. Hahahh Sorry Sharon... must have been tired... Bro-ette? Edited November 12, 2008 by JThompson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Looking at Google, I think he was a Chicago Fire Marshal. Someone with the same name has some ads on Gunsamerica. And I found this:Bradley Batka Gunsmithing825 Cottonwood Ln Carterville, IL 62918 618-985-6532 Thanks for looking David. I also found that info out there... I also saw his profile on GA, but there is no feedback and he's been a member for a long time and shows many listings for guns. It just didn't feel right, so I told him I would pass on it. JT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonAnne9x23 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 "bro-ette" too cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbatka Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Does anyone know this guy? He's suppose to be a smith and retired cop out of southern IL. I'm getting some strange vibes from him and wanted to know if anyone had dealings with him, or knows him?He's looking at my Kimber... Hello, I'm Brad Batka Jr. I just found this website, so please forgive the late reply. Let me clarify some apparently conflicting info.... I am the Chicago Fire Marshal. My father (Bradley Batka Sr) is a retired police officer living/working in southern Illinois. Since Chicago has banned firearms dealers, my dad has been handling the majority of our gun business for some time now. I am rather concerned about the comments about dad. I do know how he can be rather curt with people, so please let me explain.... First and foremost, we are collectors; the trading/dealing is totally secondary. Any gun that we have bought has to be good enough for our own collection, so we take all comments about our guns very personally. The business is rather slow for the top quality (high dollar) stuff we have, so the feedback is going to be rather limited about us. Please search Auctionarms, Gunsamerica, as well as Gunbroker for our feedback. You will find 20 transactions on GA, over 100 on Auctionarms (don't remember how many for gunbroker) and there are no dissatisfied people out there. WE TOTALLY STAND BY OUR WORD (and the quality of our guns and gunsmithing workmanship). The problem my dad has, is with the looky-lous, tire kickers, and picture collectors out there. The frequency of fraud (we've been burned twice) and the picture collectors are really taking their toll on our time. He is still working, so if you do talk to him, he may be short with you. For that I TOTALLY apologize. He insists on a few conversations before any deal is finalized, so if you say what you mean & mean what you say, you will find him to be quite knowledgeable & totally truthful. I hope this clears things up a bit, and please do not over look our little business, just because there is so little info out there on us. I will gladly email/write anybody who has questions, Contact me at bbatka at hot mail. Thank you for reading this! and have a great day, brad jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwtenafly Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 (edited) Folks, I stumbled onto this posting on the brianenos.com site when I started looking at buying a gun from Brad's Gunsmithing and wanted to do my due diligence on the seller since I didn't know Brad Batka or his business prior to answering his gun sale ad on gunsamerica. That said, I have just successfully bought and taken possession of a high end used Les Baer firearm from Brad, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase or say enough nice about him and about the smoothness of the transaction. We exchanged several emails and spoke by phone on a number of occasions during the sale(mostly because I needed to feel comfortable since I'm pretty new to this). Based on those interactions and our ultimate transaction, I couldn't speak more highly about Brad or the sale. He is a great guy who has a lot of knowledge, patience, honesty, and integrity. His willingness to share his knowledge with me, and to calmly explain myriad things about the gun (which I double-checked and found to be totally on point later with old timers at my range)is WAY above and beyond what I'd ever expect from a stranger who was selling me something, nevermind one who was selling me something over the Internet. I (and my very seasoned FFLs who received the gun for me) feel that Brad sold me a top quality used firearm that was even better than the pictures showed, and at a very good and fair price. I benefitted directly from Brad's patience and his thirty plus years of experience handling guns and teaching people in law enforcement how to shoot (which I learned about from talking to him). I was so satisfied with the transaction and with Brad's character that I felt compelled to find this blog again, to register as a user, and to add my comments to counter/refute the false nonsense that was suggested about him or his "vibes" by others in the prior posts (which his son also tried to answer). Brad Batka is awesome. He has excellent merchandise and totally knows his stuff!! Do business with him without a second thought, and take him at his word. You will definitely not be sorry, you may even get your best gun yet, and will undoubtedly learn a thing or two! I sure did. Will Weir Bergen County, NJ P.S., I imagine that people can write to me via this site, so feel free to do so if you need further assurance. I stand behind my review of Brad Batka and Brad's Gunsmithing. Edited June 3, 2011 by wwtenafly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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