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Took the MK for a spin to a different park, spent about an hour or less. First find came in slightly above a beaver tail. 10k ring with some diamond chips and looks like amathyst.

$36.40.. plus 1 x 'old' 2 cent and 4 x 'old' 1 cents.. also an Euro and a NZ $1.. but best of all, there was a photographer shooting 5 topless girls in the early morning light (i thought i'd be the only one there, so did they).. needless to say i dropped the detector straight away and watched the show for a while.. i didn't take any photos of the girls but when i got back i did get one of the coins (sorry about that)..

I first saw Smokey when I saw a guy fussing off on a far ridge, with something that turned out to be a brand new Minelab SD2100. Close enough. Later I saw him out on the placers, took the opportunity to strike a new friendship. I said I saw you messing with a new detector, he agreed that was the case. In the coming years which passed, our paths would continue to cross. At one chance meeting, Smokey asked me if I liked poetry, to which I answered, "yes". Somehow his the poetry revolved around a gal posing by an old desrert tree. He had two versions, but I will leave it there... On one occasion, I realized I had lost a little plastic bottle, with some small gold nuggets inside. I would have to drive the 425 lonely miles to again reach home, saddened about losing my gold. A few weeks passed, I had the chance to go back to Rye Patch. Smokey found out that I was back, and made a point to look me up. Smokey said to me "is this yours?" as he held up my little plastic bottle with the small nuggets still inside. He continued with his dry humor, "you know we don't appreciate people littering out here in our desert", as he handed me my lost gold. That is only one instance of my opportunities of my meeting that very special person named "Smokey" Smokey, May you rest in peace...

Back in the water today with my new replacement coil. I was unable to get into the Gulf due to the rough water. I was able to get into the sound and check out the new coil. There was definitely a difference today. I went through testing all the different modes and settings. Still was not very stable in the all metal mode. Settings - Sens 3,Pulse delay-11.5, ATS- 10. I was able to get the most stability in the Volcanic Sand Mode. Sensitivity- 5, ATS-9, Pulse Delay - from 7-11.5 uS Usable over the full range. The higher the pulse delay setting, the more stable it is, I can hunt in this mode just fine. Still cannot vary the coil height much while sweeping the coil,but better than the other modes. All of the modes were a little better this time out. Another factor that may be involved is we have had lots of rain in the last week. Im looking forward to trying it in the Gulf when the water calms down. I am still unable to use the full capability of the machine in the other modes. I still think a smaller coil will help in the other modes.

Peg - In 2012 when you hit your 1st RP patch, it had to be a phone call...I'm just in the last year learning the cell phone does more than make a call. Texting is new to me, but I'm learning. The 2nd pic of your 1+ ozt nuggets is amazing and you better have a blown up pic of them hanging on the wall somewhere, maybe in your FL home to keep you smiling every day. Thanks for adding. jrbeatty - Us Yanks dream of that red dirt stained gold of higher purity. Guess the old saying still holds true. "Most everyone thinks the gold is better on the other side of the hills/world". Fact is, we get used to finding one type and so it is quite interesting to see something golden that is different. We all want to put different kids of gold in our collection. Thanks for adding. GB - Glad you enjoyed it so much. As for the Elevation, I feel it has to do more with the region you are in and the elevation most others are finding gold. Yes the NNW part of NV is a lot alike, but I do know of exceptions too. Jason mentioned in an earlier post for North NV and I would have to agree for the most part. Relative to the area is what I prefer. As for % of claimed and open land. Don't take this wrong, but I feel big mining companies claimed land is still open to the guy and his dog walking around with a metal detector. I have yet in all my years been chased of of big mining company claims as they are chasing a different kind of gold. So if I take them out of the equation, I feel there is at least 50% of open land to swing a detector. Thanks for adding.

Got out to another new permission along an area river today. I'm trying to zero in on an old river crossing spot that was used from the mid-1850s thru the late-1890s, and this property was my next step. Found quite a few old paper shotgun shell bases and a couple musket balls...then this old, brass black powder flask came out from under this old oak tree. Even though it's in poor condition, this was a really enjoyable find for me as it's proof that I'm getting closer to finding the area I'm looking for. I've included an image I found online of a complete flask. The write ups I looked at all put in the 1800s, but will try to hone in on a closer estimate for age. Another absolutely beautiful day here in MN...hope y'all got out today too!

Nevada has always been one of my most enjoyable treasure states to visit. Part of why I wanted to make this post (and why I'd like to see others give their input) , is to help guide some of the newer gold prospectors that has joined on with the rise in Au prices around $2000 an ounce. A little history about Nevada and I. I first started detecting Nevada for natural gold in the mid 90's with a local guy from Boise who goes by the name of Largo. He's had some health issues the last few years and not been to RP but promised I'd try to get him down there one more time this Fall. Some of the Gold Experts at the time, I was able to cross paths with and learn a bit or two (if they slipped the tongue- were usually pretty quiet) are names like Smokey Baird, Dog Water, T-Bone, Duffey, Jim Malone, Jim Straight, Gordon Zahara, 7 Up Jerry, Chuck Graff, Digger Bob, Jim Williams and of course Ed Spears...and probably a half dozen other names I can't think of at this moment. If any of you old timers on DP know where some of these folks are, I'd sure like an update. Yes I realize a good part of them have pasted to more golden patches, but I think some are still around and talking the stories of old. These were the guys you needed to watch, listen and listen even more. You paid attention to what they drove and where they traveled. You'd better be at the T & A (for many yrs I thought it was tits & ass) truck stop in Imlay, early in morning to sit a booth down and listen to their stories of the recent hunts and or finds. Eventually after quite some time of seeing the same dusty faces, they might give you time of day. Some of the others never hung there much (guess the T & A wasn't that good), but you might spot the dust cloud of their rig heading to a new patch. Many a times, I would run into 1 or 2 of them out Sawtooth or Jungo way, and they would occasionally toss a bone of knowledge my way. After all I was still pretty new to Nevada and learning the gold detector ropes. Heck in fact, I was still on the VLF band wagon and since I was finding gold every day, thought I was hot shit. Little did I know at the time, those high dollar Minelab PI's were the real deal. My 1st Minelab Gold was with a borrowed SD-2100 (the green one) and it took me about 3 days straight of hunting before I flipped my 1st gold. It was at that depth and time I realized their true power. I've been tethered to one almost ever since. Yes I go back to the VLF's on occasion (actually more than most would think), but I have earned many yrs of detector knowledge and skills, so knowing when to grab the VLF speedster is a must. Still plenty of gold to be found in Northern Nevada, but you need to do your homework. After all, it's not easy to find and that's why some of us on DP who post/comment, we know how hard it is and rewarding at the same time. So here's some help to the newer generation of gold hunters who wants to work hard, walk plenty and do research. I don't have it in stock right now, so it's not about me making a sale... Get this book. Placer Deposits of Nevada by Maureen Johnson. Study the recorded gold recoveries and realize some of the smaller sites will not get the attention they deserve. Lack or water in NV was one of the reasons those sites were so short lived. Google Earth - Using the computer on Google Earth and look for old mining areas, ore dumps and even recent years scrapes. These tip offs will almost always provided a few missed pieces of gold. What I like about G.E. is the ability to see on the other sides of mountains, hills and or areas that I could never get my truck. Elevation - Most of the placer nuggets seem to be in the same elevation zone within a few hundred feet anyway. If you are a follower on DP, then you recently seen this info was spoken and posted. Do your do diligence and read. Indicators - Learn the terminology of Desert Asphalt, Dry Wash Piles, Pushes, Scraps, Iron Cubes and some other terms others might add to this post. Detector Knowledge - Know your detector and then some. Au is around $2000 an ounce. If you have not found gold with it or are going home skunked more than you go home with gold, it might be of wisdom to take some genuine in the field training. Yes it will cost you money, but your learning curve and chances of golden dreams of Success are drastically improved. Location - Go and hunt were gold has been found before. DO NOT try to be the 1st at finding gold in a region, mountain drainage that has never produced and or doesn't show any signs. Just because you were hiking a mountain ridge while chasing Chucker and seen a quarts blowout. Once you have become proficient at finding gold and building up your patience, then you might do an occasional "prospecting" trip. Best advice is stay in the areas that has already produced. Todays never detectors and their technologies still finds a few the old machines missed. Patience - If you can't handle detecting for hours with no gold, please stick to coin/relic hunting as their rewards are much easier and faster. As I mentioned earlier in the post, those of us who have passed the patience test are the same ones who get that tickle in the tummy, giggle of the grin and joy of doing what so many can't, finding a piece of gold with the detector. Prepared - Know your body and its limitations. No metal boots is a MUST if you swing a powerful PI, ZED or bigger coil on a VLF. Rare Earth Super Magnet on the end of a good quality pick. Super Bungee, Harness, Swing Arm, Hip Stick are all designed to allow for more comfort that allows for longer/easier time in the field swinging a detector. Non Metal Plastic Nugget Cup or Trowel to help speed up the recovery of targets. Common Courtesy - Pack out your trash and even some of those who don't. Never toss a dug up piece of trash back on the ground, please put it in your pouch. Fill your holes as the ranches cows and those of us who hunts nights hate stepping in a hole. Respect Private Property and or Claims. Wildlife - Northern Nevada has an abundance of wild horses and some burros, deer elk, mountain lions, bears, big horn sheep and plenty of moo cows. A variety of reptiles, some poisonous and most not, even a few tortoise, tarantulas. As I get older more mature and wise, I learn to appreciate each of the species I might be fortunate to cross paths with and now let them all live. Yes on occasion a rattlesnake in camp might need to be exterminated, but for the most part, this is their land and they are not trying to hurt us. Now for some pics (I do hope others who have had success will take the time to share their pics) of Nevada gold. HooverRover.bmp

It is not because there was a problem that one put 15us, it is simply that Steve has recommended it to me in a conversation, so I programmed it for safety. I'm publishing a video today on the forum to show the normal behaviour of the system in the sea water...

I’m going to guess that around 3 or 4 feet deep they were looking for a “black” band of soil/ small gravel/ grit, that was said to contain the ancient diamond bearing gravels. A little hard to describe but I saw the dark bands and they were in various thickness of 2 to 5 inches thick. They intently mined these bands and would use classifying screens and water to segregate the gravels. They showed me diamonds “in the rough” and once seen are pretty much unmistakable from the surrounding gravel matrix. There is a lot of quartz that can fool you if you’re not schooled properly.

hi all i just got a Vanquish 440 & took it down to my favorite super trash infested freshwater beach well i have used the nox here so good time to test the Vanquish when i first started out it chattered a lot due to the blanket of nails & bottle caps & heavy minerals (but it wasent picking the bottle caps up 😃) thats a good thing well i hunted a bit & the only thing i could do to calm her down was lower the sensitivity to around half as there's not to many adjustments to work with . the nox has quite a bit more control as i hunted i got more used to the sounds & hit this beauty a id bracelet 29 grams of 14 k gold at about 4 inches read 17 🎧 happy happy i finished my run & went up to the car & got my much loved excalibur to see how i could do with it well it was in a constant null on the iron but did ok on targets. then i decided to try a less trashed area downstream the Vanquish ran much better & i was able to put the Vanquish sensitivity up to around 3/4 ran smooth i was hunting along & i got a mid tone & a locked 7 on the vdi (wouldn't let it go ) ah ha says i gold 😎 & sure enough down 7 inches i get a 10 k ring ive hunted these beaches many time & i guess i missed this 1 theres more to the Vanquish than meets the eye & it has the dna from the nox i think its gonna be my new friend i love the turn on & hunt operation im thinking its a winner thanks minelab the V is for Victory

Long story short, I don't even know what machine I was using when I pulled it out from the bottom, but maybe months after, half an hour ago I was checking my Ctx for tomorrow hunt and testing some targets from my garbage/crusty/horrible coins can....When I passed it over the coil the numbers were all but obvious to be silver...So a 12.24 was lightning under my eyes and decided to give it a go for a steel wool run... I still need to clean well the Inside part of this oldie to the point I can barely see some engraving like a date or something... For now, I'm smiling like a child with a surprise...Gold has a terrible effect in my veins💀 It is the second time that I find something interesting but neglected...My daughter found a charm in the same bin😵....

It's too bad none of those old timers seemed to post much to the forums where their words could be remembered. They were mostly gone or no longer in the field by the time people like myself started detecting for gold, I never met them or heard their stories. I've run across many of the areas they once detected just by systematic prospecting, and that's about it. I have a big 4'x6' metal sign sitting on my land out there from the old truck stop coffee shop when it was called something other than T&A. Sapp Bros maybe? I believe it was taken there by an old detectorist called "8lb Dick" and/or his buddies who mostly worked that area in VLF days. I got the mining prospectus for the project when I bought the land, and it shows a big operation out there with many trommels, jigs, dozers, excavators, they even had suction dredges set up in the tailings pond, but that was people from (coincidentally) Wyoming operating it at that point. I'd love to be able to hear the history and stories of what they found and where, but unfortunately now it's mostly just piecing together bits and pieces of 2nd hand accounts since it appears all the people involved are now passed on and few alive remember much specific. Anyways, nice to see posts like this, it documents some stuff that few would have ever seen otherwise.

Thanks for the replies. It has been a few good outings recently

If you have good loupe you should check the edge of the diamond for a laser imprint. Even with a high powered loupe it may still be challenging to see because angles and lighting are factors. A few years ago I found a large diamond ring. I wasn't sure about the quality but I was able to find an old "EGL" laser serial number which was my first real indication that I had a special find. "EGL" stands for European Gemological Laboratories which is now defunct but in this country you might be looking for a "GIA" (Gemological Institute of America) laser engraving. I took my diamond to the GIA labs in Carlsbad, California and had it assessed and had an additional laser engraving done with a GIA mark. I can't emphasize enough how small and how difficult it is to find these laser engravings. My loupe is 40X magnification and the letters and numbers looked like little dark specks when I first spotted them and I really had to focus and concentrate to actually make them out. Good luck!!!

The idea behind my books is to give people the basic skills and detector knowledge to get results with any detector. I then look at how these skills apply to what the Equinox does well. Thanks for your interest. http://www.clivesgoldpage.com/shop/publications/minelab-equinox-beginner-advanced/#reviews http://www.clivesgoldpage.com/shop/publications/skill-building-with-the-minelab-equinox-series-metal-detectors/#reviews cjc

Some very good advice and GREAT photos! I love northern Nevada too...the solitude and scenery, the wildlife, and the beautiful nuggets. Here’s a pic from 2012, from the 1st Patch I discovered on my own, using the 3500 and elliptical mono coil I bought from you. I was so excited, I think I called or texted you from the field lol! And several years later, I was so happy to FINALLY have my ounce of Rye Patch beauties! I’ve hit many other places in northern Nv and found nice gold, but these are special😊

***Please note that the videos are maybe not completely upload*** This is to demonstrate the normal behaviour of the AQ when its coil is swinging under sea water. Note that the average salinity of sea water around the world (with a few higher or lower exceptions) is between 34 to 36 ppt Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodies_of_water_by_salinity Here the IMPULSE AQ LIMITED IN SURF PART 1 --> 7us pulse delay SALINITY 36 grs per liter (PSU) This is the link to a video taken during such tests. There was no reaction of the AQ while balancing the coil under the water (50cm deep) There was a fast recalibration made by the system at coil entering and leaving the water surface The test have been conducted in the surf of a beach facing the English Channel as a confimation , (Average Salinity = 34-36 ppt) This is the link to a video taken during such tests. Here the IMPULSE AQ LIMITED IN SURF PART 2 --> 8us & 9µs pulse delay SALINITY 36 grs per liter (PSU) Here bad and good swing difference with 1 inch variation

Had a little time for a property tour and short initial water hunt at a new permission this afternoon...the place holds promise! It's an old cabin/vacation spot that dates back to the early 1900s. I happened across the owner at the public access last week, and he offered free reign to detect it anytime. After running thru the water a bit, I realized it has likely not been detected in the past...or not detected very thoroughly. Dug a few nickels, including the no date buffalo...and numerous old pull tabs and ring tabs. The ring turned out to be just gold plate, but I believe it has some age to it. The other pic is of the lower jaw from a northern pike...was an interesting item to see in the scoop! I still can't believe I stumbled across a site like this these days...will definitely be many future trips back to this place. The owner is super cool and friendly. Hope y'all got out today as well...beautiful, cooler weather today and tomorrow here in MN.

I want to start by saying that I really hate posting reviews like this when I'm disappointed in the results. Makes me feel like the bad guy or that maybe, just maybe I had the metal detectors setup wrong. Anyway here is a quick review. Garrett Ace Apex Review Part 1 Got a Garrett Ace Apex delivered today, work is slow right now so I got right to testing it out. I’m going to post my review in 2 parts. Part 1 will be about the separation abilities of the Apex. Part 2 will be about the depth capabilities of the Apex. First wanted to say, I’m pretty impressed with the build quality and ergonomics of the Apex. I won’t bore you with the overview of the machine. I’m sure there are others that will give or have given a full run down of the physical qualities of the detector. In my mind (and I might be wrong) the question most educated (meaning they already own a metal detector) perspective buyers will have is how does the Apex compare to the Minelab Equinox and Minelab Vanquish. Minelab pretty much has the multi-frequency thing figured out, so how will the new Apex compare in multi-frequency. Historically multi-frequency machines haven’t been known for their lightning speed separation abilities. So not only will I compare the Minelab Equinox but I’m also going to through in some other popular detectors. There are 2 tests I like to do that will give me a pretty good idea of how a metal detector performs in iron. The end to end nail test with coins in between and Monte’s nail board (I used my own rusty square nails, not an official board you can buy from him). On the nail board (your results may vary, I think mine is tougher) I tested XP Deus 9” HF coil (sonar), Minelab Equinox 6” (park1), Fisher F19 5 x 10 coil, Nokta Makro Simplex 5 x 10 coil (park 2) & Makro Racer 2 7 x 11 (3 tones) against the Apex (zero mode MF). Results are as follows: XP Deus 7/8 hits, Minelab Equinox 5/8, Fisher F19 6/8, Nokta Makro Simplex 8/8 Makro Racer 2 7/8, Garrett Apex 4/8. If you remember my test of the Minelab Vanquish I was not impressed with either the v12 or v8 coil in this test. The end to end nail test has nails end to end with a penny, dime and nickel in between the nails with a space of about 1.5 inches. I like this test vs the coin between 2 perpendicular nails as most metal detectors can hit a coin between 2 perpendicular nails without a problem. Not a real good test IMO. Results from end to end nail test are as follows: XP Deus 9” passes even with a fast sweep speed, Minelab Equinox 6” coil struggles 11” coil has no problem, Fisher F19 5 x 10 passes even with a fast sweep speed, Makro racer 2 7 x 11 passes but sweep speed needs to be slow, Nokta Makro Simplex 5 x 10 passes but sweep speed needs to be slow, Garrett Apex will not hit any of the coins in any mode at any frequency. If you remember my test of the Minelab Vanquish with both the v12 and v8 coils neither coil could hit any of the coins either. The thing that’s interesting about the above tests is that some of the detectors excel at one test but not the other test and visa versa. For example the Nokta Makro detectors excel at the nail board test but kind of struggle with the end to end test. This is the very reason I like doing both tests it show performance in multiple scenarios. When I’ve taken the above knowledge into the field and compared one detector to another the performance results for the most part mirror the results I got doing the above tests. I read about people all the time saying I took this new machine to a place I’ve pounded in the past with this other detector(s) and I found this awesome coin/relic. This new metal detector is the best on the market. Well that all fine and dandy but if you didn’t compare the two prior to digging the target how do you know one’s better than the other. Maybe you just missed that patch of ground or you approached the target from a different direction, or, or, or. You get my point. But if you get a target and run another detector over the area and get no response, or better response, etc. then you can say, yes this is a better detector. Otherwise there are no facts to back your claim. I’ll probably do a video of the above results when I have more time. In the end I’m not impressed with the Apex compared to other machines in it’s price range. Slightly worse separation performance than the Vanquish 540. The Apex has a lot going for it, wireless, rechargeable batteries, light weight, looks good and weatherproof. But honestly, I’ll take a Simplex over the Apex. Hopefully the Apex can redeem itself in the depth test like the Vanquish did.

Submitted by Detector Ben in eastern Nebraska. He is an independent user of his new Apex testing on deep targets and his own test bed/iron separation. Comparison with the Nox 800. (I wonder what his iron bias and iron volume settings were on the Nox 800) He actually answered this question on another forum. He had his iron bias on F2=4 and his iron volume was on its lowest setting (which is why we could not hear it on the video going over the square nail). Sometimes the Nox will give an iron tone on deep targets with no VDI. Thanks for the great video Ben!!!! I'm keeping my money in my wallet. Jeff

Hi everyone. Been having some fun with the Zed on the gold lately. Here's some Video's hope you enjoy.

I have got it to work in Destin Florida in open water at sea but it was very calm and even with a slight under tow, but once conditions changed it was the difference in night and day or Heaven and Hell.....out of twenty hours Submerged in high salt salinity The big coil or at least mine did not like Salt I could make it work but at the cost of extreme depth......in brackish water I can make it go where Others can’t get to. It will find gold that all machines miss......but heavy salt now ....I got three good hours most these finds below Blue preset....in the other 17 hours. I am still learning this machine but realize I am very good at what I do in submerged water. jimpugh

Call it fully clockwise and that's it😉

I don't know what area you are in but if I were you I would be running that black sand through a beach sluice or a gold cube..... Take a look at my thread on beach mining.

Thanks diver and all, Yes! I would have been happy just to find the pendant, really happy just to find the ring and super excited to find only the chain. To find all 3 at the same time was unexpected, to say the least, and made that hunt one of my favorites of all time.

I don't have a GMX detector ,,,, but I will write my experience with Mxt and 5.3 "concentric coil and DD coils of different sizes .... At 7 bar Fe3o4 .. Black Sand ... Whites MXT with ... 5.3 "concentric coil will go to Overload if you set Gain more than 6-6.5 ... on 7 "DD Ultimate and 7" DD Mars Lion coils, as well as 10 "DD, 6X8 DD SEF and 12x 10" DD SEF coils, you can safely set these DD coils at the Gain level to 9.5 .... without Overload and coil I will still work normally .... and detect just above Black sand .. If you set the Gain to 10 or more, these DD coils will also go overload .... It follows that a DD coil of this size should help you in the detection of GMX ... ,,,,,, Another advice is .. because I know that the GMX has a Shift Frequency function, so I would advise to make a frequency shift from the center frequency of the detector upwards .... this should weaken the signal on the receiving part of the RX coil and the detector should be more resistant to mineralization terrain ... Here, after deviating the frequency, you must verify how much you also have a smaller detection range of the detector. because a stronger deviation from the center frequency is also reflected in the loss of detection range. Use the Shift Frequency - which I use classically frequency shift - it helped me on several Vlf detectors ..... For Detectors with Direct sampling *TX, I no longer guarantee that this method will also help ...

I got lucky and got a good picture of the diamond.

Is the quarter on the left pre-1965 (silver)? Sounds like you've found virgin ground -- dry part and wet. Keep us updated on your finds. And with September two days away I bet your detecting days for 2020 are getting in short supply in MN. For those not familiar with (northern) North American freshwater fish, the northern pike is nicknamed "freshwater barracuda", and that illustration shows why. Typically harmless (but don't try to remove a hook from a mouth using your bare hand!) although I've seen on River Monsters tv show they can bite humans who are swimming or wading, on rare occasions. And I can hear you Australians: "You call that a dangerous fish??..." 😁

The 19 kHz series ground balances into the salt range. ”Ground Balance Range : From Ferrite to Salt Water Inclusive” There is a performance hit obviously, but the machine at least functions on the wet sand. Get up on the dry sand with a small coil, and you have a great micro jewelry machine.

The meteorite community knew Smokey too and they recently shared a story about Smokey. It is a bit 'long' but it gives some history about meteorite and GOLD knowledge that I think should be shared with a wider audience. Lunk's link at Bill and Linda's page should be used with this account. Team LunarRock solved the mystery of the "Curious Iron Rocks" that minerswere finding for years in Pershing County, Nevada.Here is how the mystery began:We were told by the locals that the best place to eat in Lovelock, Nevadawas at a Shell gas station, not the C Punch Casino we were staying at whilewe were getting ready to attend a cash-only land auction before starting ourannual meteorite hunt in June of 2015 . We thought they were joking with usso we ignored the recommendation at first. The pretty country girls at thebank, that looked like they were getting ready to enter a beauty contest,who provided us with cash for the auction, mentioned the Shell gas stationagain so our curiosity got the best of us. I could not help but notice thegirls in this small old western town were all dressed up with their hairmeticulously done. My wife noticed this too and asked where she could gether hair done for the big auction. The girls at the bank considered it anemergency, made a few cell calls and had my wife's hair done in no time. The girls were hoping to meet some rich ranchers or miners at the auction sohad to look their very best. Some may ask what this has to do with curiousiron rocks that were being found.Let me explain. We attended the auction which had about 50 bidders with therest of the people being spectators. I was concerned that there was nosecurity and the back door of the community center was left open for fresh air. There was stacks of cash tucked away in briefcases and satchels. I mentioned my concern to the auctioneer and he said that they have the bestsecurity there is. He said a would-be perpetrator would have dozens ofbullets in their head before they even hit the ground if they tried to pullsome stupid stunt since the attendees are all well-armed. I looked aroundand observed that some girls had Lady Smith 9mm's tucked in their boots andone bidder had a Colt 45 Peacemaker next his stacks of cash in hisbriefcase. We won some ranches at the auction, paid the county treasurerand had the deeds prepared and recorded in record time. We then went to theassessors office and had the girls print the plats for the land we justpurchased. We prepared months ahead of time for land we wanted and the TeamLunarRock hunt afterwards. One of the parcels we purchased wasstrategically located within a few thousand feet of the famous Poker Browngold mine in Rye Patch and the Majuba mountain range where meteorites havebeen found. It is this parcel that got the attention of local prospectorsand opened up a dialog with them since they trust no one.After taking care of the paperwork, we decided to have lunch at the Shellstation. I noticed a police officer filling up a 128 ounce soft drink sincerefills were only 79 cents. I gave him a hard time about it and hereassured me that it would last all day. The gas station proprietor, a veryfriendly guy of East Indian descent, told the police officer to tell thetruth that he actually came in twice a day for refills. We laughed andlooked at the menu which was surprisingly expansive for a gas station. Iordered a hamburger and my wife ordered shrimp kabobs with rice.While we were waiting for our lunch to be prepared, we sat down and wentover some maps. The police officer asked what we were doing and weexplained that we were trying to find the best places to prospect for goldand meteorites on our newly acquired properties. He made a phone call andthe next thing that happened is that a prospector show up. The prospector,who introduced himself simply as "Smokey", wanted to know why we werediscussing the Poker Brown mine and Rye Patch. We showed him some maps and his jaw dropped. He knew the entire territory like the back of his hand. We talked about metal detectors and treasure hunting and he becomecomfortable with us after making sure we were not claim-jumpers. He thenwent to his truck which had a horse trailer attached to it and retrieved atattered leather brief case.Our lunch was finally served and in between bites, we discussed treasurehunting. Smokey opened the briefcase and started sharing Polaroid pictureswith us. It was our turn to have our jaws drop as he showed us pictureafter picture of gigantic gold nuggets he had recovered with his $10,000.00Minelab metal detector. He traveled in the field on horseback with a metaldetector on one side of his horse and a 30/30 carbine rifle on the other andwould disappear for months at a time. We asked about meteorites and hestated that he did not know anything about them other than some prospectorswere finding "Curious Iron Rocks" that might be meteorites. He told us thathis nephew found a large piece of quartz with over 50 ounces of gold in iton the lot next to one of our properties and was excited to help us searchour virgin private land. He also mentioned that some mining operations havemetal detectors at the end of there sluices that set off an alarm when alarge nugget or curious iron rock passes into the tailing piles. We askedhim to save one of these stones so that we could determine what it waslatter on.After enjoying a very good lunch and conversations, at a gas station of allplaces, we agreed that the next time we were in the area that we would gettogether with him. We asked how to get in touch with him, and he told us totalk to a woman named, "Dusti" at the Star Point Trading Post off of Highway400 in Imlay, Nevada.Fast forward over a year to September 2016 and we got our answers to the"Curios Iron Stones" mystery. Team LunarRock, consisting of eight memberson that trip, stopped by the Star Trading Post and asked for Dusti. Welooked at prospecting equipment, gold nuggets and field supplies at thepost. Dusti emerged and we inquired about how to get in touch with Smokey. She had to attend to some business so we made arrangements to meet up withher for dinner at the post after we were done in the field for the day. Inthe meantime, we realized that this was a serious prospector and minerhangout with over 30 of them calling this post their seasonal camp. We couldhardly wait to return in the evening.We hunted on several hundred acres that we purchased the year before on thesame Highway 400 that the trading post and many mines were on. We did nothave the time or heavy equipment needed to search for gold but kept our eyesopen for meteorites. We found a few nice artifacts and drove up into themountains to see Mark Twain's (Samuel Clemens) dugout cabin in Unionvillewhere we stayed the year before in a creepy old 1860's field house filledwith fossils that ranchers collected over the years.We then returned to the trading post for dinner. Dusti put two massivewooden tables together to accommodate Team LunarRock members. She theninformed us that Smokey's health has been fading recently since he is wellover 80 years old and would not be able to meet up with us. I had no ideahe was over 80 years old. He looked much younger and in great shape theyear before. She told us that he is an absolute legend and we werefortunate to meet him because people lucky enough to gain his trust considerhim a treasure. She explained that he disappears for great lengths of timein the field and has been written off as dead many times so never count himout. She prepared an excellent dinner for all us and then sat down todiscuss we wanted to talk to Smokey about. I mentioned the curious ironrocks and she said, "you mean meteorites?"I said that we were hoping they were meteorites. She pointed to a glasscase and said we have plenty of them right here since Smokey toldprospectors to bring them in, We do not know how much they are worth but youare more than welcome to make an offer on any them. I looked in the caseand was pleasantly surprised that they all were indeed meteorites! She thenbroke out a photo album with images of gold nuggets, artifacts and othermeteorites including a gorgeous oriented specimen that a prospector foundwhile digging out what he thought would be a gold nugget.I did not have time to negotiate for any of the meteorites. Most lookedlike ordinary chondrites to me so I chose to purchase some chevron goldspecimens instead.In case any of you are interested, here is a link to the Star Point TradingPost:http://starpointtradingpost.com/index.htmlI am sure they will have meteorites to look at and purchase if you are ininterested in Nevada meteorites,Best Regards,Adam HupeTeam LunarRock

A buddy of mine wanted to hit the low tide last night so I said why not. The only hard thing was deciding what detector to use this time. After I picked one I headed out and got to the beach by 11:45 pm for the 2am low. I wasn’t expecting much but within half an hour I had my first piece of jewelry, although it was junk but we were on the right track. At 1.5 hrs I dug the 18k pendant with real diamond chips. Another hour later I dug the 10k 18gram class ring. This is only the second class ring I find without a name. A few more minutes later I dug an unmarked 10k ring with some real diamond chips. The rest of the jewelry was junk but did get the heart pumping since it looked good at night. Dug about 80 pieces of junk not pictured and very little clad. My buddy dug quite a bit of lead and nickels but just couldn’t put his coil over some gold, I guess there’s always next time. We had fun and the weather was great to be out swinging. Thanks for looking and good luck out there.

I have an Equinox 800 and XP ORX with 11" X35 coil. They don't take the T2's place but between those 2 I have all I need. Even at lower sensitivity (40 or so) the T2 finds things, and small if you have the right coil. I pretty much cleaned all my current sites out from 0-5" of anything worth having with the T2. Evertyhing left is deep and/or masked by junk. Difficult hunting.

I sold my T2 LTD/SE within the last few weeks. I will say that it is a nice detector. It has a lot of aftermarket accessory coils available out there which makes it interesting. Some things I noted, but this is just me and my worthless opinion. Positives: 1)Aftermarket coil selection is awesome. 2) Easy to operate, very few settings to fiddle with. 3) Superb balance, very ergonomic. 4)uses standard AA batteries. Negatives: 1) chatty at times. 2) struggles in iron and mineralization vs. other more modern detectors(multi frequency). 3) Some pin pointers interfere with the detector. 4) larger coils offer more depth but still come up short vs. more modern detectors on known test garden targets. Specifically anything over 6 inches in depth. ID's and sounds off as iron. I will say that the T2 SE/LTD with a small coil is a cherry picking monster, and in a chip bark/playground environment or park is deadly on clad. I also found 90% of my silver with the T2 SE/LTD and Cors Shrew coil. I can not tell you how sensitive that combo is to the smallest of objects. Teeny-tiny things. Countless bling and even small little sparkly things off of kids shoes I found with that combo. Larger coils for me were not as accurate nor as forgiving.

Deborah I use to hunt and dive Pensacola Beach ( over a hundred year old beach) back in the early eighties there is Always waves and gold in PB.....I will say I was one of the first to hunt a lot of the golden sites in the area....earlier I use to surf hurricanes me and My brother would hide in the dunes with few friends and wait for the curls to Break jon top of each other we would just jump from one wave to another aaaah the days of adrenaline and Sea foam.....broke many a good board but in that moment you live ten life times.....Still got my old Eliminator 67 one the Beach Boys had on woody wagon . yes I lean towards A 10 just like my board blue strips and gold brown Happy Trails jimpugh

Hey Largo, Glad to see your here!👍👍

Yes, that looks like a match. Appears to be a rabbit head, anyway, but not sure about the rest of the body. Looks like you got most of the pieces. Were they all found close together? I wonder if it was complete when lost and broken up over time by nature, or if it was already in pieces and intentionally discarded. That's a nice (and possibly rare) piece of history. Excellent find!

Sweet!

I just found this post! And after reading it all, I feel happy to have learned a little about Smokey😇, and his friends! Cancer is a horrible destroyer of many good people! And has recently taken another, before his time! Although late, I offer my condolences to his family and friends! And want you all to know that this post still resonates today! Thank's to all! And God Bless!🙏👍👍

Nice looking ring. Congrats!

Wow, That's pretty deep for a casual trip! I guess to get to the good stuff, you have to be ready to work for it! Where have we heard that before?? . Do they rent backhoes there??🤣👍👍

I went to the diamond grounds in Arkansas quite a few years ago. I met 2 guys who were digging deep holes by hand and were quite experienced in the whole process. They were a bit secretive and were probably badgered by the casual tourists and not too talkative. I was in the process of returning from a successful Winter gold nugget hunt in Arizona. I asked them if they ever saw raw gold nuggets and they said no. After I showed them the nuggets they were more than happy to show me just what they were looking for, how they were doing it and what they were finding. Haven’t been back since but it’s on my soon to do bucket list.

It was not all through it but if I remember right, I think over a pound of the yellow stuff was in it. Close to a 100 pound boulder and that there is a 25" round coil to give everyone an idea of the size of hole he had to dig. Thanks for all your great posts as well.

I only have about 20hrs on the AQ but I’ll try to give you some info. I hear people say that they can tell when there’s a round (ring) object under the coil but I can’t. If the object is ferrous, a certain length and not too deep I can tell. Bobby pins are one of the objects easier to recognize when they aren’t too deep and I’m sure with more time I will recognize them deeper. You are actually able to tell when there’s a larger size object by the sound but I like to run my coil in a circle around the signal to paint a better picture of its size. Very rarely do I do the lift the coil method for sizing/depth although is very useful. As far as knowing if it’s gold under the coil that’s way beyond my expertise. When I had a TDI SL I could tell when I had a dime or quarter but that was it. The AQ in tone mode does seems to give a different signal for quarters and it sounds like a deep bass sound but I still need more time swinging to say with certainty. Hope this info is useful. HH

Just make the lower shaft way less flexible/flimsy and I will be very happy. I personally really like the interface as employed in V 2.77/2.78 and all of the great features, so thanks Nokta Makro

Epic post Gerry! Is that massive quartz chunk in front of Spencer shot through with gold??

Surprised its running quiet on wet sand at 19 khz

Very informative V5 pot post Sven, Definitely a post to save for future information, appreciate you taking the time to share. Very informative, Blisstool V5 will serve you well. Although I’m not running a V5 anymore, switched to a V6 when they were released. Been very fortunate, my pots on my V6 are still clean and so far no wear very responsive. I suppose someday will probably need to change them, currently use a cover keeping dust away from them. Here in my area, it’s tough using Gain above 2 and if I go any higher it’s extremely hard to dial in the Course and Fine GB pots. Can increase Silencer, but not too much I don’t like fixing one problem and adding another to replace it so I don’t run above Gain 2 and use minimal Silencer. Blisstool V5 and V6 are probably the deepest non-metered VLF detectors on the Planet, they are a Beast no doubt. Good luck, and great informative post! Paul

After another long hot week and some things that are weighing heavy on my heart. I decided to hunt a little woodlot and creek to take my mind off the grind of life. I walked about 1000 yds down the creek with little luck until I found a odd item that looks like an umbrella handle. A short distance later I retrieved a very very small tea cup (cool). After striking out on the water, I thought that I might have better luck on terrafirma. Shotgun cases woo hoo!!! I then decided to hunt near a giant of an oak tree, every bit of 40'' through. Hoping for something good, I got a good deep hit. At around 11'' out popped a very large musket ball that measures .690 to .695. Thinking from a british brown bess. Spent another hour farting around and tripped up on a 97 number that kept bouncing down to the high 70's. Normally this would be coal, but the tone did not have the crackle that coal usually has. Woo Hoo out popped a 45 mercury dime. My second 45 in a very short time. Turns out that there were very small fragments of coal around the merc. The dime is cool, but I love Rev. War musket balls!!!! I ended my day with a 22 casing and a 22 bullet. Another good day with the MK!!! Time to have a beer and cool off!!!

Very nice finds and hope you get over the farts. Good luck on your next hunt.

It basically is a matter of what you want to hear. The Equinox is one of the most popular metal detectors ever made, with huge numbers of satisfied owners who don’t have problems. To be perfectly frank, some people break stuff... but it’s always the manufacturers fault it was not made stronger. I remember a guy who came into my shop and wanted warranty on the Husqvarna chainsaw he broke when he felled another tree in it. His reasoning? Husqvarna should have made it stronger. Arm rest cuffs and coil ears.... nobody ever says they leaned on it or dropped it and just plain broke it. In nearly 50 years of metal detecting I’ve only had a few times where something physically broke on a detector. Guess how it happened. I broke it! So you can pay attention to the people who post about problems... and they often do. And ignore all the people who are not having problems, which people rarely post about. “Was out detecting today, nothing broke or leaked.” This is true of all detectors. Google any popular model looking for problems and you will find threads about problems. Garrett AT Pro Broke Garrett AT Pro Leak New stuff has warranties. Most never use the warranty. Some do. That’s life, no matter what product you buy. Targets on edge? Most detectors have issues with on edge targets versus flat. Stacked targets? Oh yeah, huge issue, stacks of coins buried everywhere. I swear there is one class of detectorist who never detects, but just endlessly tests detectors looking for weird stuff so they can “discover” something to post about. All detectors have quirks if you want to find them. Or you can pay attention to large numbers of people having success with a particular detector. It basically is a matter of what you want to hear. I have the three oldest Equinox in the country. One has the so-called loose shaft that people freak out over and which I have to pay attention to to notice. Most people would not notice, but it got posted and everyone started twisting shafts looking for it. I dribbled a little sand in the juncture and that fixed that. I ran over one unit, broke the shaft, and had the faceplate separate a little. Glued and clamped it, replaced shaft, still going strong. That’s it, my litany of problems. If I had to sell every detector but one, my Equinox stays. Best all around detector for coins, relics, jewelry, the beach, and gold prospecting ever made in my opinion, and probably will be until Minelab comes out with a better version. I should add that if I was not wanting a waterproof detector, my other choice would be a Deus/Orx. And I’d certainly be looking hard at the Apex, but it’s going to have to prove it’s better than an Orx anywhere but the beach. Nokta/Makro SMF unfortunately is still just vaporware at this point so not worth waiting on until something more solid develops. But if I had to have waterproof that is not Equinox, a Nokta/Makro Multi Kruzer would be high on the list.