Goldmaster 24k Weekend Hunt

[Lunk]

I took the new GM24K into the hills this past weekend for its maiden nugget hunt. Although my first time out with it was actually a week prior, it really wasn’t a hunt since I was mainly just familiarizing myself with the features and functionality of the machine and trying out different settings on a small buried test nugget. But after finally getting the 24k dialed in, I did happen to find a subgrainer a mere foot away from the test nugget that day; an obvious zippy target at an inch and a half deep.? This little yellow speck won’t even register on my grain scale!

So fast forward to Saturday: I was digging every target or nuance of a target and noting the VID numbers. The occasional hot rocks in the area seemed to lock in at a solid 1 or 2 on the display screen, without deviation, but even the smallest of the subgrain nuggets I found would bounce around into higher registers, sometimes in the 70s or 80s, making it easy to differentiate the gold from the hot rocks. Slow and careful searching yielded 5 of the little yellow blighters.

Sunday I continued on where I left off on Saturday, and although I was finding tiny bits of foil and lead, the gold eluded me all day until just an hour before quitting time. I was in a trashy area littered with small remnants of old timers boot tacks that just screamed on the 24k; they were shallow enough so that a quick dig and poke with the super magnet took care of them. One of the screamers however stood out from the others because it was reading much higher on the VID. First thought was something sizeable like a 22 bullet or casing, but it turned out to be a chunk of bedrock. A quick rinse with water revealed it was actually lithified ancient riverbed sediment containing a partially exposed nugget.?

Definitely a nice surprise. The 24k sniffed out a couple of subgrainers nearby to round out the day.

I’m really liking the new Goldmaster 24k, a very versatile VLF gold machine with innovative ground balancing technology. It’s lightweight, well balanced, very stable at high sensitivity with minimal coil bump falsing, has a pleasant tone, and won’t easily tip over when sitting on the ground. Good work, White’s! ?

 

 

[Buzzard]

Wow, nice hunt  and great finds.

I am taking mine out on Wed to Gold Basin and attack some old tailings pile there, we will see how that goes.

Thanks for the report.....gives me a lot of hope for my 24K.

[beatup]

Great work with a new detector.

[Lunk]

4 hours ago, Buzzard said:

Wow, nice hunt  and great finds.

I am taking mine out on Wed to Gold Basin and attack some old tailings pile there, we will see how that goes.

Thanks for the report.....gives me a lot of hope for my 24K.

Thanks Buzzard. Good luck at GB; when you get your coil over a piece of gold, the 24k will let you know.

[Glenn in CO]

7 hours ago, Lunk said:

So fast forward to Saturday: I was digging every target or nuance of a target and noting the VID numbers. The occasional hot rocks in the area seemed to lock in at a solid 1 or 2 on the display screen, without deviation, but even the smallest of the subgrain nuggets I found would bounce around into higher registers, sometimes in the 70s or 80s, making it easy to differentiate the gold from the hot rocks. Slow and careful searching yielded 5 of the little yellow blighters. ?

 

 

Hey Lunk,

What's your opinion on the larger coil on how it response to hot rocks and gold with the VID numbers it gives compared to the 6" coil? Do you believe the larger gold will find sub-grainers?

Nice gold!

[Lunk]

Glenn, Since I’ve been hunting an area that has small gold, I haven’t put the 10” elliptical coil on the 24k yet. But quoting Steve H. from his excellent detailed review of the machine: “The10" DD will be a better choice for really bad ground, but lacks that magic edge on the tiniest bits of gold.” Perhaps he will chime in with any observations he may have made about the VID numbers between the two coils.

[Gerry in Idaho]

I have been trying my best to let folks know how much I really like the 24K and posted quite a few finds with it.  But because I'm a dealer and sell them, most folks write it off.  Nothing I can do about that but get it in the hands of other well known nugget hunters.  You are doing great on the small gold, which is one thing I never went after as I've yet to get to NV with it.  Nice recoveries Lunk and that specimen is a stunner too.  Keep it up and hope to see you soon.

[Steve Herschbach]

12 hours ago, Glenn in CO said:

Hey Lunk,

What's your opinion on the larger coil on how it response to hot rocks and gold with the VID numbers it gives compared to the 6" coil? Do you believe the larger gold will find sub-grainers?

Nice gold!

I can hit sub-grain gold with the DD coil but the smaller concentric gives sharper signals that are more easily pinpointed.

As far as hot rock and gold target id numbers I do not have enough time at enough locations with both coils to comment on that with any degree of confidence. I don’t rely much on target id numbers when nugget detecting beyond wanting to sort out non-ferrous from ferrous, and even that carries risks when dealing with the tiniest gold in mineralized ground. My goal with hot rocks is to either tune them out or at least get the machine set up to where they sound audibly different than the gold. I prefer to hunt by ear.

[Glenn in CO]

Thanks! for your input Steve. I just found it interesting that Lunk was listening to target responses in addition to how the VDI numbers were coming up on the VDI scale and I guess they were somewhat consistent. I never paid attention to the meter on the GMT just went by sound only. In fact some targets sounded more like iron, but turned out to be gold. I was curious if the Goldmaster 24k meter and target ID is a improvement over the GMT. Then again what works in one area may not work in another area because of other factors influencing the detector. I guess to satisfy my curiosity I'm going to have to purchase one. 

[Hard Prospector]

Experiences / comparisons between the GM1000 and the 24k?