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Some of you may be wondering if I made it back from Arizona. I did and I'll tell you a bit about it. I left here last Tuesday night at 11 PM (midnight in Arizona) for the 300 mile 5 plus hour trip. As it turned out I was heading to a place where Chet had been the week before. I have a friend who is staying there for the season. It is also near the area where I've found my two largest nuggets so why not go exploring with the 15x10 X-Coil. So that's what I did. I got there after a couple of stops for a total trip time of about 7 hours because the last 10 miles is on a road I can only go 15 miles an hour. We didn't head to the club claims but a couple of other washes away. The bullets, wire and trash were similar to what Chet found but Chet documented his finds much better than I did. I was using Chet's settings part of the time, Lunk's settings part of the time and some others. Many of them seem to work. I was very keen this trip to get that smooth threshold on some occasions and listen to the noises jump around it. I'm a bit out of super prospecting shape but I didn't want to hit the tops only or the bottoms of the washes so I went for benches and sides. The 15x10 let me do this more easily than the other two coils I have. While I use a bungee and hipstick many times I was holding the detector freely as I did for a month or so with my 3030. I have no complaints with its ergodynamics of letting me nose point and get under bushes. The two of us hunted hard for 2/3rds the day trying to take advantage of some pointy fingers and research but came up short. I suggested that we go find something in the meteorite patch before it got dark and that is what we did. We went on the north side of the railroad tracks and hunted for irons. This is the first place I went to hunt for meteorites with the Zed 14 when it was new. I spent a day there on my way back to LA but I only had about 1.5 hours now so we had to get out there quickly. My friend is new to the Zed and hadn't ever found a meteorite so we walked to some well pounded patinas a little less than a mile from the parking area. The strewn field for the irons is 4-5 square miles but we were at the nearest edge. It wasn't long before I had my first. I think it is the .13 gram meteorite. These are never very deep and some are really sunbakers but you just can't see them. But, they really sing when you swing over them. My friend could hear it with his 14 when I laid it down for him so he knew what to listen for now. It was not long before he bent down and using his scoops and magnet he had his first Franconia Iron. This was also his first meteorite. That's a good memory. He went on his way and I went my way for the next hour. I didn't find any big ones as they can get over 1-2 g but I know I had gone over the same areas with the 14 because I could see my previous scrapes from years before. I was now getting good results with the coil but I had limited time. We ended about dark. I had 8 irons and my friend had 3. After this experience we decided to go to Gold Basin where there is gold and meteorites! I spent the night near the noisy 40 Freeway and we were off the next morning to Gold Basin. This was the first time for my friend so we did a bit of a 'sightseeing' tour around to the club claims and then went to a patch where I've found about 30 nuggets in the past. As a matter of fact it was the place where I found my only 19" gold. This place has been gone over with everything out there and we were not successful with this trip. (I had sworn I'd never go back there the last time ... haha) We went by a club claim and talked to a couple of dry washers and they were doing ok. They were also detecting as they went and said they had found some pretty nice nuggets totaling several grams so we decided to go swing down away from them. Once again the X-Coil was a pleasure to walk around at cruising speed. I got down in the bottom of one wash and got a really good sound that I knew wasn't surface trash and down about 4 inches was this little 7g meteorite. This was not ideal meteorite territory but I thought I might find others but that was not the case either. When I walked up out of the wash I looked over a mile or so and saw Jason's place and there was a truck there. I had shared some PMs with him about his theft and I had just missed him on a previous trip with Chet so I wanted to go introduce myself. I'll have to tell you he doesn't know me or know what I drive so when we went up to his trailer we were on video! haha When I told him who I was he was relieved and we had a good chat about the basin, X-Coils and the scavengers that live out there. The next day we tried to follow up on some of Jason's geological suggestions and it ended up being a lot of interesting driving but no gold. Once again at the end of the day I targeted an area where I've found a lot of meteorites in the past but it was not to be. I left for Santa Monica about dark. My way home is through Las Vegas. Once on the other side I go opposite the normal Friday rush to Vegas but I'll tell you it was much less this past Friday. I think it is the virus. My trip ended about 1 AM. I've been back recovering and reflecting. There is a lot of gold still left in Gold Basin but you need friends and geologic knowledge to find it now. It is very difficult to get lucky but that can happen if you have enough time and you just set out to go areas where you have not been before. It really is an area where good gold is found with the first detector as much as the best detector.

Another trade token and what I think is a love token. It's the same size as a dime and the reeds match up. Here's a pic of the hotel.

Out for 5 hours, 6 gold rings, 7 silvers. Was tracking a storm crossing the midwest late last week and into the weekend. Luckily it was just the right winds and I was able to catch one very good lowtide. Most of the Gold was stained bad , been under many years. One very interesting gold is the band..OB three crowns then 14k, a rare early years Ostby Barton. The real question for me this hunt is I found a very small gold ring, I think it was gold, Some how and some where she is still in the Bay I believe. Think it got stuck to my glove as I was putting it in my pouch, Got it on video..just not the full shot of it going into my pouch. Had this happen before, should have been more careful. Lesson learned.. Over all had a great time, got workout and found treasures. The Excalibur is doing it's job and hopefully by summer we will see the "AQ" as my clean up machine.

So I'm out at my claims this weekend and see fresh side by side tracks going up the wash. Completely off road, crushing bushes and cactus. I find several dig holes that were not filled in. Then I see them. Parked right smack dab on my corner marker and my location marker. When confronted I get the usual bullshit. I didn't know it was a claim. I said that is my location notice right there. The response is I thought the claim went east. Well there are claims owned by a local club that way. No remorse, no apology and had the stupidity to say that I was an asshole. This turd is from Idaho and says he is a prospector. My ass this dude is a claim jumper and doesn't give a shit about where he hunts. Doesn't care about the land and can give a shit about your mineral rights. Shit bags like this guy really ruin the hobby. I told him it is his responsibility to know the land status before he goes. He says there are so many paper hanger claims. There was just no reasoning with this turd. If you aren't going to respect Arizona land and claims stay the hell out of this state.

These past few weeks, been using various analog models at an old farmstead. Although we’ve hit this area numerous times, hardly anything good surfaces but it’s a fun site to hunt and a good site to test equipment. Between the seven Tesoro models I’ve been using here these past few week’s, the Cortes was probably the best of the bunch and thats with using the 12”x10” DD coil and with full sensitivity. The 12”x10” spoked concentric coil was okay with a lower sensitivity, but it suffered some stability with increasing sens and that’s due to our West Coast inland soil. So, pretty much stuck with the larger widescan. Second best was the Lobo, Although it lacked depth it was great in areas thick with iron. Next, The Outlaw and modified Mohave ran equal, good depth with using the 12”x10” DD. The Mojave has a manual GB, which is needed for my soil. The Pantera did well, but tough soil prevented the extra depth needed. The Deleon just couldn’t get rid of the falsing, even with the large DD Deleon can’t handle our soil with high sensitivity. The Golden uMax did okay, but our soil is tough on the Golden. The 12”x10” DD improved depth with all these models with the exception of 4-pin Lobo, using stock coils with the other models in my soil were useless. The larger widescan coil is definitely deeper, eliminates most if not all ground noise, and still very sensitive to smaller targets. My favorite out of this Tesoro bunch is now the Cortes, for farm land hunting and definitely running the 12”x10” DD. One 1951 silver dime surfaced, one wheat penny and 1959 copper penny. Two musket 1/2 balls, few saddle snaps. Site has potential, We’ve pulled numerous seated coin’s, Couple of Bust and one gold coin from here on previous hunts. Going back today, this round will use a Teknetics Mark III, Compass CoinScanner Pro II, GoldScanner Pro and a Whites 5900 Di-Pro. Can’t wait, older technology makes the hunt more challenging and fun. HH, Paul

Hello to all ,after few weeks detecting only on the beach i return to the Thames river ,like an unfaithful lover full of guilt but how excited ...........forgot how light the Deus was and how different it is to dig on the Thames foreshore(i use an Hodan Pick) So i started with the rugby ball hard to miss then the small silver ring followed 30min later by a gold plated.....well gutted,a thimble and 3.09 british pounds .Lots of lead and brass bits as usual.This spot has moved not eroded this time but deposited thats what i though...............i was nearly cut off by coming the tide has it has eroded next to the stairs access😅😅😅😂on a positive note it will be harder to access i think but not a problem for me . Ladies and gentlemen the finds: Enjoy RR

Very much agreed. I believe though that hiking to remote areas that are not within reach of any ATV holds good promise. Hence, a lighter GPZ would make a difference (even though I hiked with the GPZ 12 miles yesterday....I feel like dead)

Jason’s is spot on. Everything that follows applies to the U.S. only. Most U.S. patches are shallow surface deposits and more depth often produces little or no more gold. The GPZ brought old patches to life by targeting specific gold types that were invisible to or had very poor depth with the previous Minelab PI detectors. It had extra benefit in the U.S. by being able to run settings that would not work well on a lot of ground in Oz. The GPZ with stock 14” is a deadly combo for both depth and sensitivity. Just to pull a number out of my posterior I’d say they cleaned up 90% of what was left. The new coils do fill in some gaps but it’s just the last scraps of the leftovers. Yes, there is still gold to be found, but only newbies or eternal optimists can ignore the reality I am seeing. We are scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel here in the U.S. and I don’t think new coils or even new detector models are going to do much to change that.

The freeze was over today so I went out for about 2 hours on an old kids camp area, built in 1932 it's about 80 acres. I hunt this place a lot and I'm never disappointed . I was running 19khz, which I never could do in the past, toying with different settings at each hit. Man does it find pull tabs, probably my fault for digging but better safe than sorry. found some clad, zinc, Shotgun shell and coal (never ceases to amaze me how that rock hits like something good). 2 cool tokens. one green duck corp. token and one Philadelphia Transportation company token (pre 1964) Almost forgot 2 paint brushes never dug those before!! And the ever popular earth worms AND WAIT FOR IT !!!!!!!!!! WHITE GOLD AND DIAMONDS (Not really just a fake) But man did my heart almost stop when I saw it poking out of the dirt !!!!! THANKS MY NEW FRIENDS for all the help and tips.

Just in case any body wants to get real serious, this is available... https://goldcountry.craigslist.org/reb/d/calpine-high-production-gold-mine-in/7083442664.html That sure is some pretty gold.

Hello GB-Amateur, The Lobo is an original model, with manual GB. Unfortunately, the stock elliptical coil and a smaller piglet coil are the only 4-pin coils I have. I’m sure a much bigger coil will enhance depth, but at present trying to not invest further in the hobby. I’ve forgotten so much especially with older technology, can’t remember if GB carriers over onto disc mode with Cortes or Deleon. I feel, the reason the Deleon wasn’t doing well with the 12”x10” DD was probably due to discrimination mode not tuned with the larger DD coil. I like the Deleon, would prefer using a Deleon especially for it’s larger screen but for some reason in tougher soil conditions the Cortes fares a lot better. The Cortes impresses me, gets good depth with the 12”x10” DD coil and very good coverage. In my soil, the Tesoro Stock coils can’t penetrate very deep with any of my Tesoro lineup. Which is my reasoning for using the 12”x10” DD, gains a good 1”-2” inches in poor soil. Plus, the DD coverage is great. Many years ago, probably at least a decade ago tried both the Tejon and Vaquero at this same particular site. They had very good depth out in clearer areas with low mineralization, even with stock coils. But, In poor soil they suffered with stability issues especially in areas with iron. I’d like to try a Vaquero again with a larger DD, I feel the DD will help. Hopefully, get out there again this afternoon. This round will use four different analog ID model’s, for now have my top end parked for a while and will enjoy using these older tech model’s. Thank you for your interest, HH, Paul Deleon

T/R/S and 1/4 1/4 sections. There is a "generate KML" link towards the bottom. https://gis.blm.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Cadastral/BLM_Natl_PLSS_CadNSDI/MapServer Land ownership (BLM, NFS, USBR, Reservations, Private, etc). Generate KML link also at the bottom of the page. https://gis.blm.gov/arcgis/rest/services/lands/BLM_Natl_SMA_Cached_with_PriUnk/MapServer You can also get on the BLM's list to access their claims database directly and create your own claims KMZ files if you want. Though it's a lot more complex to do and there is no simple link to click. I am not aware of any road maps the BLM offers though. Earthpoint lets you network link topo maps through Google Earth. http://www.earthpoint.us/Default.ashx?RequestID=2rk3Br2PTEySaXar6SjKCQ&

Hi Dave, Coincidentally I have a Nautilus DMC llBa on US eBay right now, also in pristine shape. It came with a battery charger that I never used; just took out the batteries and re-charged them. It's a Calrad Ac Adaptor Model 45-767; Input 120 VAC, 60 Hz, 16W, Output 24 VDC, 400ma. The detector came from a prominent Dankowski Forum member, so the adaptor, if you can find one, should be right-on. Best of Luck and enjoy the Nautilus, Joel

Now after all the calculations I believe that if everyone on the forum just chips in a few dollars, and put Steve H. in charge we all might make about $16.78 by the end of this year. Who's up for it?

Sorry to hear about this. It happens all the time and will continue. Life is too short to let it shorten your life. Good luck out there and hope you have good fortune. Karma. You win, they lose.

No matter the state...They should be checking what ground they are on... not good to ignore ckaim markers in plain view!

Same here, and I finally got out for a while after I took the dog to the lake for a walk. When I got back my 800 looked at me kind of funny and when I got it outside it only showed me a lawnmower bolt I had lost 10 years ago. However it was an hour outside with my detector! Years ago, I was into the antique jewelry very heavily and learned a lot from a good friend. I sent him the pictures and he confirmed my thoughts on it. With a little polishing to the ring, I am sure that your wife will love it. I have learned a lot about antiques over the years and I have also forgotten a lot of it also and that is why when in doubt I ask a friend who might know more than I. Hope you had better luck than I did today.

This “skill building” is such a basic concept, yet it still seems that DROVES of people still want “the magic settings”....the ones that you never have to move again and will optimize whatever machine it is in question to every site they will ever hunt. Why would the machine in front of you have various controls to change various things? Learning WHAT DOES WHAT seems like quite a chore to some, downright frightening to others. WHY? The more you know (information that is scientific in nature and can be replicated anywhere) the better your odds of repeated success. It takes effort, more for some than others. But being totally reliant on others to tell you what to do under what circumstances doesn’t allow for growth in the skill set, and relegates the “average hunter” to remain that way. Only when a person decides to take control of their own hunting will results progressively move into the positive.

Jasong , as JP has just illustrated population is the key plus patches vary in depth, mineralisation etc., like JP I found the Z produced initially on some of the old patches and the X coil Z combos produced also on these same few patches that for whatever reason still had gold the VLFs/PIs left. But this is/was not the case on all patches only a minority so far, I say so far, because who knows what the developer of X coil or other coil manufacturers will produce in the future that combines with the Z as they did with the VLFs/PIs. I differ with JP and do not believe the X coils are limited in comparison to the ML coils in that they are suited to particular mineralisation grounds, and not more to general use, I have found no basis for this, thus the extra sensitivity/depth they give I feel is universal. However we all seem to agree naturally the varying sizes and shapes have given us better type ground coverage. Plus X coil are advancing in refinements wheras MLs Z coils are going nowhere as it does not appear they believe the Z can be a better performer with better coil technology., but I can to an extent understand that as their strength has been in detector tech. advancement, that`s how they keep their shareholders happy, individual after market coil builders do not suffer from this constraint. Buh...………...whatever I just know I`m loving the extra performance and varying sizes and shapes of coils we suddenly have for the Z.

Jasong, this has been my point all along, Australian’s too have totally flogged patches that just do not produce much anymore, some of the most detected places on the planet are in Victoria which has a very large population who know all about metal detectors because of the huge popularity in the golden years of many many people experiencing life changing finds. In theory if the coils are doing as is being touted everywhere then everyone would be experiencing similar all over the world, in the case of the GPZ the tech has been borne out compared to previous detectors, almost all my old patches have produced something in the way of gold when I went over them with the GPZ, some were spectacular some were average and some were disappointing but most did produce something. In the case of the coils some ground types (a lot) can actually cause the performance to drop below what’s supplied, which says the extra depth advantage is not universal, so we then come down to the main advantage of the coil options, which is size, weight and shape. The key advantage is having smaller or larger than standard with a weight reduction, so long as the ground doesn’t make things too difficult more size options are the key. Clearly the GPZ benefits from a smaller coil, the NZ guys have proven that conclusively.🤠 The problem with going smaller is it opens up the detector to a lot more surface mineral ground variation, so the ground needs to be shallower and less variable to avoid too much noise getting into the audio. If the surface minerals are too extreme the only way to compensate for them is to lift the coil which even by a few mm kills depth on the tiny stuff, so you end up with a Nill net effect or worse possibly a negative effect dependant on conditions. This is why I have always advised caution in this sphere especially when you consider the work around associated with the risks mentioned in other threads. JP Here’s a pic of a nice piece I scored under some brush and dead sticks with the 17” elliptical, the key advantage of the coil in this instance was purely down to shape.

Cal, no offense taken. My statement that things are progressing was to address the speculation (not unreasonable speculation at that) that FTP might drop the project. I posted what I did because I have concrete information that it is not being dropped and that they are moving forward toward series production and product release. Folks can either take my word for it, ignore it or publicly doubt it. My information was obtained first-hand in the course of discussing the possibility of my becoming a dealer for the entire Impulse line. As far as this being the strangest product introduction in the history of Metal Detectors, there might be some competition for that title! I believe that the AQ story is unique in several ways - and the many-years-long of its exposure to the public is a reflection of that history. The Manta was revealed and discussed on public international forums for four years before first Texas acquired the project and hired the team It began as a private development by a group in Europe led by Alexandre Tartar, a physicist. He was interested in PI detectors and the first appearance he made on the metal detecting forum scene was in 2012 on Carl’s Geotech forum, asking Eric Foster some questions about the Deepstar. His post started out with this “I am passionate about your detectors technology for several years now...” https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?19033-Deepstar-history-and-Foster-PI&p=148021#post148021 I noticed that post because I have been interested in PI detectors and have been “tracking” Eric Foster’s work (on Geotec and elsewhere) since about 1990. After that, in 2013, a post appeared describing the Manta project and linking to a video demonstration of a prototype. https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?20661-Manta-!!&highlight=Manta Alexandre made a series of posts in 2016 announcing the Manta Project. https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?23177-Manta-Metal-Detector I was delighted in the spring of 2017 when I found out that FTP had acquired the project . I posted about it on more than one forum and the level of interest was extremely high among serious beach hunters. Since then I have posted regularly whatever disclosable information I could come by as well as my own thoughts and at times speculations. Subsequently, LE.JAG - the chief development tester for the Manta Project from its beginning, began to post on the usual forums. Later, Alexandre himself has posted a few times. Likewise Carl Moreland has made a few posts. The integration of a French speaking team, working on another continent with FTP’s engineering culture has doubtless not been problem free - how could it. Likewise designing a waterproof mechanical package for a powerful PI detector was no easy task. Then the FTP production system, built to produce relatively simple machines in extremely large quantity had to be modified to produce significantly more complex machines of a very different design. All this took time - way more time than I imagined and I am confident that FTP management was unpleasantly surprised also. At no time has FTP marketing announced or commented on a possible or planned release date. Until they do. We are all more or less in the dark.

(Here's a thread from November 2019.) They may be planning on releasing it for the 2020 Northern Hemisphere warm (spring+summer+fall) seasons. There are going to be a lot of disappointed detectorists if this doesn't meet the "under $400" category, and preferably under $300. Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro Data & Reviews Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro metal detector - new for 2020

"INDIAN RIVER SHORES, Fla. – They don't call it the Treasure Coast for nothing. Jonah Martinez, 43, a treasure hunter from Port St. Lucie, was scanning the sand with his metal detector at Turtle Trail Beach Access on Feb. 21 when his device picked up a signal. Buried beneath him was more than three centuries of history: Martinez pulled 22 Spanish silver coins from the surf, each dating back to a shipwreck 305 years ago, he said." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/28/spanish-coins-1715-shipwreck-unearthed-florida-beach/4902578002/

Thanks, Paul, for a very informative post! I have a couple questions, as usual. Does this mean you did not have 4-pin 12"x10" DD to put on the Lobo-ST? I don't know much about Tesoro models except what I've read here (and have been able to remember...) and from looking at an old (2014?) catalog. I was under the impression, I guess at least partly from their looks, that the Cortes and DeLeon were similar. Your results put a nix on that idea. Reviewing the catalog's feature lists, I notice that the DeLeon's say "Preset Ground Balance" and the Cortes says "Preset or Manual Ground Balance." Is that the big difference and the reason your difficult ground showed a huge difference in capability? Not a complaint -- as always you go with what you have available -- but you've left me wondering how the other 4-pin ('delta') detectors (Tejon, Vaquero, Cibola) would have compared with your extensive lineup of 5-pin ('epsilon') models.

Awesome find man. love finding tokens

I don't mind digging questionable targets, thats how I found the fake diamonds. I was running in SP. I was running gain around 84 bouncing around to 90-91 to pick up the depth once a target is found. I have found that you pick up about 2'' in depth when you go from the 80's to the 90's. As for the higgin's shell probably from the early 1950's. I use cartridge-corner.com for all shotgun shell info.

Well done !!!Thats a lot of gold!! RR

Hi all newbie on this forum from the UK anyone know which battery charger fits the Nautilus 2ba and what is the full electric specification for this voltage etc? just got a very nice 2ba machine near mint condition any info would be good thanks.

I am with you Gold Catcher. I have to drive and then hike so much farther to find fresh patches. I would not want to be a newbie trying to learn, today. It gets harder and harder each year and there are fewer signs to learn by. Jason has put this into good perspective in one of his past videos, and it is true. Technology isn't opening up that many more areas in the US. But don't give up Mitchel... I'm still rooting that you find some big ones missed!!

The item with the bouquet of flowers on it, is it silver? If so it would have fit inside a holder ring for a necklace. I have seen some of those same items in the past that were the size of a nickel. All of them had a holding rings to attach the item. Great finds and isn't that hotel supposed to be haunted, be careful of what you find there.

It's been for sale since about 2007 or thereabouts, probably longer. I don't think it's been worked in many, many years. Getting the permits to work it again...well it's California. Look at the pictures of the big nuggets. That's probably from the 1970's. As nice is it is to dream about, in this day and age in California it's only a dream.

Top one looks hand crafted and engraved. Pretty cool find.

Yeah, been for sale since 2017.

Details, details, details ... https://www.thethings.com/discovery-channel-gold-rush-tiny-details-that-arent-what-they-seem/

Yes. In the US, for me, it is mostly whether I think I can: 1) fit the coil into areas I could not with the 14x13 2) Cover more ground area (depth is not as much an issue) 3) And of course getting smaller gold a little deeper REALLY applies in the AZ deserts (but is not going to make me rich) For example, for me to go 17x15 Xcoil, may not benefit me much more when I can get a 19" coil for a 40% discount price, unless we are talking really tight rocky gullies (in which case I'm moving rocks, anyways). We all have different terrain, different types of patches. Now we have an option that makes our detector like a man's Barbie doll. Dress her as you see fit!! (and no, I don't play with Barbie doll's … I have a daughter... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Wow, I didn't expect that kind of response! You really know your antiques. My wife has it now. Still a long way from 'paying' for my detectors, but that's not why I detect. It's the anticipation, the fun, the mystery, the satisfaction, the camaraderie. You can't put a price on those. The winter seems to have departed here, at least for the next 10 days. Supposed to be ~60 F today. I may have to share the school-grounds with others who have been suffereing from cabin fever, but I'll take it.

Interesting piece, for me sometimes the Hallmarks are the most interesting part, and knowing it's origination . NIce find!

Very funny Steve H. , I love it!!

I just brought 15 lbs of yellow brass to the scrap yard last week, and was paid 90c a Lb. If you are digging larger brass, that beats digging clad!

My first outing with the 15” x 10” X-Coil was a very satisfying experience. Settings used are; High Yield, Normal, Freq. Auto, Sens 20, Volume 12,Threshold 1, Tone 53, Vol Limit 12, Auto Smoothing Off, Ground Balance Auto, GS Off I ran a quick test on a 0.08 gram test nugget with the 10” round which produces some noise and false target responses when running with my wide open settings. Changed to the new 15” x 10” X-Coil and ran over the 0.08 test nugget again. Both coils were getting a good loud response at approximately 3.5 inches. I ran the 15” x 10” coil for 5 hours a day for 5 days. It was stable and quiet (except for a little very low level EMI). The noise and false target responses experienced previously with the 10” round coil were gone. There were no problems with ferrite balancing. Franconia, AZ has produced some large nuggets. A 3 lb quartz rock with 15.9 oz. of gold was found there the previous week. It was a US Army Air to Air gunnery practice range during WW2. So you are forced to dig a lot of deep targets. There are a lot of bullets and small pieces of screen wire blasted from the towed targets. I only found two small nuggets between bullets and wire pieces. They are 0.6 g and 0.2 g. Overall this is a very sensitive coil and a pleasure to have the lighter weight and ability to get into smaller spaces. Have a good day, Chet

That’s just a bit south of me here on the Treasure Coast. Captain Jonah is a great treasure hunter and a heck of a nice guy! Ran into him about a month ago and he shared some tips. He and his crew were out all night of the big nor’easter when they scored...I stupidly waited till daylight! Snooze ya lose lol.

Was pounding sand at the local beach and at the end of my hunt I scored a beautiful Tiffany & Co. PT950 wedding band. I’m super happy about this find. Thanks for looking!

This is a collection of my last two hunts at a local beach. There really has not been that much to brag about but you just have to stick with it as they say. Yesterday was better than the previous day with the cheap bracelet, cheap ring and the nice 14k cross (that is how it is marked on the clasp but who knows about the other parts of it). The swinging was sparse until I got to a culvert that I normally skip over because of the iron wire in it. Just before I got there I found the coin with a hole in it. It is a 1959 East Africa 1c coin. I've never seen one. That slowed me down with the 3030 and just before I got to the culvert I got the high pitch of a quarter. As it turned out that was the first of 5 $1 coins. This was the only good area I could find and I got nearly on top of the culvert and could still hear targets. I'll go back with the 800 now that it is working again but I need to give it the latest update. I tired of the gridding near the culvert and I went over to where the day before a grounded sailboat had been removed. About a month ago I looked out and thought there was a movie shoot going on and it turned out to be a 40 ft sailboat aground. It looked like it had not been there long and could be pulled out on the high tide. That didn't happen and over the weeks the mast went down and waves pounded it and then a salvage crew from San Diego just removed it by land yesterday. The only thing I got from it was the trash on the right side of the items. After I walked back towards my car I went over the $1 coin area again and found I missed one. It then 'dried up' and it was time to go but I worked my way out on the line that held the coins. I got a signal and looked down in the scoop and it reminded me of the screw scrap but ... it wasn't. Sand was sticking to it and in the top but I knew it was pretty good if real. It does have good markings. Nothing was near so I kept the same line and about 300 yards down the beach was the bracelet. It sounds good but it is cheap. Today I used the 800 at a couple of different beaches and found next to nothing. What a difference. More about that another time.

Amazing what a week of the wrong direction winds can do. Keeping tides very high and pushing sand in...Not Good. But luck was with me the last two hunts and I was able to get into a small section out in the middle of no where and dig some treasures. Four Gold rings and eight silvers.

And it might be said 6 months from now. It is what it is.

So we turn $900 detectors (800 model) into more expensive units. I've been fiddling with mine lately as you may have read here, trying to make it more ergonomically friendly. But I remind myself that the reason I bought it and the reason it's still my go-to detector is because of what's inside. Sure, an Equinox 800 in a Teknetics T2 or Fisher F75 package would be the bee's knees (...hey, maybe I'll try that next... 😜) but we do what we can with what we got. Unfortunately we can't do anything (at least as individuals) with the weather, and that's my (and many of your) biggest hindrance at the moment.

The golden age of cinema, Calitki a spin-off I think 1959 a good decade for blobs. ”Horrors of the Black museum “ I think I was 5 when I saw that at the drive-in and I’m still uncomfortable using binoculars.

OK, I can't hold back anymore. I just needed to share some of my finds with my ( as I like to call it Mega Kruzer) HA HA. I'm not the best at this , but I'm pretty proud of the roughly 9 hours total on this machine. Bunch of clad , pewter spoon, Merc dime, silver ring, two old buttons, bird band , a weird button ? with the inscription FRANCOR"REX FRANCISG"DC with a crown and dragon symbol. And what I believe to be a suspender buckle S&G.M. CO. Patent 1871 #186, The super clean clad I found at a play ground in the mulch. DID ANYONE LOOSE A CHRYSLER KEY FROM A 1984 LE'BARON??? don't ask how I know the vintage of this key HA HA. I'm sure I missed more than I found but this is what keeps you going !!!! Oh I forgot Mickey mouse.

The best Australian nugget Parker had was that hottie he used to hang out with. She probably bailed on him...

The Tracker IV was my first metal detector. I still like it. Sometimes a low gain unit is very helpful. Mine found this ring earlier in the year. Mike