Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 02/28/2024 in all areas

  1. I find the speculation that the E1500 will somehow outperform detectors costing much more money to be, well, how to put this nicely… questionable at best. If this detector was GPX 6000 class it would be stupid to sell it for one quarter the price of a GPX 6000. I don’t think Alex is stupid. Here is the current price structure in Australia as of today after Garrett just introduced the lower priced stripped down Axiom package: 1. GPZ 7000 $10,499 2. GPX 6000 $8,999 with two coils 3. Garrett Axiom $4,999 with one coil 4. SDC 2300 $4,399 5. E1500 with Sadie & Battery $2649 6. Minelab Manticore $2499 7. Gold Monster $1299 I have pretty solid information in hand indicating that you are going to get what you pay for. The E1500 is a very affordable option at close the price of a top end VLF and will outperform said VLFs on gold in mineralized ground. Time will tell but I think the E1500 will fall short of SDC 2300 and Axiom level performance, essentially being a bridge between VLF detectors and those models. The 6000 and 7000 will continue to rule the roost but at twice the price of the SDC/Axiom level you are not getting twice the depth. Pulling a number out of my ass I’d assign a very debatable expectation of about a 15% increase in overall performance at each major step up in price. People can of course argue that number all day long but I think it is very important to give newbies some sense of reality. Twice the money does not get twice the performance. Gains are more like 10% - 15% - 20%…. pick your number, but it’s not double, triple, quadruple. If I was still selling detectors I’d explain to this new customer that they can go find a gold nugget with a Gold Monster or a Manticore. I’d explain that for not much more than a Manticore they could get an AlgoForce E1500 and be able to deal with mineralized ground and hot rocks that will give the VLF models real trouble. I’d tell them that for substantially more money they could get some very solid bang for the buck in the Axiom/SDC range, a step up from E1500 but still not top tier. Finally, I’d tell them that if money is no object and they simply want the best performance they can get, to look at the 6000 or 7000. I’d comment that out of the box with provided coils the 6000 would have the edge for smaller gold, and the 7000 the edge on larger gold. Adding aftermarket coils (and more money) to the 7000 can close the gap between it and the 6000 on small gold, but nothing you do to the 6000 will have it hitting the big stuff as deep as the 7000. That would be my short and sweet sales presentation and I offer it up as the most simplified big picture no B.S. look at the scene as you are likely to find. My somewhat educated opinions only, feel free to toss in trash bin if you don’t agree. In the States this would be the situation if the E1500 could be had here: 1. GPZ 7000 $8,999 2. GPX 6000 $6,499 with two coils 3. Garrett Axiom $3,995 with two coils 4. SDC 2300 $3,599 5. E1500 with Sadie & Battery under $1999 6. Minelab Manticore $1699 7. Gold Monster $799
    44 points
  2. My detecting mate and I have been working a dry gully for quite a while using our 6000’s with 10x5 Coiltek coils attached. We had been finding a bit of small gold but lately our returns diminished and we had almost decided to move to a new location. In a bid to squeeze out a few more pieces, we decided to detect the ground with our 7000’s and try to uncover a few deeper nuggets. We weren’t expecting much as we had spent a considerable amount of time working this area on the short gully and thought that if we could come home with a piece or two we would have achieved our goal. The Six with the small coil really suited this area as there were many potential gold traps and hiding spots for the tiny pieces that inhabited this location. The Zed’s were fitted with Nuggetfinder 12” Z search coils and after a ground balance and tune were running exceptionally well. The hot rocks and noisy ground that played havoc at times with the 6, were ignored by the 7’s so we knew that we had a bit of potential to find that really subtle signal. We moved slowly and tried to get into difficult areas and hopefully jag something for our effort. After about 20 minutes we added a couple of small pieces to the rattle jar from steep banks on the sides of the gully. It was agreed that the shallow pieces would have been picked up easily with the 6000 but were now happy that we hadn’t been “skunked” for the day. Joe was working a stretch of ground that had produced well for us in the past so I decided to move upstream about 50m to give him some space. I started at a rock bar that had given up some treasure about a month or so ago. We had pulled about 6 very small pieces on and around the outcrop and made a concerted effort to cover all the ground in that area very well. Every subsequent trip resulted in a repeat of that process just in case we missed something. The same region was detected today with the Zed and to my surprise, a very faint signal was heard. It was in an ideal location next to the rock bar on the inside section of a bend. You can see the hole in the photo. We had hoped to find a piece of gold at a depth that the Six couldn’t see and it finally happened. It must have been on edge as the signal was initially very soft and only increased during the dig. What popped out was a pleasant surprise. The 6000 has dominated our detecting for a couple of years now and the Zed barely gets pulled out of the cupboard. It was good to get its coil scraping on the ground again and put through its paces. We had forgotten how quiet it could be when the ground suited. We had also forgotten about digging deep holes until we were quickly reminded of its power. Rusty nails and bits of steel with soft enticing signals generally resulted in ugly growls and swimming pools being dug half way to China. We moved upstream and continued to detect some old ground looking for that deeper target. I was lucky enough to get a really faint signal behind a large rock. After digging a deep hole, a small, shiny nugget surfaced. I could see why the Six would not see a piece of gold at that depth. When the hole was inspected with the coil, another break in the threshold told the story of a surprise awaiting inspection. When a piece of gold ended up in the scoop, I called Joe over and we started moving rocks and detecting a small area thoroughly. A bunch of small pieces resulted. We had a lot of fun working that area together. Joe finally moved 20 metres upstream and found another patch of deep, small pieces of gold. The river worn gold was often visible in the scoop or in the ground like the piece shown in the picture. Joe pulled a couple of pieces on the walk back including one that was in a pool of water. Boots and socks came off and a slow and frustrating recovery followed. It’s great to see a prize for all the effort put in. The final picture shows the result of our day out. Quite a few of the pieces were so small that they wouldn’t move the scales but they all added up. It is pleasing that the Zed can still earn its keep on the tiny gold. Most of the pieces found would still be in the ground if we had used the 6000’s on this trip. Having a combination of machines has proved to be a winner in this area.
    33 points
  3. Yesterday, JW and I went for a bit of a hike to a remote spot in the mountains, I hadn't been here at all since my GPX 4500 a few years ago, and JW had been a small few times since trying out his GPX 6000 and found a few bits. The hike in is what puts it on the backburner all the time 🙂 It's a close drive from JW's house, but a big steep uphill hike, and from my house it's about an hour's drive so by the time I get home I'm stuck to the car seat, man it's hard to stand up after a massive hike and an hour's drive home after a day's detecting with the hike back to the car, at least the hike back is downhill all the way. I ran the car's seat heater the whole drive home to help the muscles recover! JW has a few years of age over me, but he is certainly fitter. It's a really cool place to go though, with great views of the surrounding mountains, unfortunately I can't put up scenery photos for fear of revealing the location to prying eyes, as you can work out the basic location by using the bigger mountains to get an idea of where I was. There has been a bit of mining in the area, and reworked in the depression years, but the earlier mining was done with a lot of work and water monitors (canons) blasting water at the hillsides to recover the gold. The Chinese hit it pretty hard too, staying longer than the other miners going over it again. It's interesting how they get somewhere, then just stop. The soils an interesting colour, almost white. Quite the drop off here down to the ground below, but oddly at least I think you'd be crazy not not to detect these high areas, as gold often pops up in the most unusual of places. My first bit of gold for the day was a bit of a surprise to me, it was a fairly faint signal, yet it was very shallow, I thought it is more likely a pellet although this area barely has any pellets at all, in fact it barely has any targets, if you get a target the chances are high its gold, aside from the occasional old bit of miner's junk like cans and a few nails most targets are gold so it's certainly a dig it all location. I took a little video of the target, so weak of a signal for the size of the gold I thought, although I'm more used to using the 10x5" Coiltek which is more sensitive but still, I was pretty disappointed. This is the little scrape of a hole it came from. The piece of gold. And its weight, quite a reasonable size piece for me, anything over .1 is pretty decent size for me 😛 I was so taken back by how weak the signal on it was I tested it this morning with the Algoforce to see how well it would do, even though it has the larger 10" round coil on it, I thought the Algoforce gave a better signal response on this particular piece. It's a bit of rough looking piece. The other interesting thing is it was right next to someone's previous dig hole, probably JW or I, we were likely using older technology at the time, as I'd only been here with my 4500 which no doubt would miss this piece of gold. It's very unlikely this person didn't go over the nugget and they missed it. The joys of newer technology. Next piece was in the path you walk on to hike to this area, there are tracks all over the place, mostly from old miners I guess however now they're hiking trails and go all through the area, you can even walk from one of my favourite ski fields to this area on tracks. This is it's dig hole, another very shallow target, an OK signal. This is the little guy Smaller than the last bit, but a much better signal. Just ignore the shaft twist in this photo, it's a feature of the 6000 🙂 After that I was walking along detecting the path, but no other gold to be found in that particular area, I did find old boot tacks though which is pretty cool, one spot had a bunch of them in one hole so I gave up recovering them, that miners boots must have fallen apart at that spot 🙂 The gold spot is the dig hole just above the pick in this photo. Here is a little video of it, I haven't watched the videos back yet but it likely shows this one had a better target signal than the previous bigger bit I found. It was pretty easy to film gold finds here as there is so little junk about, so filming bits of digs is worthwhile knowing they're likely gold. Next piece was on top of a little ridge It was my biggest bit of the day, had trouble carrying it for the hike back to the car. Deepest of the holes too. A smooth bit. This is its spot. And a little video of it, the second target next to it was one of 2 pellets I found all day. That was my last bit for the day, the day felt like it went really quick though, we finished up detecting about 7pm, but both of us didn't realize the time and thought it was about 5pm I guess. A benefit or a negative depending on how you look at it coming from the GPZ and GPX 5000 is the 6000 can have the pick so close to the coil it's not funny, it always surprises me how close the pick can go, even when you lay it down recovering targets so while using it I have a belt attached pick holder and in this location I am glad I did, as sometimes its half an hour between targets so nice to holster your pick. The super strong magnet I've got in my pick handle makes life easy too, if I'm using it more regularly, I can just attach it to my pick holder using the magnet to save the effort. It stays there when walking around as long as the pick doesn't bottom out on the ground. So other notable things from the day, this piece of quartz was so weird, it doesn't show up as well in the photo but its flat smoothed off and much like a tile or bench top, and really glossy, so weird. You can see the shine on that one side, but the entire flat surface of it is like that, and its smooth and flat although the photo doesn't show that well. It's like someone's cut it smooth and painted it with polyurethane. And my junk for the day, there was also a nail which I left behind and you can see why I say it's a dig it all location. I'm used to digging hundreds of pellets on the farm land locations, this spot, 2 🙂 Both big pellets too. And last but not least, some old miners' tins I found, I left them where they were, a bit of history. I think this tin can was never opened. This one looked like a giant sardine tin. I think I'll get a bit fitter so the hike and day of swinging a detector around going up and over hills and mounds of soils doesn't wear me down so much and go back to this spot more often, I do really like going there, it just takes it out of me. It's very difficult to E-Bike there too as much of the path is on a cliff side with a big drop and very skinny path no more than 40cm wide in many spots, I've done it before but ended up walking the bike much of the way as I wasn't crazy enough to ride it through the steep drop off areas. Today I'm completely jelly legs and walking is a challenge 🙂 JW doubled my gold count, he came away with 6 pieces, pretty small ones too, he was using the GPX 6000 and 10x5" Coiltek coil, a better choice of coil for the day, I think. I only had the NF coil on as it was left on there from a previous time. It was good to take the 6000 out though, leave it much longer and the old motor may seize from lack of use.
    33 points
  4. Split from another thread so don't blame Ned for the title - that is mine. Yeah, I know Simon and probably others have found gold already, but this from Ned is more like what we want to see and so worth a thread of it's own. Congratulations Ned on a good start! - Steve H I've been out probably a dozen times with the E1500. Mostly testing a variety of coils the first few days. Then settings and combinations. I also rigged it up with a wireless set up and a sp-01 enhancer and headphones. After all that I got in some detecting time and managed to find my first gold for the year. 7 pieces all found with the E1500 and coiltek 9"round elite. Biggest bit went 2.7g and the smallest 0.13g. The heat's a killer here at the moment, if I didn't have a new toy to play with I wouldn't be out there.
    33 points
  5. Five days of heaven and its not done yet. It was a nonstop adrenalin rush and I cant wait to get back on the site. My favorite is the silver buckle with a makers mark of silversmith Thomas Shields, he has a cool history and his works are in museums. All the silver buckles I have found have been busted up by the plow so this find was very speciaI. Dug 7 King George II coppers one was clipped, 4 George III coppers, 2 Connecticut coppers, 1 New Jersey copper, a 1723 Woods Hibernia halfpenny, French Louis XV 1 Liard [1719-1723], Spain 1724 2 Reales Madrid, Spain 1723 1 Reales Segovia, and a 1853 seated dime. A bunch of cuff links all of which I have found multiples of at other sites, they were sold on cardboard displays in general stores, I love finding them. Lots of buttons and smalls. Also found a similar Oak Island trade token whizzer.😏
    33 points
  6. I've had the Axiom for a about 2 months now and up to this point have just been testing it against other PI's on gold nuggets. The weather looked good enough to head to the Nevada desert this last weekend, so I asked Steve & Steve if they wanted to meet up. They agreed. Weather was a little cold at night, still in the upper 20's low 30's, but day time temps were mid 60's. Perfect metal detecting weather! Steve has been using the Axiom for quite some time now and has always said it really is a great PI. I have to agree, especially if you're looking for a multi purpose PI to use not only gold nugget hunting but relic or beach hunting. I really look at the Axiom as being a great replacement for the now discontinued GPX 5000. The Axiom is far better on small gold than the GPX 5000 IMO and hands down just a better setup overall. It's real nice to have all the functions right there available at you finger tips. Wireless headphones, rechargeable battery that lasts 2 days and great ergonomics just add to the appeal. One thing that's real hard for me to do it put time in on a new metal detector when you're at a site you've used other metal detectors on the past that have a proven track record. I had the Manticore and GPX 6000 with as well. So forcing myself to use the Axiom for 4 hour stretches at a time was hard to say the least. Especially when there was gold being found by others in the party. But using the Axiom did not disappoint and I can confidently say it will find both small and big gold about as good as any other PI's I've used. I used the 7x11 DD coil the entire trip, my settings for the most part were fine gold, sensitivity at 5-6 and threshold at 15. First nugget I found with the Axiom came on day 2 as I was exploring some new ground I hadn't detected over before. I saw a dirt pile a few hundred yards away so worked towards it. About 10 feet away from the pile I got the first signal I'd heard in probably 20 minutes. Turned out to be a .16 gram nugget at about an inch. The second nugget came on the morning of day 3 about 3 hours before I had to leave. I was hunting some large piles of dirt that had lots of junk in them. Got a loud high tone that I figured was going to be trash, but dug it anyway. Turns out it was a large 4.1 gram nugget. Man did that make my trip. Obviously I dug a lot of other junk targets on the trip. But when you're digging bird shot, aluminum foil and small wire you know a machine is capable of finding small gold. Best thing about the trip is everyone found gold. I'll let Steve and Steve chime in if they want with their finds.
    32 points
  7. I have a pile of SD cards that I started looking through. Every time I have an outing I put a new SD card in my camera so I have plenty of room for videos. Which is crazy because these cards hold so much. So this guy has been a very close friend of mine since the beginning of when I got into this. He's a fellow Minelab dealer. He's a good Christian, he's gives fantastic support to his customers. He's invited me to detect on his claim. I was there when he got married and I have watched his daughter grow up from birth into a beautiful young lady. This man is just an all around nice guy and you can never go wrong dealing with Rob Allison. This picture is of Rob and his hunting partner Dennis and I. Picture date May 2013 These next two people are also dear to my heart. Both Minelab dealers. I've known Gerry McMullen forever. He has single handedly probably trained more people how to use a metal detector than all of us other dealers put together. Gerry is a no-nonsense guy, former Marine with a very dry sense of humor. I think Gerry and his wife Michelle and my wife and I have been all over the world to every Minelab annual partner conference that has been held. You can always count on Gerry to help you out if he can. Need a machine for customer, and Minelab is out, Gerry is always willing to loan you a machine so your customer is not disappointed. Gerry continues to be a driving force in this industry. He also received Mienlab's coveted EAGLE award for outstanding dealer of the year. This next person was known as the Gold Lady. Retta Atkins was such a joy. She was funny as hell and sort of a miniature Dolly Parton. If you didn't know her personality I can explain it this way. If Dolly Parton and Larry the Cable Guy had a baby, that was Retta. Unfortunately about a year and a half ago Retta and her boyfriend Darren were brutally shot and murdered in a home invasion. To Retta's spunk and spirit she got off a shot and wounded the assailant in the shoulder. But that didn't stop him from chasing her into the bedroom and emptying his gun. The intruder was looking for gold and obviously had insider information regarding Retta and her business. The world of metal detecting is a sadder place without Retta Atkins in it. She was a very close friend, we probably spoke every week. She is missed and remembered by all that knew her. They thought they had caught her murderer in a shoot out in which the suspected assailant killed himself. Later it was discovered that was not the person when they arrested the person who was responsible for their murders. This individual was found with evidence taken from Retta's home and had a healed bullet wound from where he had been shot. Daniel Matthew Avila, age 25 was arrested in March of 2023 when he was involved in another home invasion and the bullets from that scene matched the bullets from Retta's home. This picture is of Gerry McMullen and Retta in Sunset Park in Las Vegas Nevada when we were being trained by Minelab on the then new and yet to be released CTX3030. Picture date May 2012. The other gentleman in the picture is Greg Johns a former tech with Minelab from Australia. I think Greg has gone on to other pursuits. If my memory serves me correctly he purchased a large ranch in Australia which was just amazing in terms of the scenery. I hope he is doing well. Thank you all for your amazing friendship over the years. In case you're wondering I'm not going anywhere, but I'm getting that age where I have a heck of a lot more history that I do future. These folks have been part of that memorable history that I have had. Thanks guys, and God Bless You Retta. Doc
    32 points
  8. I don't pay much attention to US wheat pennies except to let me know that similar date silver coins may be in the area. So this ugly looking, corroded wheat penny did not even raise my blood pressure until I got home and took a close look at it. I had forgotten about the 1909 S VDB "Unicorn" status as the number 1 wheat penny key date aside from the unobtainable 1943 Bronze pennies. It's got great detail and a nice patina but those corrosion bubbles........ Anyway, Manticore may have paid for itself with this find plus several other nice silver coin and gold jewelry finds. Very impressed with the Manticore (compared to the Equinox 900). Thanks Gerry's Detectors @Gerry In Idaho for making my day with a super fair trade for this Manticore a few months ago!!!
    30 points
  9. I was hunting one of the original Denver area parks that was built in the late 1880s. Shovel digging is not allowed at these parks so recovery is with a screw driver or probe. I have found plenty of wheat pennies, a couple of Indian head pennies, several Barber, Mercury and Roosevelt silver dimes and two silver Washington quarters at this park in the last four years after first getting the Equinox 600 and 800. I was deliberately hunting an area that I knew would not be too wet or frozen under some trees at the edge of a popular sledding hill. I have hunted this exact spot many times with the Nox 600/800 with 11" coil and Deus 1 and Deus 2 with their 9" coils. I am guessing I have hunted this area at least 10 times since it is near the top of the sledding hill and fresh dropped jewelry and coins happen in that area every year. I was actually looking for gold jewelry but I was also interested in deep high conductors. I had my Manticore in All Terrain General Multi, sensitivity 23, recovery speed 5, iron bias 0, and I had the horseshoe button engaged so that I would hear all target responses including iron. Ground balance was 4. This ground has plenty of magnetite, square nails, modern nails and is loaded with many years of aluminum and steel trash. There are very few places to ground balance. I heard a deep iron signal, saw red numbers and decided to turn on it and I was able to hear some faint, very short intermittent high conductor tones along with lots of iron tones. I pinpointed the target area with the Manticore's onboard pinpoint function and was able to isolate two separate targets and saw them clearly on the 2D screen with one upper area iron and the other at the high conductor far right edge of the non ferrous line. Depth was 8" on the depth meter. I dug the high conductor farthest right target first and it turned out to be the silver Washington quarter laying half way on edge at the center of the dig hole about 7" deep. My handheld pinpointer was still picking up a target on the left edge of the hole which turned out to be the business end of that iron skeleton key in the photo. It was laying horizontally. I recovered it, filled the hole and rescanned. I got a coin sized high conductor target response plain as day with target IDs ranging from 90 to 99 with very few intermittent iron responses about 6" to the left of the hole that contained the Washington quarter and skeleton key. Depth was again 8" on the depth meter and only one solid target trace was at the far right of the non-ferrous line on the 2D screen. Basically, I was starting to freak out. I certainly had not heard any target responses like that with the other detectors that I had used at this spot. The Walking Liberty half dollar was about 8" deep standing straight up on edge at the center of the dig hole. Basically, the Walking Liberty half and the silver Washington quarter were in a spill at the same depth with the skeleton key laying roughly horizontally between them and they were all under the Manticore's 11" coil at the same time. They were situated sort of like this but buried under about 7" of iron mineralized dirt.
    29 points
  10. I was less than neutral about Minelab's Manticore when it was introduced. I wasn't negative about it but I certainly did not celebrate its release or the fanfare that went with it. I waited for almost a year before buying one. Thanks Gerry/Gerry's Detectors for making my Manticore purchase happen!!! I only started using it full time for coin and jewelry hunting around the last week of January 2024 when it warmed up enough here to melt most of the snow. We have had small amounts of snow and cool temperatures since with no hard freezes so hunting for deeper targets in moist soil conditions has been ideal and still is now after the 14" of snow melted from a recent blizzard. So my Manticore has been doing great (so did my Deus 2 with 13X11" coil during September and October of 2023) as far as detecting these deeper, challenging targets shown in the photo by giving me enough information to choose to recover them. Sure, I am digging some rusted nails too but my US wheat penny count for the last two months is 128 and I haven't dug anywhere close to 128 rusted nails. All of these silver, gold and copper target finds have been in public parks. All targets were at least 6" to 12" deep and there were no easy, totally isolated, no brainer finds. All were in high iron mineralized dirt that by itself would mask these targets using single frequency VLF detectors and these parks have plenty of trash to deal with and listen to. Plus, I have hunted these same parks extensively with the Equinox 800 and I did not find those 128 wheat pennies or the targets in the photo. With the Equinox 800, I would average 1 or 2 wheats a week, a silver ring or jewelry find once a week and a silver coin and gold jewelry find once a month at these same parks. I am using All Terrain General with the All Metal discrimination pattern and the ATG Preset default upper and lower ferrous limits unchanged, Normal audio theme, 5 tones with tone volumes, tone pitches and tone breaks adjusted for my preferred targets, recovery speed 4 or 5, and sensitivity between 22 and 24 with the stock 11" coil. Basically, I had no idea that this much silver was still left in these parks and I have only hunted 22 times during the last 2 months in parks that are old enough to have these types of targets. Thanks Minelab for the Manticore!!!
    26 points
  11. Yeah not my cup of tea. Not watching is the answer. Walk away. Some people brought themselves low in response to Calabash. Too often we become what we respond to. Find another path. And since this forum is not a place where I think we need to discuss people I’m going to bring this thread to a stop. The forum is about gold prospecting and metal detecting, it’s not about what we think of other people. I’ll just end by stating I have plenty of failings as a human being and that makes it pretty easy for me to forgive failings in other people. Life is hard and we never really know other people, the things they suffer that make them act like they act. A little humility and forgiveness goes a long way. You all have a great day.
    25 points
  12. My son is with me on the island at the moment and we're nutting out the pros and cons of buying an exploration permit in Cape York (see another post).. As we were talking about detector prospecting it struck me the amount of times I mentioned Steve.. As in: 'Steve's timing matrix for the GPX 5000 just about explains all you need to know' or 'Steve explains somewhere about using hot VLF detectors when scrapping away the top layer to find really small nuggets'.. When he asked who Steve was, I was a bit lost as how to explain him.. Somehow I'd made Steve sound like a mate and a guru all at the same time.. So I told him to read what Steve had to say and make up his own mind as to who Steve is.. He read loads of pages I've saved from this forum where Steve explains the finer details about nugget hunting and the technology involved.. As he was reading he mentioned that he now understood much better how his Gold Bug worked.. He's been a bit unconventional in how he uses it as he's mainly a panning and sluicing dude and the Gold Bug is used to scan the ground to get an idea of black sand before he starts carting away buckets of soil.. It seems to work for him.. But it's little things like his moment of understanding that made me realize what an incredible source of knowledge Steve is.. I'm not trying to blow smoke up Steve's arse or score any brownie points but when I think about the amount of times I've referred to his wise words it makes me want to nominate him for nugget hunter Sainthood.. So thanks Steve, your willingness to share your knowledge is very much appreciated - even by the next generation..
    24 points
  13. It's been rainy the last few days, yesterday was so windy it wasn't worth going out. Today was supposed to be warm, it got up to 65 but was 42 in the morning. I loaded up my WS6 Master with the 9" coil and my Deus 2 with the 13", and went to the field about a half mile away. I haven't been to this spot in a couple of years, an old house stood here, and I got lots of coins and other late 19th century stuff. I really didn't think I'd get much today, but I did. I walked around where the house was for a while, really behind it. I found a couple of things , and decided to head out to a small corner that I only searched for a short time but found some buttons and a couple of IHPs long ago. Little did I know the spot was a small hotspot, I kept finding coins and buttons in there until there was nothing left. The area was only about 50x50 feet, maybe less. There was evidence of cooking pits there and chunks of sandstone indicating a much older structure. Each pit had large iron in the bottom, I assume a kettle long rusted away, and lots of oyster shells. That is always a good sign. I dug 3 IHPs, the only one I could read was an 1888. The other two are toasted, one slick and the other very encrusted. When the spot dried up I went back to the house area. A big surprise was digging my first Flying Eagle cent! It wasn't until I cleaned everything up that I found I had a second one. They're pretty toasted but I can make out enough of the 8's to know they aren't all that rare, but that's about it. It was kind of a thrill to know I got two today. That wasn't all though. Here's the stuff I probably can't fit in a display box, Looks like I dug a broken and bent musket trigger guard: Got some sort of tap or plug, some recent dog tags from 2006, a lock slide, a parasol slide, and a D Buckle full of the iron pin. Here's the trash, looks like a lot but it fits in my hand: It's all just buckshot, bits of lead and aluminum. I think there's a mangled spoon bowl in there. Ok, now for the finds: I got a Buffalo and a V Nickel at the house site, no date on the Buffalo but the V is probably 1893. At first I thought it said 1882 but that would not be my luck. 😀 Got a skeleton key, a Yankee minié ball, a small brass salamander with enameled toes, and 3 buttons, a fantastic ball button, a small thick Gilt button with some gold left, and my favorite: It says "Colombia Libertad". I looked it up and while there are many celebrating the liberation of Colombia from Spain in 1810, I cannot find this one anywhere. The back has "Colour" on it, so I assume it was made in England or an English territory. I don't know where the nicks came from. 🤔 It's definitely the 1810-1850 style that is single piece. I also dug this interesting lead coin, it has lettering on it. If anyone has any information about the Colombian button I would appreciate it!
    24 points
  14. Not so long back I had a farmer friend call me and let me know that he was pulling out a fence on his property and that it was crossing a line of gold that I had detected years ago. Would I be interested in detecting the old fence lining in the hope of picking up some possible gold that may have been hidden by the fence? Naturally I replied in the affirmative, and seeing how James was having his yearly time off from farming I asked my farmer friend if it would be okay to bring my good mate along as well? He said that if I vouched for him it would be fine. The percentage for each was agreed upon, so we loaded up the old van and headed south. The fence line was a disappointment as there was old wire everywhere and soon proved to be a nightmare that yielded nothing. Also an old dam bank that could have been a chance was another waste of time. An area that I had always thought a bit too far west of the main line of enrichment looked interesting, having the right mix of stone and soil, so I gave it a shot while James detected further north. A couple of small bits soon turned up so I decided to zig zag southward to see if the colours might continue. For a while it was only bullets and broken bits off farm machinery until there came a broad signal that whispered up from depth. I took a big deep breath and slowly scanned the suspect hum. It sounded good even though just a murmur, and too positive and regular to be ground noise, not changing at all no matter from which direction or slight ground balance change. Once through the top soil the gravel began to show and confidence grew, although I was not 'spending the money' until at a couple of feet the source of the signal was unearthed. The dirty lump in my hand by its very weight told me what it was. With a wash and weigh the gold was revealed as a pretty ironstone and quartz bit over fourteen ounces. The best bit yet for my 6000 and 11' coil. Who says these are a 'flypoop' machine? James and I then gridded out the run for a half kilo altogether, his best bit being a nice worn and clean 2oz lump. Needless to say, our farmer friend was surprised and pretty 'chuffed'.
    23 points
  15. Condor and I met Andy out in the desert during a brief spell of good weather for a little detector testing and nugget hunting. Andy put together some good video footage during the trip of the Axiom in action.
    22 points
  16. I've been slow out of the gates for the 3rd year in a row, but hopefully I can follow through better than recently. I do have some ideas for sites I haven't hunted (and if I'm real lucky, no one else has either). But that needs to wait for summer. In the meantime.... A site that has produced modestly (Wheaties and a few silver dimes) in the past has a previously closed area that's opened up. I was able to get out last weekend and give the Manticore a chance. Here's what I found in 3 hours: The highlight is the four silvers, the best of those being the nearly uncirculated 1953-D Roosie. It's a very common date+mintmark but a bonus is that it's from my birth year. Wish I looked that good after 70 years. Maybe being buried in the ground is an advantage! 😁 (On second thought, I'll find out about that soon enough....) The denomination breakdown is interesting but may not be terribly meaningful: three 1-centers (two are Wheaties), nine 5-centers ('nickels), three dimes but two are silver (I'll take that ratio!), no 25-centers at all. Only three of the nickels have dates later than 1964. Has this area ever been searched? And how long has it been 'uninhabited'? Or did someone hunt it decades ago but ignored nickels, not wanting to dig beavertails? Note I found more nickels than imposters (five folded-over beavertails, a couple pencil ferrules, and a misc. scrap of aluminum). The shotgun butt (next to the padlock) is very likely from quite long ago given this area has been settled for longer than I've been alive. The small item left of the padlock is a piece of junk jewelry, probably a broken off pierced earpiece (plated copper with a blue glass 'stone'). I didn't photograph all the trash targets, but that's 2/3 to 3/4 of them. Surprisingly the two Warnicks (1943-P and 1943-S) show the gray patina that is representative of that population which have circulated but never been in the ground. Usually the acid in the soil eats off that surface, leaving the white metal (silver) finish. For one of the two I didn't even realize what it was until I got home and cleaned off the dirt. Only one coin was even close to being challenging -- the Roosie was 7 1/2 inches deep. I picked up a faint but clean signal with the Manticore 11" coil (All Terrain High Conductor mode). While investigating I turned up the sensitivity from 17 to 21, then backed off to 19 for the rest of the hunt. It definitely sounded louder at the higher sensitivity settings. (In my test garden it seems going much higher than 18 smears out the VDI resolution, getting worse the higher the sensitivity. That's why I've been using 17.) Anyway, I'm not done there so hopefully I can show more goodies in the near future. Quantity of hunts has been low but quality of finds the opposite!
    21 points
  17. I recently had some doubts in using the main detector and was pondering the possibility of eliminating some by selling. In detail, I complained of some high ID response that I accidentally dug up in the absence of decent signals. The last victorious session, brought me a 6.49-gram 18K wedding ring and by sheer luck, with an amazing 80, I deigned to dig it out. So this morning I decided to go out with a dear old detector, one that doesn't mess around, and the numbers are shocking considering the spot, the devastated condition of the clay and rocks, and lousy visibility. After 4 1/2 hours on the bottom, thanks to the use of hooka compressor, I flushed out 4 pieces totaling 20 "dirty" grams. The numbers speak for themselves, and I am beginning to have clearer ideas.... I will add no more...
    21 points
  18. I took up a ritual as a pure pastime, devoting a few hours to the shoreline. Some time ago I found with great wonder, a small ring in a really forgotten stretch of a beach, where I could barely find iron and a few coins. This morning, it being stormy and so for the rest of the week, I returned a little further than the spot where I was successful. The only promising area with obvious erosion was about 10 square meters. A very strong concentration of clay and black sand was making Ctx sick, so I immediately opened the pattern and changed separation, given the incredible masking I could hear. What happened next, in a dozen coins, is nothing short of a miracle for me. For the first time I found myself looking for a pendant that might belong to the necklace instead of the other way around, and the little ring had opened a sliver of hope amidst very obvious signals, but mixed with really too much iron. I think the necklace gave a minimal signal because of the knot along the links by the way. Nothing else to record for today, but what a day guys!
    20 points
  19. Today Chase came down for a "do your own thing" sort of hunt, we went to a permission of mine that almost guarantees at least something old. It was pretty cloudy today but exceptionally warm for mid March, there was a threat of rain all day but it never did, thankfully. The ground is still wet from the last storm under the surface, but the high winds blew the surface dry. I always fear Chase will come all the way down and not find much, but he did ok, just about the same as me but more buttons. It ended up being a good day despite the heat and the gnats that were everywhere. I only got 4 buttons today, one may be a small boss, but the biggest one is a silvered Dandy button. The smallest one has backmarks, and the top left one has some gold flowers on the front. I have no idea what the extremely figured piece of metal is top center. I even got a 1996 dime, my pay for the day 🤣 Of course the feature item I found today was the complete spectacle buckle, my book says pre-1650, so it's pushing 400 years old. 😎 This might be the first complete one I've ever found, I usually find them in pieces. Overall it was a great day to get out there, it won't be long now until the fields are planted. Only a handful of junk, this place isn't too trashy.
    20 points
  20. Jim Straight taught me a naughty trick on how to learn where to go to find the Most Happy Yellow Metal. He approached me at a Gold Show, and dropped an awesome chunk of Auriferous quartz into my hand. "Where do you think this came from?" he asked. I answered [Place A]? "Nope. Not there" he answered. "How about [Place B]? says I. "No, not there either" came his reply. "Okay, it's gotta be [Place C], right?" "Sorry, Jimmy, your three guesses are up." He then turned to walk away. "Aren't you going to tell me where it came from?" "Nope. But I did learn about three new places to find this kind of stuff. Thanks!" And, yes, this a true story. HH Jim
    20 points
  21. Took the D2 out to a small Confederate camp using the general program because the ground is saturated. Three tone, notch 07-40, tone break at 68. I had dug several bullets all ringing up as 82 when I got a solid 84. Out came this cut 1730's Spanish silver. you can see the beginning of a 3 for the third digit in the date
    19 points
  22. So Bob (@F350Platinum) documented our wild ride this week at our newish permission, a field with an unexpected house site on it. It was amazing. When we first surveyed it a couple weeks we knew it was going to be tough going with aluminum trash as expected nearer the main road and a ton of iron at the actual home site. I lucked out that first brief hunt at the end of a long day with a minie ball, a flat button, a silver spoon bowl, a wheatie, and, amazingly, the only silver coin ('64 Rosie) we've pulled out so far, all in quick succession. When I met up with Bob this time, he was semi-gridding the property adjacent to the access road/driveway were I had found the previous items and I was picking my way through the aluminum to get my "ears on". My first keeper was a '58 Jefferson. I then hit a few pieces of miscellaneous brass including some of those keyboard instrument brass "reeds" or whatever. I then hit a honker non-ferrous signal and hesitated whether to dig what I thought was going to be a smashed beer can or or worse. I decided to go for it, and to my surprise, I dug a late 1800's vintage Champion 6-Lever lock. This is a fairly common antique lock that was built to last and an built to be secure. It was in amazing condition. I joked to Bob that we should find the safe this thing was attached to...little did I know that statement sort of foreshadowed how the rest of the day would go. I dug a handful of early 1900's wheats, a 1940 nickel, and also a toasted Buffalo nickel. I then dug an amazing brass padlock key for a much older lock than the one I found and a pieces of a Colonial era English lock key latch cover marked with a Crown - perhaps belonging to the lock matching the key I found earlier. I dug a couple of other interesting brass things including a brooch or pin with a rippled shell-like texture and an ornate little brass ornamental with a square loop. After digging a number of those keyboard reed thingy's and little else of note, I decided to do a walkaround of the small plot, as I was making my way towards the back I dug a couple of matching costume jewelry type pieces of gold gilt over hollow brass that looked like pieces of a bracelet of some sort. Didn't think much of it. I then dug a brass makeup case that still had makeup in it. Anyway, as I moved out of the debris field of the house, things went quiet and I did not dig anything but a couple of random pieces of aluminum. I made my way back to where Bob was detecting. I saw him sitting on the ground for awhile and playing with his phone as I was swinging my way back, which typically means he found something good. I was right, he gave me the thumbs up signal, and showed me the incredible silver ring and stone. after chatting about that, I got a target not 5 feet away and it was a gold plated cufflink, with an art deco style design. After that it was off to the jewelry races with us recovering a number of jewelry related items, buttons, and pieces of silverware and miscellaneous silver bits. The coolest piece for me was a silver brooch with a translucent blue stone and a silver cufflink. Anyway, it was one of those rare "dig a minute" type days, and even though few of the items were as old as what we usually dig in that area, it was a great day by any measure and the weather was perfect. We are just wondering where the heck are all the silver coins. BTW - I was mostly using my custom setup of the Deus 2 Relic Program (IAR at 5, Reactivity set as needed, PCM audio) with the 9" Round Coil and occasionally searching and interrogating with the General Program using Full Tones and High Square audio. Thanks, Bob for another great detecting day and for not spanking me too badly. You were really making some nice ring saves and I didn't have much to show for lots of digging up to that point until we unlocked that "jewelry box". Good times.
    19 points
  23. I went out for two days in the NV desert to use my new Axiom. I played with the setting for the first day trying to figure out the machine and what it was telling me. By the end of the day I was running a negative threshold. Day two I spent the morning in an area that looked promising. Tons of quartz and thermally altered schist with veins of quartz mixed in. This area was absolutely silent except for a 22 bullet down about six inches. I decided to give Rye Patch district a go on the way home. The Axiom ran so quiet in the morning I thought I was way off on what I was doing. At Rye Patch I started picking up minuscule bits or iron. I was also finding tiny fragments of bullets. I met a fellow detectorist while I was there. He was using the 6000, a 4500 I think, and a goldmonster. Preferring the 4500 over the 6000 which he said was giving to much feedback with the underlying clays being so wet. Since I was finding so many little fragments and bits I knew the machine was working as it should. When I found a target I would scrape the top 1-2" and check to see if it moved. Most of the little bits were surface. A few troublesome pieces of wire were 4" down. It was getting late and I was still working on the skunk. I was headed back to the truck and got a nice hi low sound that gave a similar result when I turned on it. I scratched off two inches and it sounded better. Went to 4" and it sounded better. At 4" I was hitting some rocks. I pried the first one out and poked the nose of the coil in the hole. The sound was so good. I pried the second rock out and stuck the coil in the hole. Nothing. Checked the rock and it's a fantastic signal. I scraped the clay off the rock and ran that glob over the coil. I had it. My first nugget ever! Update of first impression. The Axiom battery seems like it will run forever. It dropped 1 bar day one and 1 bar day two. I did re-charge it overnight. The arm cuff felt tight the first night I tried it but it flexed into a good fit. The Zlink headphones will drop out if not positioned properly. The settings I settled were 7 and -7. Very little ground noise.
    18 points
  24. This posts a bit of a waste of time but any information is better than nothing. The coast has had pretty bad weather for a while now, today was meant to be a break in the weather and it was nice and sunny at home when I woke up so I thought I'd try take the Algoforce to the beach and try it out, I was going to be in the area anyway as my dentist is near to this beach and I had an appointment, seeing it's over an hour's drive each way to my dentist I figured it's a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and hit the beach before the appointment. Half way to the beach the wind picked up, the sky was grey and it was raining, great! I'd not want to live on the South coast of NZ, it's sure got some weather issues, drive inland an hour and you're in a vastly different climate. It doesn't help some storm from Antartica is sweeping over our island over the coming days either, so I'll have to try the beach again another day. I did film a small video while there, I dug a hole in the sand and put a $1 coin at the depth the Equinox started to lose the target, if I went much deeper the Equinox didn't pick it up at all, I was worried when I backfilled the hole the Nox may lose it but it kept the target, it was up averaging the ID's a lot, it should ID the coin flicking between 21 and 22. The Algo at that depth gave a near perfect ID on the coin which should be 66 according to an air test, I also experimented before backfilling the hole with the coin in there and the Algoforce was picking up the coin with a target signal deeper than the Equinox would. The Algoforce does lose the Target ID's at some point in depth when it still had the target signal. From this little experiment I've worked out on this beach at least I would be able to ID this coin much more accurately and deeper than the Equinox 800 can in the settings I was in, which was Beach 1, all defaults, ground balanced and 24 sensitivity. I didn't play around a lot as it was only about 5 minutes after I jumped in my car to leave the heavy rain kicked in. I did briefly take the Algo down to the salt water and have a try at ground balancing and it worked fine, this was all with the 10" Spiral X-coil, my most sensitive to small targets GPX coil so I was quite happy about that. The tide was right out so I didn't go all the way to the water to dunk the coil, It was too cold. I only didn't take my Manticore to check against it as when I went to grab it I had left the M8 coil on it and was in a rush to get out of the door so I couldn't be bothered trying to find the other coil and fitting it, so the Nox got the job 🙂 I think the Manticore would have done better than the Nox. Pure estimate, the coin was about 20 cm deep. (8 inches) The Beach does have some black sand, not ridiculous like some beaches around NZ, but still enough to cause a bit of havoc with VLFs. Here's the Video, I've kept it unlisted on Youtube as it's not very good and doesn't give all that much information but the best I could do given the circumstances. I'll try again on a nicer day when I have more time. I'm also kicking myself I didn't dig the target I found when in the wet sand, it could have been a ring, the right ID range, I was talking myself out of it as I would have had to go to the car and get the shovel and I just wanted to leave 😉 This is the weather I was dealing with; it's meant to get worse over the coming days and all the purple area is going to be snow, blue is cold air. Red and yellow are the warmer air. I'm guessing the maroon colour over Australia is the crazy hot air, we don't get that here 😛
    18 points
  25. Over the years I have repaired several coils with dried out masking tape and a couple of dried out carbon sponges. I will relate on of my experiences with one coil while detecting in a new undisturbed gully. Detected and dug a few square nails then the detector goes crazy making all kinds of noise. With more than 60 years of electronics experience I know how to fix most problems. Turn it off and back on; several cycles later go to plan B; tap it gently; after banging it into rocks and trees; give up and have lunch on a big flat rock. Since we car pool going home early isn’t an option. From the previous scientific diagnostic testing (remember the banging of the coil test) it was determined that the problem was inside of the coil. Probably getting revenge for allowing myself and it to slide and crash into a gully the previous week. And there is no spare coil available; it’s time for another plan. A Pulse Induction Mono coil is a simple three wire circuit inside of a sealed waterproof plastic shell. So simple even that MacGyver TV guy could handle this. Have you ever seen someone whetstone their prize Buck Knife until they can shave with it. Well it’s that time to put it to work. Working on my leg-top workbench I peeled off the tape that holds the skid plate to the coil housing. Then with my razor sharp Buck Knife cut and pried through the sealed plastic seam around the perimeter of the coil. Spliced the broken shield wire and secured it with a piece of the skid plate tape. Closed it up and secured it with the remaining tape. At this point I realized that I hadn’t stabbed my leg or cut a single finger! Now for the test; turned it on and it purred like a kitten; went about 10ft and got a soft nice sounding target. Dug down about 10” and came up with a beautiful 13.8 dwt / 21.5 grams nugget! Some days it's just written in the stars.
    18 points
  26. (if lazy to read, skip to the bottom for the video and pic) Hiii guys!! I'm back. Lots of no work at the moment, plenty of time off to hit up some beaches whilst we still have some hot days left in our Aussie summer. Practically living off gold finds at the moment LOL . Had a few beers so mind the lazy grammar tonight sorry! 😄 I went out on the weekend at sunset, it was over 30 degrees C, very hot and very busy. Almost did not go in the water because it was a little bit choppy and there was lots of people swimming. Little did I know another prospector whom I know was watching wondering why we were pondering so hard from the carpark hahaha. Finally went down, said g'day and he wished us luck. Wow the water was amazing!! You can hear how busy it was, I even had a woman skim over the top of me on her surfboard which you can see in the video, just as I found a gold ring. The first hunt, I got in the water and found a coin right away, then the 18ct band, all within 3.5 minutes of actually getting in the water! which told me there was going to be plenty to find. I think that's the fastest gold ring I've found. When I came to this spot 2 weeks ago it was sooo sanded in, I got almost nothing after about 4 hours so I'm very glad to see lots of clay and rocks this day. The 20gm silver bar was random, it has a name and date on the back and cleaned up really nice, 20 grams of 999 silver. Lots of silver on those rocky parts, rarely gold for some reason? Maybe cleaned up by said friend already lol I got 1 ring which looked silver but rang up really low, so I'm thinking maybe pewter. all others were gold and then a junk ring which was on the wet sand. went out the next morning at 6am and as soon as there was some daylight I was right in the water. another 3 gold rings. Yay. I cut down about 5 hours of gopro footage to 8 minutes to skip all the boring parts. No talking, no music, no bs. Simple video for all to watch just showing the finds. I plan on editing it further one day and maybe doing a proper youtube video, hence the watermark slapped right in the middle and the dull ending. I think the wrist watch will work, it hasn't got any water in it, I'm just waiting for a new battery to arrive whilst it airs out. Definitely been there a while! I found a old Tag Huer 2000 there last week about 20 meters away which was completely ruined sadly. Total weight was just over 20 grams of gold, about $1100 AUD in scrap. Assuming the "S" pattern one is 9ct for hope sake but it kinda looks like 18ct, just not hallmarked. Obviously using the Manticore - I gave up with the D2. Gave it a chance a few weeks ago but far too noisy (in this spot), too fidgety, too hard to charge, too annoying, too many breakable parts, too quiet and already on my 3-4th warranty. On a side note; I'm using the gopro hero+ since I lost my hero3 last winter. I have the WASABI extended battery, total was about $50aud and the mask from China was about $17. I like it much better than the hero 3, theres a much wider lens i think. I had lots of issues getting it going which turned out to be a non compatible SD card in the end. the battery is fine without the extended battery, I get 2-3 hours of recording and I love it! sadly I don't think they can handle anything above 32gb SD cards so I'm a littleeee limited on storage, whereas I had 64gb compatibility on the hero 3 - it was just impossible to find an extended battery setup from WASABI since they're discontinued.. hell even the Hero+ ones are "old stock clearance" now. Super open to criticism about video quality/editing if anyone wants to input some feedback whether positive or negative 🙂 Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNYQJI897Tg
    17 points
  27. Well, at long last the book has started. I never realized how many stories I had filed away or how many stories I've posted over the years on the Internet, and it's a bit of a slog to get things organized, but it's coming together. As for how long it will take, I don't know, but I may have to release my stories in different segments as I can't see how I'll get them all in one book. All the best to those of you lucky enough to chase the gold in warmer locations (I only get into the desert seasonally for short bursts of time during our northern winters), but I love chasing the gold in the desert, and I love the rich history of mining I find there. The most recent hunts have been in Nevada, and Nevada is absolutely amazing its rich mineral deposits right from the bottom (by California and Arizona) to the top (California, Oregon, Idaho). Lots and lots of places to look for gold in Nevada, and it's also easy to hop over to California and Arizona as well while I'm wintering in the bottom part of the state of Nevada. All the best, and good luck with finding the gold, Lanny
    17 points
  28. I know many of you are aware, but I'm posting this for those who may not be familiar with the situation in the US regarding service. Until the end of 2023 Detector Center was the sole service provider for Minelab, providing warranty and non-warranty repairs of its detectors. Starting Jan 1 2024, Minelab has taken this role back in house for warranty repairs. However I just wanted to post a short blurb that Detector Center is still here.... we continue to complete non-warranty service of your favorite Minelab - be it a gold machine, coin detector, or water hunting detector, etc. Basically, if it's under warranty - get it taken care of by Minelab. But if it's out of warranty we can help.... as the techs are here and we continue to stock the vast majority of the parts needed to fix these detectors. Now in regards to some our favorite older detectors (15 years old and older) sometimes we run into the situation where there simply are no parts to be found.... unless we have something to salvage from another detector. So if you need a repair on something older, it is best to give us a call and talk with one of the techs to get a feel if its repairable or not. Also we can sell you some small parts that are otherwise hard to obtain through your dealer.... not all are listed on our website so don't be afraid to ask if something you need is not listed.... 🙂 In the event you need to set up a repair it's easy - just go to https://www.detectorrepair.com and follow the links to set up the repair... or give us a call at 814-283-4270 to discuss your options. Thanks for your time everyone, and to Steve for letting me post this here.
    17 points
  29. I have been detecting with people who claim that small gold is too small for them. Yet if I am digging small bits with a detector and their detector can’t find those bits, I’ve never seen a person yet that was happy about that. The question is, do you want to be finding gold or not? I’ve dug as many as 100 of those tiny bits in a day with a Gold Bug 2 and you know what, they add up. Plus, they keep you going until a larger nugget comes along. People who are finding nothing tend to go home. People finding a tiny bit every 10-15 minutes tend to keep at it. In general I have to chuckle at people who say they detect for the fresh air, and those that say small gold is not worth their time. Except Reg of course. No, the rest of us are out there to find gold and small gold is better than no gold.
    17 points
  30. This one is for the button fan, I dug a 1926 wheat in another field but that was it for the coins. Invited Chase up for one of the last hunts here, a new 100 acre permission that I didn't find much in before, we set out to scout the other half of it that I didn't get to. It's a huge field that had beans on it last year, usually I prefer to hunt in bean stalks but this one is tough, the stalks are too tall. We ran into a farmer friend who told us this is because when they are rushing to get the beans before a rain, they lift the combine collector and don't cut them short. The stalks become really stiff by spring and are very hard to walk on, they chip at your shoes and can go through your hand or foot if you're not careful. 😬 We set out heading to the other side of the field, Chase went ahead and hunted around the old barn, I think he got a couple of wheats there. I walked up the center of the field not expecting anything, I had crisscrossed this field before and found literally nothing. Got a 47 and dug this rolled copper "tinkler" that was traded with the Indians: https://www.nativetech.org/metal/tinkle/tinkle.html It would be a "point" or arrowhead if it had a point, these were hung on their clothing and they jingle. I immediately went into circle mode, making a spiral around the place I found the first object, and hit 3 buttons. By this time Chase was way across the field, so I noted where I found this stuff and joined him to scout the rest of the place. We found next to nothing, I got just a few buckle bits. We decided to go back to this "hotspot" and the buttons just kept coming, I think between us we found well over 20. Small cuff buttons, medium buttons, a couple large, both brass and Tombac. They were everywhere in about an acre or so. What I thought might be a pretty bad day turned out to be a great one, I got all this: 16 buttons and a bunch of other brass stuff. Chase did as well. When things wound down we quit for the day, but there are certainly more there. Here's the trash, only a handful but I got fooled by a few bits of big iron today: I was using Relic exclusively, with the 13" coil on the Deus 2, with reactivity at 1 and Audio response 7. Some of the buttons were over 10" deep! We found other artifacts that deep too. Sadly we found no coins in that spot. We think it was an area where people got together and traded stuff in the 1600s and 1700s, and possibly with the Indians as well. This is a great example of how you really have to search a farm to find the hotspots, it takes a lot of determination and some really good guesses. You just can't give up! There may be another hotspot here, there is a part of the field we didn't go to, but we'll get there. 🍀
    16 points
  31. After the last three days of waiting, with little pronounced swell but enough to make the surf area impassable, this morning I tried to hang on despite the water still being choppy and the visibility really bad. Once again, a pattern with really tight high and low iron limits selected the few signals worthy of digging. I must say that while limiting the sensitivity, I am afraid it is the only efficient way for me to make an effective session in certain conditions. As usual the cam's battery died before the glory shine and however, just sand suspension and fast water it's been the subject for 99% of the dive session.
    16 points
  32. I recently had some doubts about the effectiveness of my sessions and made a radical change in instrumentation. Although I had been adopting the Deus 2 on the bottom for a year continuously now, I first overdid it by dusting the immortal Excalibur and later dusting the Ctx3030... Last week the numbers suddenly spiked and I reluctantly decided to sell the Deus 2. As I write, the new owner of the remote is getting ready to go out for the first time to the beach with my former detector. What happened this morning, however, marks a historic date for me. I am a diver, I practice the shoreline very little, and in my area, given the minimal tidal variation, practically after the first autumn storms the equipment is all in the water... Well, after years, I pulled up a ring in one of the worst spots where nothing but aluminum, iron and rarely any coins turn up. I hate to repeat it, but the time saved by avoiding digging out any possible sign made all the difference. Little does the bit of gold matter; getting to dig it up matters to me. I have no words 🏴‍☠️
    16 points
  33. We get out and sometimes we find nice things along with the junk! This was a pretty nice find.
    16 points
  34. Got out today despite the threat of rain to see if I could tease any more jewelry out of the site where I found the big silver ring. The day started out nice and warm, about 55, so not bad. Ended up with rain late in the day, Today I used Tekkna and Relic, Tekkna where it was really trashy. I want to mention that while Tekkna is a great program, you only dig when you get a consistent signal, it's probably not the best when the place is loaded with aluminum and brass, and molten bits of metal. Since I was using it to find any more jewelry items, I ended up digging a horrific amount of junk: However, no iron at all. 🙂 Finds were still pretty cool, and I kept my silver streak going. Ended up with an assortment of the really old and new, especially the 1906 IHP and the 1946 Roosevelt dime. Got some wheats, some interesting tags, and a couple of thimbles. I did get one piece of jewelry, this Sterling collar stud, this is the front: And this is the back.
    16 points
  35. I was looking through some of my old pictures today and man the memories! Many years ago I had the occasion to go to Rye Patch for an outing. Now I had been to Rye Patch a couple of times. Once I got snowed out on the second day and once I got rained out on the second day. First time I went was in 1991 in my little Suzuki Samurai. I loved that little buggy. I didn't care that I could see the ground passing under me through the rotted-out floorboard. LOL This time I went North most importantly knowing, I would see some old friends and catch up on non-sense. Little did I know I would meet a couple of new friends who were about the sweetest folks I have ever met. So this goofy guy, named Lucky, and his lovely wife Robin sort of took me under their wing. Lucky invited me to come along with him the next day prospecting and man he put me right in the middle of the gold. And by the way, if anyone knows how to find gold it is Lucky Lundquist. Probably no one knows more about Rye Patch than Lucky. The stay in Rye Patch was one of my most memorable. and not because of the little gold I dug out of the ground, but the big golden friendship that was formed with Lucky and Robin. They invited me to eat with them, and we shared stories. Lucky can hang with the best of them when it comes to storytelling. And he is funny as all get out and genuine and just an all-around nice man. He's the kind of guy you are proud to call a friend. So Lucky! This one's for you buddy. God Bless You and Robin. Doc
    16 points
  36. Turn down your sensitivity. ”but then I won’t go as deep” Yes, but you will have stable target id. ”I want stable target id but I don’t want to lose depth by turning down the sensitivity” That’s nice but target id stability is directly related to mode choice and sensitivity setting. Going for max depth will in most cases cause target id instability. Nearly everything in detecting is a trade and if you push the absolute limit of depth target id accuracy will suffer. The worse the ground, the more true this is. It’s always been that way with metal detectors and always will be. ”yeah but if I lower the sensitivity of my new whiz bang detector now it goes no deeper than this old model” Metal detectors used to be less powerful and in general manufacturers put high priority on accurate target id. Back in the day you could almost always run sensitivity maxed out with little problem because older models were in effect throttle limited. Now, as we reach the limits of detector depth, manufacturers are making machines that can easily push past the stability red line. Sensitivity controls literally go higher than they used to - the throttle limiters are being pulled off in the name of “more depth.” Yet people in general, not saying you in particular, just users in general, have a fear of backing the sensitivity down. This leads to far more complaints these days about target id stability as people try to run new detectors at sensitivity levels set like they did with some older detector. With all detectors target id stability is a direct detector feedback to you, the user, about the status of your current settings. If the settings are too high, target id will become unstable and the numbers jump around. That is the machine screaming at users “turn down the sensitivity.” So either find the setting that gives you the stability you crave, or push higher and deal with jumpy target id. It’s a choice. If target id stability is the gauge, it is very possible that new machines set to be stable will go no deeper than older machines set to be stable.
    15 points
  37. I actually like digging clad. So... Pigging out on a big clad haul is always fun for me. And, clad pig outs are getting fewer and farther between as the clad just kind of dries up for good it seems. Last Friday, I got out to a known clad sprinkle. It's super, super pop tab and bottle cap trashy, but the trash is also just littered with clad. I worked it over for awhile with the M8 and did pretty good on the clad. Got tired of digging so much and wandered off into a little wooded section, where it was if anything even more trashy and also sprinkled with clad. But, from about a foot apart, I pulled these two pretty oldies out. I don't see intact old pocket watches, like, ever. I've dug a lot of backs, and frames, and guts, and lids, but this is the first time I've dug one fully together. The token, I could tell was unusual, but not sure what it was. Found what it looked like when new online - poached these two pictures. Did not find any date for them, but if $10 off a used car was worth advertising, it has to be pretty old :D. About then, it went from sprinkling rain and wind to hard wind and hail and it was time to leave. It snowed heavy they next day, which was one week ago today. Snow is melted now one week later and I had a whole entire morning free. So I went back! And hit it with the Manticore and M8 again. And found another cool old relic. A Denver & Rio Grande Railroad padlock, which I was able to find online just now and looks likely from the 1920's. And pigged out on clad too! Over 100 coins, about half of them quarters. Snagged five nickels without a single pop tab. It was a good day. The weather is starting to break, will be able to get out to the ghost towns pretty soon! - Dave
    15 points
  38. No, digital components don't change with age. The newer detectors still have 3 elements that can change, though: the coil, the preamp, and the ADC. The ADC and the opamp used in the preamp are pretty stable. The coil can shift over time, but that will mostly change the null and affects the point where it overloads, but depth should not vary. The preamp has resistors and capacitors, and that's mostly where depth variation can occur. Ironically, many newer designs place the preamp inside the coil so replacing the coil might be the solution if depth degrades.
    15 points
  39. Solid two way 27 with no wavering on the Manticore. Came out in the plug looking shiny yellow. Heavy! Gold Plated Tungsten 💩. Should be international sanctions against this... Disgusting. - Dave
    15 points
  40. Just thought I’d share some of the original adds from the old PI adds. Maybe someone has even some older ones they could share. lot’s of familiar names from the hay days. 😃 Even found some Vlf adds.
    15 points
  41. Currently as I see it, us Aussies (and a certain Kiwi) are the field testers for the AlgoForce and its abilities on the goldfields. As it is high summer Down Under there won’t be many guys out there putting in the hours till the weather cools off some. I have done a couple of short stints with mine at a public detecting area where old gold mines exist and the ground varies from mullock heap pipe clay, cemented conglomerate, heavily mineralised red clay and ironstone. The E1500 is no different to any other PI in fixed gb when it encounters a reactive patch of red clay or deeper larger hot rocks. It will react with a signal that needs investigation. The red clay patches can mostly be dismissed with a ‘proper’ reground balance. By that I mean you should wait for the “beep..beep” sound to occur. This can take up to 6 to 8 pumps of the coil. These pesky buried magnetic hot rocks can’t seem to be ground balanced out though, so I needed to dig ‘em out. Geez, they give a nice sound... even a Z or 6000 would have trouble with these. Anyway I can’t wait to head over to the Victorian goldfields or up north to Tibooburra when the detecting season opens up. I’m sure you guys Up Over will be watching with interest when the gold finds start to appear. I did some in ground testing with some sub grammers as well and was pleasantly surprised with the results. With practice I’m sure I’ll get better at distinguishing between the crisper response of a true target and the broader sound of iffy ground noise and hot rocks.
    15 points
  42. Glad you pointed out the obvious to me and a select few. So many folks want to compare it to top end proven detectors at such prices difference, is just stupid not reasonable in my opinion. Did we see anything from AlgoForce stating depth comparisons to Minelabs and or the Axiom? Not yet anyway and I seriously doubt we will. Does the suggestion of the E-1500 not proving depth as good or better than higher end detectors make it not desired? Not in my mind one bit. Now with that said, I still feel this detector has a Nitch to fill and especially the price point. Lets look back at each one of us and how our gold hunting as progressed. The majority of us in the Sates started with a VLF type gold capable detector. Why? To test the waters. Those of us who enjoyed the challenge eventually stepped up and many of us it was incremental. A White's TDI, Garrett Infinium was within reason price points and those detectors have proven to do better at overall depth on gold. Then for a few of us who had the financial blessings from the wife, stepped even higher on the price machines of $3000+, such as the early PI Minelabs and ATX. With more expereince in the field and justification of finds being dug at better depths, a select few of us (many of DP), reach for the clouds and dropped the big bucks. But what about the masses of people we chat with at Prospecting Clubs, Outings, Gatherings. Look around folks and you'll soon realize us swinging $4000+ detectors are not the norm at all. In fact we are the minority. So, I'm going to stand up and Salute AlgoForce for providing so many new people an option to own a Pulse Induction gold detector that has some amazing features and functions at a price point that's focused on the missing masses. I look forward to seeing the new crowd soon to be coming. Will those of us who own 3 to 6 different detectors purchase one? Some of us still will do it, just because the potential to hunt a few sites in EMI and or use some Iron Discrimination. Thanks Steve/Phrunt for sharing and clearing up some of the folks who have big dreams with such an affordable detector.
    15 points
  43. We've added a new mapping layer to the Land Matters Mining Claim Maps. You will find the new layer under the "Claims" mapping group on every mining claim map. It's named "Mining Claim Fees Paid". The mining claim maps start without the new layer displaying so you will need click the checkbox next to the layer name to begin using this map layer. This new map layer shows the total amount of maintenance fees paid to the BLM for each Section since annual Maintenance fees were begun in 1993. These fee totals are for annual maintenance only and do not include filing or locating fees or the costs associated with State recording fees. Mining bonds and permit expenses are not included. Each Section that has had claims during the period from 1979-2024 are represented in green on the map. The more fees that have been paid for the section the darker the green. Some sections may have $0 in fees paid yet show several claims. These are Sections where all claims were closed before the maintenance fees began in 1993. As you zoom in the amount of fees paid will be displayed in the section. In this example the Fees Paid are displayed between the normal active mining claims display. To get Information at any zoom level you can select the information tool and click on your area of interest will return a window with the number of claims and the total of fees paid in that section. As with all our mining claim maps the current or prior existence of mining claims does not mean that the area is now open to new mining claims. What are annual maintenance fees? Until 1993 all Mining Claims were held by completing a minimum of $100 worth of development work per claim per year. This was known as the mining claim labor requirement. If you didn't perform work on your mining claim each year before 1993 they became invalid. In 1993 Congress, at the request of the BLM, enabled claim owners to pay an annual fee of $100 instead of completing their annual claim development work. This brought in funds to the BLM to administer the program as well as relieving them of their responsibility to check existing mining claims for evidence of development work. No longer did the BLM need to do field work to administer mining claims. Since 1993 the annual claim fees have risen to $165 per year for each Lode claim and $165 per 20 acres for each placer claim. Placer claim fees can be as much as $1,320 per claim. Unlike other government programs the mining claim case administration system at the BLM is entirely supported by claim owner fees. These annual mining claim maintenance fees are paid directly to each BLM State office to offset the costs associated with administrating the mining claim case files. No public monies are used. Here are the totals by State of mining claim fees paid for the years 1994 - 2023 Arizona $507,229,955 California $385,681,600 Colorado $380,865,975 Idaho $307,600,865 Montana. $224,791,660 Nevada $1,523,212,855 New Mexico $190,491,505 Oregon $99,909,290 South Dakota $107,769,290 Utah $556,540,015 Washington. $53,075,435 Wyoming $468,886,230 Total $4,806,054,675 Nearly 5 Billion dollars have been spent by mining claim owners to support BLM mining claim administration. The BLM is now collecting more than 83 million dollars in mining claim maintenance fees each year.
    14 points
  44. Here are some pictures of 3 successful hunts using the M8 on the wet salt beach. The little gold pendant has what I think to be a garnet with tiny diamonds weighing in at 1.4 grams. The other picture showing 2 pieces of gold side by side weigh .4 grams on the 10K thin ring and .8 grams on the 10K toe ring. Another picture shows how this coil is hot on finding open earrings of which some are silver. The "gold" disc pendant is plated over steel. That one had me take notice for a minute or two until I put my magnet next to it. The chain was the deepest I have ever dug one, probably 10 inches. I was hoping it was 10k and heavily corroded but alas... just plated copper. Haven't had much time in the water with the coil yet but so far so good.
    14 points
  45. i had a good day with my vanquish 440 3 silvers and 11 wheats thanks for looking Steve
    14 points
  46. Was running m8 in a nail infested area today. Thanks for looking.
    14 points
  47. You need a thick skin to put yourself out there, especially if you like to stir the pot. I fully sympathize as this forum is largely set up the way it is to protect my own peace of mind. The open internet can be vicious and genuinely harmful if not managed properly. Sometimes it’s just not worth it and the best solution is to step away. He has my best wishes.
    14 points
  48. A Kiwi boy in far north Queensland. D4G
    14 points
  49. I'm just as thrilled finding a bit the size in the photo below as I am a 1-gram nugget, where as it appears some people wouldn't even bend over to pick up a bit a hundred times the size of this one I do it for the fun, the challenge, so finding a bit like this is often harder than a much bigger bit. So for me, the smaller the better, always a great feeling finding the tiniest bits. I have no interest in selling any gold I find, even if I was fortunate enough to stumble on a lot, I'd keep it all, my little throphys have value to me far more than their money value.
    14 points
  50. If you do, outside with lots of fresh air. lol Attached are some photos;
    14 points
×
×
  • Create New...