Accidental Find In Middle Of Nowhere

[Steve Herschbach]

So last year I am wandering around well off the beaten path in northern Nevada. I was targeting some old mapped prospects that turned out just to be natural features the mappers mistook for mining activity.

Still, there is gold elsewhere in the area, and I am seeing lots of quartz scattered around. I wandered for miles swinging the Garrett ATX with one of the new 11" x 13" DD coils. This particular area had some hot rocks that were bugging my GPZ 7000 but which the Garrett tuned out entirely, so I went with the ATX.

Garrett ATX in the Nevada desert

Hours go by with not a single signal. Then I get this soft loud signal in the middle of nothing - no sign of human activity of any sort. It is strong but not a sharp signal, so I figure it is something large and deep.

I start digging and it is deep. I am thinking maybe a meteorite? Or can I dare hope for a large nugget find - no, I tend to not let my thoughts go too far in that direction.... but still........

Close to two feet and this pops out of the ground:

Looks to be an aircraft 20mm cannon round, probably WW2 era. I imagine somebody was flying around out there decades ago and fired off a round, which ended up punching into the ground where I found it. Who knows what the real story is, but it got my heart pumping and was the only find of the day.

[GaryC/Oregon Coast]

At two feet I would have been counting my chickens and gold would have been hard to put out of my mind!!!!  GaryC/Oregon Coast

[fredmason]

Yeah, that happened to me down around Yuma but far from the military grounds...I just knew I had a one oz nugget but somehow it became a 50 cal bullet-maybe a tracer...

I was really bummed!

fred

[Cal_Cobra]

Last time I was detecting in the Nevada desert last December (that's way too long ago!!!) there were some fighter jets playing war games screaming close by overhead.  I heard the loudest explosion I've ever experienced out there, you felt it reverberate through your body.  No idea what it was, couldn't see it, but it had to be a whopper.  

 

[GB_Amateur]

6 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

I heard the loudest explosion I've ever experienced out there, you felt it reverberate through your body.  No idea what it was, couldn't see it, but it had to be a whopper.

Sonic boom?

[Mac]

Wow. Hours of silence then a signal that strong! I'd have been digging as furiously and grunting like Tuco in the Good, Bad and Ugly!  I'm surprised to read the ATX trumps the 7000 on hot rock rule out. That's good to know

[Mike Haer]

I have always wondered about some of you guys looking for gold, wandering around for miles if you've ever come across some cool stuff that wasn't gold like small caches, guns etc. Anyone else have any stories similar? I would love to hear them

[Cal_Cobra]

9 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Sonic boom?

I don't think so.  It's been a while since I heard a sonic boom, but this was more like a bomb or some kind of explosion.  It was so loud that I dang near did the duck and cover maneuver.    You experience some odd things in the desert from time to time ?

[Mac]

I have the same wonderings and also enjoy reading/ listening to the experiences/ stories from others. I have been into prospecting for most of my 56 years but have only been into detecting for a year, so have limited experiences. All of mine are close calls rather than cool finds lol

[Happa54]

Still.... something to put behind your glass display with all the other cool things. You are "digging history, one piece at a time".

Congrats on that find.