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Which Machine For Coin Cache Hunting?


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A GPX with stock coil can hit a U.S. nickel alone to about 16-17”. I would estimate 2-3 feet to be fairly easy but it depends a lot on how the coins are packed in the jar, orientation, and whether it has a metal lid. Nuggets weighing multi ounces but far smaller than a jar are found at depths exceeding two feet with a GPX.

My favorite “large” coil for a GPX was the Nugget Finder 18” round mono, but with over 100 compatible coils having been made the choice is vast.

Bang for the buck is the GPX 4500 but the GPX 5000 if money is no object is still in many ways the most powerful general purpose PI device on the market. For your use though the 4500 would probably be the way to go.

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7 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

A GPX with stock coil can hit a U.S. nickel alone to about 16-17”. I would estimate 2-3 feet to be fairly easy but it depends a lot on how the coins are packed in the jar, orientation, and whether it has a metal lid. Nuggets weighing multi ounces but far smaller than a jar are found at depths exceeding two feet with a GPX.

My favorite “large” coil for a GPX was the Nugget Finder 18” round mono, but with over 100 compatible coils having been made the choice is vast.

Bang for the buck is the GPX 4500 but the 5000 if money is no object is still in many ways the most powerful general purpose PI device on the market. For your use though the 4500 would probably be the way to go.

Thank you sir, I greatly appreciate your insight, anyone can have an opinion, but what you gave is insight.  As far as if it had a metal lid or cap, say iron, would this affect the way the GPX detects it?

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On 3/16/2019 at 8:06 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

It would help more than hurt. The more metal the better.

Hey Steve, I've been looking for a GPX 4500 to buy, in the meanwhile I've heard the SD2200 is even better/deeper on larger gold, which a coin cache would indeed be.  Any thoughts on that?  The hunting area is mild ground if that helps.

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On 3/16/2019 at 7:10 PM, 1911Colt said:

Thanks for the replies, as for the White's, I forgot to mention, I took a TM-600 and also a TM-800 up there looking, after no results, I tested them on buried targets, those machines are also nearly worthless, wouldn't even find a bundle of copper pipes at 3 feet deep, and even more worthless on a jar of coins.  People say yeah 2 box for deep stuff, but in reality, unless you're talking about a steel drum or something similar, these won't find shit.

I use a Fisher TW-5 twin box and i have 2 simulated hoards buried at crazy depths and the twin boxes nails them everytime,about as much use on single coins or small artefact as a chocolate teapot,but for orange size articles and bigger the larger the item the deeper they go.

Regarding Pulse machines it does not have too be specifically a GPX pulse,i use a TDI Pro with coils right upto 20'' and once again if a hoard/cache is in that location then once again the TDI will nail it,2 other machines that i also use are the Nexus SE and the MP.All these machines are 'very deep' hitters as i call them,if a pot hoard is in the ground all these machines will nail them at amazing depths,in the case of say roman pot hoards traditionally a hoard was buried at what a man was laying down and could put a container in the ground at arms length,so for the most part these would be from say 15-24+'' which is well within the means of a Pulse of a high end VLF machine especially if the container is full or coins or other artefacts,here in the UK we have only found a very very small percentage of hoards,and over the coming years as detector get more powerful then bigger and more famous ones will appear that i am certain.

Not sure how big a area that your so called cache is buried but gut feeling tells me that if you have not got any hits with 2 twin box machines then i am most surprised,a GPX i doubt would give you any advantage over a twin box.Most hoards that are found in the UK are what we call them scattered hoards ie the tops of the containers are clipped by modern deep ploughing and then scattered on further ploughing and also bringing up further coins and artefacts.You can start seeing a pattern emerging from the stray coins and then locate the main hoard main location,then it can start getting easier as just the sheer bulk of the coins or artefacts can/will trigger most VLF or Pulse machines with a larger coil on.We have a advantage that traditionally coins are buried in earthenware pots so detectors can see through them and pick up on the coins inside,but saying that even if a hoard is buried in a tin/metal box and it should give a humongous signal then you would dig that type of signal anyway........before i even switch on my heavy hitters and the prospect of digging large deep holes i have too way up the reward to effort ratio,if i find scattered coins in a tight radius then i fire up the detector/s as that is indicating a reward in my favour,but if like yourself a potential hoard is from hearsay then i would need far more concrete information that its worth putting the effort in and the reward certainly must be more concrete than hearsay.

Of course this is only some suggestions on what machines i use for hoard hunting and what i would use,i dont have a clue or very little about gold nugget hunting but i do have a fair amount of knowledge on recovering deep artefacts etc.Hope you do find your cache or what ever it is.

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16 hours ago, 1911Colt said:

Hey Steve, I've been looking for a GPX 4500 to buy, in the meanwhile I've heard the SD2200 is even better/deeper on larger gold, which a coin cache would indeed be.  Any thoughts on that?  The hunting area is mild ground if that helps.

Yeah, the SD2200D I would not bet on being better, but I would bet on it being discontinued with minimal if any parts and service support. I had a SD2200D and GPX all the way for me.

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3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Yeah, the SD2200D I would not bet on being better, but I would bet on it being discontinued with minimal if any parts and service support. I had a SD2200D and GPX all the way for me.

Ok cool man, thank you

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