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Guys, the MXT is no more analog than the MX-Sport. They are the same basic design: analog demodulators, everything else is digital. The MXT used an 8-bit PIC micro and assembly language. The MX5 moved it to a 32-bit micro and "C" language, and cleaned up the analog portion a bit. Otherwise, same design. The MX-Sport is the same design as the MX5, with feature changes. The T2 is also the same design as the MXT, with feature changes. None of them are any more analog, or more digital, than the others. Tidbit: When the MX5 was released, there were also MX7 and MX9 models ready to go, with progressively more features. White's did not want to release them, because they didn't want them to impact the sales of the MXT. No, I don't understand that logic, either. Years later, a different MX7 was released. I still have an MX9 prototype, the only one in existence.

The river is extremely low near the house so I took the kayak out to a place where a bridge used to cross the river but was burnt during the Civil war. I turned up some Civil war bullets both Yankee and Confederate a homemade fishing sinker some iron relics and two handguns! You never know what's in the river I guess.

Well I found the owners of the lost wedding rings. It was a heck of a journey navigating the internet to a different country, a language barrier, and back to the States. Yes the rings are an expensive designer set as others commented in the original post and the diamond was pretty much flawless. We could not find any inclusions under the scope at the local jewelers. He commented on the quality of the stone. Cha Ching! Here we go! So at first I was able to locate the manufacturer/jeweler from the hallmark in the rings. The original manufactures location was in the emerald district of Bogota, Colombia. I had sent them an email, but received no response. Since I got no response I kept doing searches on the name engraved in the wedding band. Fortunately I found the name on a business website once again in Bogota, Colombia. Ah Ha! Progress! I figured I was doing good now since the name was located in the same town as the manufacturer. Again I sent an email to the business and no response. Well back at it I knew a higher power was saying ‘get these rings back to the owner’. Finally putting two and two together I found accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, FB with the same name and place of business associated with them. Also said located in central Florida (that was the big clue). Bam finally photos! What slowed the process down now was I do not have accounts with that form of social media, but there was just enough info on the person I was searching on that was available for viewing without an account. Found a picture showing his wedding band that matched the one I had found. Than luckily I found a picture of his wife’s hand showing both the rings I found. Well at that point I knew I had the right people. BTW — DP is my only form of social media. Moving forward the journey was coming to an end I thought. We used my wife’s FB to send a private message to them. Finally a day later the message we sent was replied to, but in Spanish —- I am calling it the curse of the 1715 Fleet 😂 Well the good news is they provided a phone number. A few hiccups but texting via iPhone and the built in translator app worked flawlessly. Heck I didn’t even know that app was in there. No I am not making a pitch for the company, but it did work great in this situation 😆 Did I mention that the iPhone 14 Pro Max 256gb I was using is the one I found brand new in the surf last year. 😜 Fortunately I got to keep that one all legit, but that’s another story. 😀 So with an afternoon of texting back and forth we were able to communicate and come up with a meeting location. This past Saturday morning mission was complete. We met at my custom jeweler who speaks Spanish (thank Miguel/Mike). Rings back in owners hands and they were very happy. They said they took the rings off at the beach and put them in his pocket and then sat down. Told them when going to the beach just leave the jewelry at home, but they were smart for engraving them. Also mentioned usually one tide cycle in less than 6 hrs is all it takes and the jewelry is usually gone for a verrrrrrry long time. Showed them my 1696 Reale and said ‘see it took over 300 years to find this’. The journey finally ends. It took me from a central Florida beach to Bogota, Colombia then back to the Orlando, Florida area via the internet then physically meeting at my local jeweler in less than a week. Someone upstairs wanted this to happen. My reward some people have asked……….Hopefully Good Karma cuz I sure could use a treasure chest full of Royal Escudos 😂 Just happy they got the rings back. Their smiles were priceless. Like I said to some before since surviving my cancer I have a lot of promises to keep with someone upstairs. My real reward is still being here with my family/friends and hopefully for many adventures/years to come. Still hard to believe the below pictures of the sandy rings ended back together with the other matching ring. My wife took a picture of their hands/rings together. Many other pictures of the owners from our meeting, but out of respect for them I will not post. Happy Fathers Day

Found a nice 925 GS with what looks like a sapphire in it , It still has some dirt packed under the back of the stone , It rang up 80--81 on my ORX also found a 1$ coin and lots of quarters Good hunt .

The Clerke First Guns revolvers we’re definitely throw aways and aren’t made any more. The 25 acp FIE Titan E28 semi automatic is no longer being produced but a similar Saturday Night Special based on the Raven is currently being made by Phoenix Arms. The Titan has no mag but it is in cocked position. A round could still be in the chamber but I highly doubt that it would still be "live" or that the gun still even remotely functions. I agree with others, I would turn them into local law enforcement. They have zero historic or collector value. If the Titan was instead a Colt Pony or something similar I might have a different opinion depending on what condition it was in. I am not surprised that you found them in a river. Great hunt!!!

Okay Colonel, I got a chance to slip out and test the masking scenario today. Let me preface as saying my soil is mineralized and sandy in my back yard and has dried out some since it hasn't rained since early yesterday and was sunny today. It's about 6 bars on the Ground Level Mineralization Strength meter. My ground balance varied from 87-89, but with Ground Tracking on, it settled in the 87 zone. This is not exactly scientific testing but I approached it with a mind set to see if I could make the D2 unmask the clad quarter in your program. I was able to get it to unmask with the various land programs, but not with all of them. Granted I didn't spend too much effort adjusting the land programs, just basic hunting tweaks I would normally make to see which programs could hit the quarter. I set up for the test with your listed settings: Base Program = Beach Sensitive, Max Freq = 40, Disc = 0.0, Notch = Off, Sensitivity = 95, Silencer = 0, B.Caps = 0, Reactivity = 0, Audio Response = 7, Iron Volume = 7, Tone = Pitch, Threshold = 0, Audio = High Sqr, Audio Filter = 0, FE TID = On (I forgot to turn that off from the factory default setting), Ground Tracking = On, Ground Stability = 2, Salt Sens = 7, Magnetic Ground = Reject. This was the orientation of the quarter and tent peg in the ground with the quarter and tent peg in an East-West relationship: I tried all the various settings and combinations as you did to unmask the quarter with no success. Pitch tones was giving me a high false tone on the tent peg but low VDI number, probably because I forgot to turn FE TID off. I raised the Disc up to 10 with no change, I began lowering it back down to zero with not much change in audio or TID, but when I lowered the DIsc below zero, the audio on the spike began to change and break up a bit and there was an occasional higher number (56- 85) flashing sporatically and the non-ferrous bar showed response as well. This would only show up on the Southern and sometimes the Northern end of a 360 swing rotation. It was also more pronounced if I did a rapid wiggle off of or onto the location of the quarter. When centered on the quarter, the tent spike would dominate the tonal response and TID. Here is an unexpected result. I was going to raise and lower the Reactivity to see how that might affect the signals when I acidentally lowered the Iron Volume instead and, for some unknown reason, the lower the Iron Volume went the higher non-ferrous numbers appeared on the TID while doing a 360 sweep. With Iron Volume from 3-0, I was able to tell there was a good enough non-ferrous target there to dig near the tent peg. When I set the Reactivity from 1.5-2.5, it improved the response even more with the lower Iron Volume settings. I don't know how that happened, but I would have dug those signals knowing there was something near the peg. You might give that a try to see if it makes any difference on your turf and beaches, but it worked for me. BTW, I was using the 9" coil in this test. I hope that helps in some small way.

A funny thing happened at the beach today, I was to meet up with Chase at a local beach, one I now dub the "Beach of Low Expectations". I was detecting the beach cut in front of a motel, and saw a flip-flop, a half empty Corona bottle, and an iPhone. Sure enough the phone worked, and had ID and credit cards in a pocket on the case. I asked a woman nearby if it was hers, and she said no, but she thought it might belong to a woman who was very drunk and noisy on the beach the night before. I took the phone to the motel office and asked if the woman was staying there, and the manager said yes, the people were still checked in. She said I could bring it up to her room, and mentioned they were trouble. I decided to take it myself being the fearless individual I am 😏 Went to the room and knocked, once, twice, finally 5 times when I heard "GODDAMN IT" and someone coming to the door. It was the woman, nearly naked, not sure if she was wearing much at all. I tried not to look at anything but her face, first time someone looked better in their license photo than in person. 😀 I said "You might want this back", and that was all I could get out, she said "Thank you", took it, and closed the door. Yikes. 🤣 I went back out to the beach, Chase had got there, and I dug very little. 😵 .68, a copper arthritis ring (ID'd by my wife), and a bling earring. 🤷‍♂️ That was my Karma for returning someone's life. 🙄 We still had a fun day, the weather was great, and there were lots of nice people out there today. I think we did better than the other detectorists from what they said.

The report from the 1937 shootout at the mine. Sheriff’s Dept Incident Report July 7, 1937 Acting Sheriff Dan Caldwell Concerning shooting at Stevens Brothers Gold Mine INCIDENT : Sometime in the early morning hours of July 4, 1937 a gunfight broke out at the Stevens Brothers Mine. A small mining crew was attacked by a group of heavily armed and unknown gunmen. A gun battle ensued whereas the mining crew attempted to defend themselves. Six of the attackers were killed in the incident as well as three of the mining crew. The identity of the six deceased attackers is not known at this time. The identity of the three deceased miners is as follows : John Denham, Will Roberts, and Hudson Kane. The fourth man of the crew is identified as Jacob Stevens who remains missing. INCIDENT DETAIL : At approximately 4:00 AM I was contacted in town by a prospector named Ken Stallings. He was camped on his mining claim approximately one half mile north of the mining crews camp and was awoken by gunfire around 2:00 AM on July 4. Upon his investigation into the cause of the gunfire he witnessed what he claimed to be about thirty to forty armed men shooting into the mining crew’s camp. He stated the miners were returning fire. At that time he headed into town where he informed me of the situation. Being the fourth of July and having no staff at the present time as well as being unable to bring in neighboring departments that night I deemed it unsafe to drive out there alone to be of any assistance although I did travel out to the camp later that morning. When I arrived at 11:00 AM there was no gunfire or armed men. There were a large amount of spent rounds piled in the camp as well as at a watchpost on the mountain. I have secured the neighboring Sheriff’s Department and Federal Agencies to assist in a formal investigation into this incident. At the time of this report there are no leads. Filing Officer : Dan Caldwell Acting Sheriff July 7, 1937 Case No. 747 Status : OPEN

Good to see you on here sharing a little of what you learned. Mostly glad you were able to join us for the training at Rye Patch. Don't worry about those who say negative, they don't know what they don't know and they don't have the varying gold to test, as they MISS IT. Yes, the X-Terra Pro was able to respond to some gold the GPZ-7000 and other high end gold detectors can't see. Yes I could do a video of it, but what's the use, nay sayers would argue and think I'm trying to trick the world. Fact is and Steve H mentioned it- Not all gold bearing ground is mineralized. Remember folks. Sometimes hand placer gravels and some tailing piles, have the mineralized dirt removed already. Thats why it has been mentioned a few times by a few of us who know, in some situations, a VLF with larger coil, gets near the depths of PI's...but we are able to use features the VLF's have (such as target ID and or Iron ID). No, I'm not saying the X-Terra Pro is a gold detector and I never did. Even to this day I won't say such. But as Simon and a couple others indicated, it could be used for someone who mainly hunts coins/relics/beach and if the rare occasion arrives, they could try it in a pinch. The training we offered, the X-Terra Pro and the Manticore were the 1st time there as we were just as curious as the rest of you, what these detectors can see and the ID #'s they read on the screen. My Field Staff and I were just as surprised as you and really impressed, actually way more impressed than I would have expected. Not sure why so many folks get stuck on price points and feel the more you pay, the more you get. Heck remember, a less money Garrett Axiom or Minelab GPX-6000 outperforms a way more expensive GPZ-7000 for a variety of gold. As for VLF's a less money EQ-800 with outperform the more expensive Gold Monster 1000 on a variety of gold in different soils. And yes, the X-Terra Pro can even see a few kinds of gold in certain situations, the big machines are blind. As said, those who miss it, don't know...they missed it. Thanks for sharing part of what you witnessed and yes, I do feel the X-Terra Pro will eventually become a very popular detector at that price point for many tasks. No, I won't be selling it as a gold detector, but do know it can do more than most realize. After all, it was my buddy (here on DP) Ron who sparked my interest on the X-Terra Pro. He already mentioned his bit of knowledge/learning when he did a little testing. I agree 100% with him, it actually does better than expected for a sub $300 detector, who would have thought?

We get it Dig, you think visual displays are useless for jewelry hunters. Personally, I fail to see how having more information in any form is a bad thing, but to each his own. If you don’t like visual displays, don’t use them. But no reason that I can see to try and convince everyone they are useless. That is not a lot different from people trying to prove they are the holy grail. The truth is in the middle, as is normally the case. It’s just a tool being offered and it’s a bit early to say that no jewelry hunter under any circumstances anywhere in the world can’t have a use for the thing. One thing for sure is that if a person is convinced of something in advance and does not even try, the result is preordained.

Identification of any target with the M-Core is through the digging process as it has been with any metal detector that I have ever used. For instance a quarter may read a 95 on a VLF detector. I in my collection of finds I have a gold nugget that also reads and sounds like a quarter on most the VLF's I've used. I mentioned TT size and irregularity in my post above as the M Core does not just produce perfectly round and oval shapes as you eluded to in your 3 scenarios. You would have to use the machine and dig many hundreds of targets and see for yourself. That being said I disagree with your jury verdict that the TT is not a useful addition when performing analysis of targets..I'm not going to go into any more details as I have many better things to do then debate with people I don't know about things they may or may not know on the internet..no offense intended 🙂 strick

I had a search yesterday in the sand out front of an exclusive Malibu beach club. I had a two-hour max window to find a ring lost the night before at the wedding. I brought my D2 and my 800, unsure of which I would use. As I arrived, I gave it a moment and took the 800 out and left the D2 in the car. My reasoning? The 800 is a turn-and-go hunt detector, and it has never let me down. It was like riding a bike, I felt like the 800 was the simple machine we all think we need to improve upon when the reality is it works and works really well. I'm not saying I've lost confidence in my D2, but I don't want to spend time tuning my detector as that's not what I want or need out of a detector. I found the ring and all's well that ends well but the point of this is you really don't need the latest and greatest machine to have fun and find things. The 800 is more than enough for 98% of all your hunts.

I think the crew had made a huge gold discovery. They were probably being watched. Then they were murdered for their gold. The pack of thieves most likely came back to the area weeks later after things had cooled down with the law and mined out the new found rich gold deposit. Just my theory as well as Jacob's. We never found it when Jacob tried to locate it again after all those years. That was most likely because it had already been mined by the new group. As Jacob often said, the law in that area was worthless. As far as we can tell there were never any arrests made. Here are the last two entries in the journal Jacob was writing in in 1937. July 3 1937 There was nothing moving on the mountain last night except for a bear and some mule deer. At breakfast we had a brief meeting and were concerned that whoever had taken those buckets out of the mine while we were in Nevada most likely knew we were on rich ground. We would need to keep a close watch on the mine. Will and I got an early start as the sun was coming up behind the trees. The intense heat was back once again. We worked at a good pace and cut a trench trying to find the depth of country rock. We hit it at twelve feet. I took a sample pan over to the tub with Will and we couldn’t believe the result. The pan was full of small nuggets and pickers as well as coarse gold. We had never seen a pan like this. It was even richer than last year's kettle dig. We still didn’t know how far back into the hill the kettle went. The deposit had the potential to be massive. I kept a thermometer in the shade and it was already reading 98 degrees. It had to be 110 or more in the sun. I sent Will back down to the creek with a lode of buckets filled to the brim with rich gravels for John to wash. I told him to bring up more water and some cool Lucky’s we kept in the creek. When he got back up to the site we found a shady spot and drank a few of them. I have to say that I have never had beer that tasted better on a sweltering hot day. We got back to work and didn’t stop until dusk. We had removed a total of 170 buckets of super rich pay. The weigh tomorrow was going to be a good one as most of the material we took down to John was from deep in the kettle. July 4 1937 I am hurriedly writing this with the aid of a three quarter moon while trapped at the watchpost. It is 3:00 AM and today was to be a gold weigh and celebration of our country's independence. Instead, we are fighting for our lives. I took the second watch last night and all was quiet until an hour ago when we were suddenly attacked by what seems like a small army of well armed men. There has been heavy gunfire until the last ten minutes. I hear no more return fire from camp and I am nearly out of ammo up here on the mountain. I am taking occasional rifle fire and volleys of rounds from at least ten positions which have me surrounded. I am unable to move from cover. I can only think of the Shaman who warned me of our demise. I fear this may be the end. I am seeing my brother Jed and Whisky Jack coming down the mountain towards me with their arms stretched out to greet me.

Very interesting results, F350! I was using the 9" coil because that's what the Colonel uses and I wanted to recreate his circumstances as best I could. Maybe what I was experiencing was the coil edge phenomenon as well that hit on the quarter just enough without hitting the tent peg. One thing I have noticed is the 9" coil runs noticeably hotter at Senitivity 95 than the 11" coil, so maybe that is allowing better coil edge detection. When I use the 11", I bump the sensitivity to 96 or 97 to get that same edge detect factor, which is great for locating targets a few inches away from the end of my sweep. I'm going to try to get a longer time out to test all this more carefully and use both the 9" and 11" coils and different programs and settings to see if we can derive some more repeatable common data to help us all decipher some of the mysteries and anomalies of the D2. Any others, especially beach hunters, who want to test this would be very welcomed to help. Anything we can find out conclusively helps us all. The D2 is a powerful and highly customizable machine and, with the more advanced user control we've been given in this latest update, I think we will figure all this out eventually. Onward and upward! 😎

Glad you are on here asking. So many folks unfortunately purchase the wrong detector for the task before they do research. Your time to ask could end up saving you alot of headache. Keep the dream alive though.

I haven't read this whole thread but I can tell you that TT can tell irregular shaped targets from round targets. I've called it many times while I've been hunting with the Manticore. Can slaw is especially evident on TT. Doesn't work on deep targets but it does work on targets down to about 5".

You know that if you found it again, the screen would be cracked, the memory card missing, and nothing in the wallet. Then you would just look at her and say have a nice day.

not sure why they have the wires crossed over on the one your looking at, both this one and the one I got have JST connector so maybe you just can unclip the wires out of the JST and put them back in the opposite spots, I've never tried pulling the wires out of the connectors but maybe it is possible as the actual JST plugs look the same on both. cheers dave this youtube video shows how to swap the polarity on the JST connector

Very punny!! Could have been worse for you in so many ways! I think I would have taken a backup staff member as a witness!! First, at least it was a "she" that was identifiable in such a short amount of time!🤔 Although, you may have needed one of our "Ausie" detecting friends to do a "verify" for you!!😁(🐊CD) Secondly, a "boyfriend" answering the door, may not have gone so favorably; if you can even say that it was a favorable experience at all!! I would like and hope, to say good Karma will reward you on this one, like PI Man's ring finds surely will, but I wouldn't even ask for any return from that strange experience!! Just glad you made it out safe, and unscathed!! Yikes! 🙏😇🍀👍👍

Your are definitely an inspiration to real detecting detective work! That was definitely a test of your "metal" as a finder and keeper, and a good soul in general! Many would be hard pressed to do the research, or just let the "authorities🙄" try and do it for them! That is definitely a "bucket lister" any way you look at it, and will always be something to be proud of! The money that was possible for resale, would not have lasted near as long as the feeling of accomplishment you now have!! That will never be diminished, or spent!!🏆🙏💍🍀👍👍

Pretty sure whoever was with her would have objected 🤣 Very odd situation.

Happy Fathers Day back at you Chuck and may your day be blessed. Even though my spoiled child is not proper, I still love him to death. No proper kids for my wife/I, so we just spoil the 4 legged type. Pics of my baby with one of his toys when he was all ears and no body. and then when he filled out and started costing us money for food. Happy Fathers Day to you all no matter who you love/spoil.

I've got my older Alaskan camper setup for sale. 10' non-cabover on a heavy duty single axle trailer. I've been prospecting in this rig for many years. I rebuilt the up half several years ago, including the framing and insulation. Not perfect, but in solid overall condition. Not for the ladies...LOL, but a good rig for a serious outdoorsman. Good cold Dometic fridge, 20 gallon water tank, table for 4 that makes into a large bed. Good tires with newer spare. Rotatable, tilitng solar panel setup on the roof w/150 watt panel. Does a good job of keeping the batteries charged. 3 burner stove. electric water pump, and forced-air furnace. Fridge runs on propane or 120v, though the 120v systems have been removed as I never stay in campgrounds. The trailer wheel track matches my Dodge, so it will follow down any two-track without the wheels being out in the rocks and sagebrush. Includes my shop-built 12v evaporative cooler. This rig is not fancy, but solid. Lots of storage, and LED interior lights. Might take a Gold Bug 2 as part trade. $2500 firm

The MX-series is still one of my favorite, I have an MXT, MX9, and MX-Sport. Except for salt water, they are still competitive detectors. I never liked the T2/F75 (again, same design) because of the single-button interface, which I found to be awful. The F70 is a much better experience.

Yep, I routinely keep reactivity at 0-1 on the beach because of the depth issue and I really don’t need too much separation….which is one saving grace where this masking shortcoming is concerned.

The night the crew met Slim Saunders. April 18 1937 Part One We are continuing to get wild hooligans from town who want to come out here to the mine and either meet us or work with us. Last night I heard Ben and Sarge holler out at someone who was trudging up the side of the creek toward our camp. The crew came over and had a look at what the hollering was about. I nearly laughed but held it back. Sarge was not so kind and began to laugh and hoot. There in front of us stood an old guy dressed like a cowboy from back in the 1800’s. He wore a large cowboy hat that nearly covered his face and also some old jeans and fur leggings. He had on boots with spurs as well as two six shooters in holsters. He was smoking a home rolled cigarette and gave us all an evil stare. I walked over to him and asked what he was up to. He said his name was Slim Saunders and he was from a ranch just outside of town. I reckoned him to be about 60 in years or maybe a bit more. He told us he had done everything from ranching to mining to logging and even bounty hunting in his day. I started to like him. John asked him what we could do for him. He said he had heard quite a bit about us in town. Some of the groups that hung around in the tavern said we were the mining crew from hell and we took names and kicked ass. He said he was looking for work and wanted to join up with us. I asked him what kind of job he was looking for. He said he was a scratch shot with his 45’s and could work as security. He said he could also handle a rifle with the best of them. Before I could say anything he pointed to a limb on a pine tree about 100 feet away. He said to look toward the end of the limb and there was a small branch starting off to the right with a pine cone hanging on. I said that I saw it. He slapped leather with both hands and quick drew his Colts and fired off a round from each gun. The pine cone flew off the limb. Then he twirled the pistols and put them back in their holsters as slick as grease. Then he told Will to set out two empty tin cans about 100 feet away. Will set them up on a rock and came back over. Slim said to watch and he pulled his right hand quickly and shot as the gun cleared leather. One of the cans flew off the rock. Before the sound of the shot died he pulled his left hand with the Colt and did the same thing. The can flew off the rock just like the first one. He twirled them back into the holster as slick as could be. I asked him what kind of pay he wanted. He said just his grub and whiskey, a dollar, and a little taste of gold from time to time. I told him to hold on while I talked with my crew. Everyone liked Slim. We decided to give him a go. I went over and asked him when he wanted to start. He just looked at me and said “Well, I’m here aint I ?” and that was that. Then he asked if we had any whiskey. I handed him a new bottle and we all sat around the fire as darkness fell. Slim took a couple of pulls from the bottle and began to tell us his story. April 18 1937 Part Two Slim told us his father had worked in a wild west show back in the day. He did all kinds of tricks with guns and ropes. His father had begun teaching him these skills from even before he could remember. His father traveled all the time and when Slim was sixteen he and his mother and sister never saw him again. He just left on a show tour one day and never came home. He had no idea what happened to him. Slim kept practicing his father’s trade until he figured he was better than him or anyone else around. However, by this time the wild west shows were all dried up like the dust in the western wind. There was no market for his trade. Slim developed a real bad attitude and began to pull strong arm robberies when he was still a kid. He used his gun skills to intimidate people all the time. Not surprising, the law eventually caught up with him when he was nineteen years old and he spent two years in the Wyoming state prison. When he got out his mother and sister had moved on and abandoned him. He never saw either of them again. Prison hadn’t helped his attitude but it hardened him as a man. He had been in many fistfights and brawls while in lockup and had developed some good hand to hand fighting skills to go along with his gunplay. He was a truly dangerous individual and didn’t think twice about using his guns or fists at the drop of a hat. By now Slim had downed a third of his bottle. Then he told us a wild story. We all leaned in to listen closely. April 18 1937 Part Three Slim said that back when he was just out of prison he got a job working on a ranch. He didn’t have a whole lot of cowboy skills when they hired him but learned real fast and was soon one of the best cowboys on the ranch. He was in a poker game one night. It took place in the main bunkhouse and Slim was losing real bad. The cowboy who had all the money was the best bronc buster on the ranch. Or so he thought. Slim challenged him to a bronc busting contest. Slim put up one of his Colts against the money in the purse. The other cowboys got the meanest horse out of the barn. They called him Freight Train. He was bad to the bone. The first cowboy took a turn on him and got thrown after just a few seconds. Slim got on and rode out the horse and broke him. The cowboy who lost refused to give up the purse. One of the other guys was holding Slims Colt & gave it back to him. The losing cowboy challenged Slim to a duel. Slim said this guy thought he was pretty quick on the draw. They walked out fifty paces and stood looking at each other. Slim told him to make his move when he was ready. After a wait of about thirty seconds the cowboy slapped leather. Slim came up with both guns firing just as they cleared their holsters and the slower guy went down on his knees firing off a round into the dirt. Then he slowly rolled over on his side. He was dead. Both of Slims shots had pierced the chest in the area of the heart. Slim calmly walked over and took the money out of the cowboy’s vest pocket. It was covered in blood. The ranch owner had heard the ruckus and came out of his house with his rifle. It was way past midnight. When he saw one of his top hands laying dead on the ground he wasn’t happy. He pointed the rifle at Slim and told him he was going to shoot him dead. April 18 1937 Part Four Slim said when a man told him he was going to kill him he took him at his word. So he raised his right hand as if to give up but as he did so snapped the six shooter out of its holster with his left hand and fired three times. The rancher dropped to the ground lifeless. Just that quick he had taken two lives but felt he had no choice. The cowboys were real upset now because their boss and one of their friends were eating dirt. Slim said there were five of them left and some had sidearms. He told them not to make any moves and walked backwards towards the barn. He saddled a horse and rode off into the night leaving what few belongings he had. However, he did have a full poke now. Within the space of a few minutes he had become an outlaw. Then he told us the rest of the story. April 18 1937 Part Five Slim said he lasted until the law dogs caught up with him in Cody, Wyoming. He said there were two of them and he could have easily gunned them down but didn’t want to kill any more men. He got thirty years and got out when he was 51 years old. More than half his life had now been spent in prison and he had no one to call a friend. He was on his own in a strange world. He was forbidden to own or carry a gun and had no training except in gun play and cow punching and bronc busting. He thought about the rodeo circuit but everyone told him he was too old. He decided to give it a try anyway. He got on with the Cowboy Contest circuit in Cheyenne and found out he could still hold his own in the bronc riding division. He made himself a living for nearly ten years and was the oldest cowboy to qualify for a trophy and prize money. Then he eventually hooked up with a ranch in the area and now he was sitting at our campfire drinking whisky with us. We all pulled out some cups as he talked about his life and drank whiskey with him deep into the night. Around two in the morning we all turned in. When we got up none of us were feeling too good and took the day off nursing bad hangovers. There was no gold made that day.

Here is one example of why you wouldn't want to mess with John. April 15 1937 Last night we had a visit by four hooligans. It seems they had liquored themselves up with false courage at the tavern and came out to the mine for a visit just before dark. Sarge and Ben had stopped them before they made it all the way into camp and the crew went down to see what was going on. They were running their mouths and talking about how they were ruff and ready guys and thought they would be a good fit as a part of our crew. They said they could handle themselves in a fight and were hard workers to boot. John was getting a laugh out of all this and asked them who the toughest one in the bunch was. They immediately pointed to the biggest one who was probably in his late twenties. He said he would take on any one of us in a brawl and prove he could handle himself. John surprised me and took him up on it. I knew that John didn’t mind a good fight if he had the reason to do so so maybe he just felt like he had been challenged. John asked the hooligan if he was up for a game. He said they would stand toe to toe. They would flip a coin. The winner would get the first punch and then the other man would return it. This would continue until someone gave up or was knocked out. The hooligan was all for it. I flipped the coin and the hooligan won the toss. The entire crew and the other three hooligans formed a circle around the combatants. They squared up and I saw John brace himself. The hooligan delivered the best punch he could throw from the close quarters. It caught John square on the jaw and his head snapped to the side. He looked at the guy and smiled. Now it was his turn. John is about as ruff and tuff as they come and he let his right fist sail into the hooligan's jaw. The guy’s knees started to buckle but to his credit he stayed on his feet. He was a little unsteady as he threw another haymaker that found its mark. John just shook it off again with the same smile. Now John let his hip turn as he threw a cross from his shoulder. I saw the hooligan's lip split open and he spit out a tooth. He was still on his feet but more shaky now. He let a good right hand fly once again and John’s head snapped back and he started spitting blood. He was still smiling. John kind of gave a grunt as he let his right hand fly once more. It was a crushing blow to the nose of the hooligan. There was blood everywhere and the guy sank down on one knee. He got up and gathered himself. John braced himself for the next punch which connected but it was a weaker punch and only grazed John's face. John asked him if he wanted to quit. The guy shook his head no. John let one fly and there was a sickening crunch and more teeth were spit out but the guy stayed on his feet. He was tough. He let John have another punch but this one was weaker still. John delivered his next punch into the gut and the guy doubled over and went down on his face. All the fight was gone out of him now. His friends picked him up and they left camp telling John they couldn’t believe what he had done to their friend. They said he’d never been beaten in a fight. They said they were going to tell everyone in town that the rumors about us were true, that we were not to be messed with. The next day we worked the kettle. John’s face was badly bruised and he couldn’t eat solid food because his teeth were sore and one was loose. We did a good day’s work and ended up with one ounce of gold. John was eating oatmeal for supper.

Here is the entry where Jacob finds his brother's killer. April 11 1937 Part One Last night we were visited once again. Sarge brought a guy into camp that said he wanted to talk with me. He told me he hangs out in the tavern in town. He claimed to overhear a couple of guys talking about us. One of them was talking about a large amount of gold he had gotten and laughing about someone working hard to mine it and he took it without having to do any work and now he was wealthy. The guy was getting drunk with another hooligan and he was there now. I thanked him and asked if he'd go there with me to identify the men. He said he would. He told me they were bad news and carried guns and knives. One of them was called Slugger and the other Jim. Slugger was the bigger of the two and he was the one doing most of the talking. I took John and Sarge as well as the informer into town and we parked the truck in front of the tavern. When we walked in, the informer pointed out the two guys. I thanked him again and told him he’d better clear out for his own safety as this might get real ugly. April 11 1937 Part Two I told Sarge to go outside and keep the informer at our truck. We might want him later. I told him John and I would go back outside as well and wait for the two hooligans to exit the tavern. I didn’t want anyone seeing us in contact with them because if they were the ones responsible for my brother’s murder I would kill them both. John wanted them as bad as I did. We all had weapons in case of a shoot out but killing them that way was far too easy for them. I also wanted to get back Jed’s gold. Sarge moved the truck away from the tavern parking lot and kept the informer inside the cab with him. John and I waited in a secluded area across the street from the tavern. It was getting late and I hoped it wouldn’t be too long before the suspects came out. Around midnight we saw them going out the door and starting to walk down the street. The big one was laughing and joking about how easy it was to steal gold and rob people. The other one was laughing as well. My fists were clenched in rage and I told John “Let’s get them.” I was going to make them talk. April 11 Part Three We walked up behind them and they were drunk and didn’t even notice us. John carried a weighted billy club and pulled it out and I had brass knuckles on. We also had sidearms. John eased up behind the one they called Slugger and pretended to know him. He said he had a bottle of good whiskey over at the truck and pointed over there. Slugger acted like he recognized him or knew him and said let’s go drink it. His buddy Jim went along easy until we got near the truck and spotted me wearing brass knuckles. Before he could say anything I let him have a right hand square in the face and took out his front teeth. John clocked Slugger in the knee with the billy and he went down and started hollering and cursing. John cracked him across the face with his fist twice and we threw them in the back of the truck and jumped back there with them. I told Sarge to get the hell out of here before someone sees us and he drove back toward the mine. The two thugs were moaning and cursing and we let them have more of the same and told them to shut their mouths if they wanted to live. We pulled off the main road and drove up to our camp. Ben,Will, and Hudson were waiting for us. We threw the two goons off the truck and onto the ground and the entire crew and security team was staring down at them.

A MineLab convert learns something new about the D2….again. I was experimenting yet again with settings to see if I could unmask the quarter…. No luck except for my modified General program much like F350 reported. I went back to Beach Sensitive to try yet again, this time by adjusting the discrimination….and that’s when I realized that you can’t go below 0.0 discrim in the Beach programs. I’ve experimented with negative discrim in Gary Blackwell’s Sonar program but it never crossed my mind to try it with a beach program….until now. Initially, I thought it was some sort of malfunction, but no, it’s embedded in the software from what I could determine! I never stop learning about this amazing detector!😁 BTW CPT, I use an 11” coil. Since 99% of my detecting is on the beach, I don’t even own a 9 inch coil.😉 I sincerely want to thank all you guys for jumping in on this unmasking investigation. If we can find a way to unmask the good target next to iron on the beach or make XP aware of all this so they can address it, we will have helped many fellow detectorists in my view…..of course that also means helping out our competitors!!! 😂

Andy and Strick already did. I gave you some correlating information from a different brand of detector that uses a similar target ID based 2D feature. I don't have anything else to add to the how to tell gold rings and gold jewelry from aluminum trash or any other type of non-ferrous targets with overlapping IDs in the low and mid conductor range. I dig as many US nickels, US zinc pennies and good sounding non-ferrous targets with similar solid IDs below and up to those coins, with smaller footprints and very distinctive 2D mapping indications as I physically am able along with making sure I hunt in likely gold ring/jewerly areas. If I don't find any gold jewelry using all of those tools, I do usually come home with plenty of nickels and zinc pennies! I wish finding gold rings and gold jewelry was as easy as finding silver rings/jewelry by digging all high conductive US coin target IDs. It just isn't. But it is super rewarding and satisfying no matter what techniques are employed.

Thanks Carl!!!! Whenever you post something on this forum I learn something or more often many things like your current post. I love it when you correct me especially when it concerns detectors and pinpointers that I really like.

Ok, my turn. 😀 Took the D2 and 13" to my local beach this morning with a tent stake and a shiny new clad quarter. Beautiful white river sand here. Set Beach sensitive up with full tones and everything else Cap'n did, and buried the quarter and stake. I used the typical one I find: The only program that caught the quarter on the edge of the coil was my modified General program with audio filter at 5. Only on the edge of the 13". I could literally sweep the edge back and forth and get a 93, get close to the center and iron. A 6/7. Some times it would average and I'd see a 58 or something in the 50s. Changed reactivity, changed audio response individually, changed iron audio, nada in beach sensitive. Tried disc and notch separately, still a no go. Turned Audio filter up and got a click before and after the iron tone, reactivity 2. All this was with sensitivity at 95. Guess I added a new sound to my dig repertoire, iron grunt with click might be a hit. 😀 Any high tone with iron makes me suspicious anyway since V1.1. Then I thought, "How far does the stake have to be away from the 13" to allow the quarter to be found? 🤔 The answer is pretty far, like 8", unless you catch the coin on the heel of the coil, it nails it. Closer the tip is the more it will go to iron. There is a distinct advantage to using a larger coil on a tent stake beach, the edges pick up stuff. Some short wiggling is in order, keep the edge on the target. I'm sure this scenario is pretty limited, heck you can use General in the dry. Most tent stakes are in the dry anyway, right? Ok, now I'm gonna duck and cover 🤣

Not surprised that sheriff Dan did not immediately go to the aid of the mining crew. In fact after the neighboring miner got to town and reported the gun fight it was probably all over and nothing to be done until daylight. Sorry to hear 3 of the the remaining crew were gunned down but the organized '40' gunmen were way to much for the crew. Actually surprised Jacob was somehow spared being shot. It was a good crew but out gunned in the end. I would be interested to see any follow up reports on the investigation. With that many men involved someone is bound to brag. The crew certainly had enough enemies and other men just plain jealous of their success.

3/ Understanding the Heavily Processed Signal A heavily processed signal also affects target sounds. Everything is made to sound more the same. It’s actually surprising how with the Manticore, when you open up the Ferrous Limits, some spikes and iron come in smooth and “sanitized” just as would a coin or other round small non-ferrous target. The relationship between signal tone and threshold is also interesting. Anything that does not go into this processed “mold” of a response is forced into the background so you have this electronic “cut-off” of a target sound--rather than more of a full, complete dying out of the tone. This is something to learn to listen for when making quick determinations on iron. Try this test: Over normal ground, run the Sensitivity up into the “red” zone--”30+.” Notice how threshold and target sounds blend together into a series of “clipped” sounding tones. This is the machine attempting to make sense of basically “too much information” by “flattening” everything out. In a sense this is how all multi frequency machine process the incoming chaos of these frequencies--by bringing everything down into a heavily controlled threshold. It’s important to understand that these machines can lose depth and sensitivity without losing threshold. I disagree with the manual’s instructions to run the Sensitivity “just (down) enough that the false signals disappear” in that this ignores the factor of just how well your actual target sounds are coming though. At a lower setting there is also more information available in the signal tone. There is also less chance of overrunning targets due to sweep speed error--something that’s easier to do with the “all or nothing” character of a heavily processed signal. Understanding what the audio is telling you is the key to learning to hear how the Manticore is performing in relation to the conditions. With the Equinox the audio had this funny kind of “inverse” quality as this digital reduction took place--even good target sounds were almost delayed by the intense processing taking place. The “problems” with what was under the coil were all pushed into the sound of the “ramp up / ramp down.” When the machine was overwhelmed by this processing task due to conditions or tuning error--all targets sounded weak and flimsy--pulled down into this “white noise” threshold. As someone who runs multiple detectors--coming back to the Equinox was an adjustment every time because of this odd “softness” and latency in the signal tone. With a larger coil in salt water this “struggling” was even more evident as the signal tone took on this “chattery” hard-to-hear-though processing sound. The contrast between the two detectors is very obvious as the Manticore handles challenging environments extremely well-with stable audio and full, much more robust signal tones. At the same time--it’s not invincible--the same limitations and characteristics apply. The point is that it’s important to understand how machines like the “Nox” and Manticore process and sound off on what is under the coil. Both are great detectors but the Manticore seems to accomplish this task much more effectively. However, with either there are consequences to all this processing in that it makes for a detector that is electronically removed from the ground. You could say that you are hearing something of a “proxy.” This makes it harder to hear “what’s going on” and to tune accordingly. The signs that you have set the Sensitivity too high (for example) on this type of a detector are not that obvious and take some practice to recognize. (More on this later). From: "The Minelab Manticore: Tips, Tricks and Settings" by Clive James Clynick (2023)

That’s exactly what I want to try…. Notch on 0-10 which should not affect the quarter at all if the software properly unmasks the quarter.

Same here on the beach. Yes, that with Notch might be the answer. A case where the positive disc processing of the stake might be working against you.

I wish each and everyone on the forum A Happy Fathers Day. May every target come up gold and above all be safe. Chuck

To all fathers on this day, Have a wonderful time and please forgive us brats for trying your patience as we grew up. Don't you just wish you would have gotten a dog instead, but I guess that wouldn't have been as much fun.

Yes, it's absolutely simple to change the wires over, don't let that scare you off.

I will test this approach tomorrow. I’m particularly interested in trying a negative discrimination setting along with the lower iron volume because when I tried low iron volume without negative discrimination, the masking remained. If we find a solution, we will certainly capture those settings, post them in total and send a report to XP.

Hmm. Interesting. So there potentially is merit to zero iron volume as I suggested earlier in this thread. But to be fair, I was suggesting it as an alternative to notch. Great info CPT.

Hi All, my first post here. Hope this is the appropriate section for this topic. So I'm new to metal detecting. Bought a Minelab X-Terra Pro a week ago. I live on an old farm dating back to the mid-late 1800's or so. Figured I'd learn in my back yard and maybe find something special. Things were going ok, apart from realizing how much iron trash there is on an old farm, but last night after the first rain in a few weeks things went south. Both the X-Terra and my pointer were telling me there were targets everywhere, I mean literally everywhere. Almost lost my mind after a few digs of finding nothing, not even a nail, just red soil...even a handful of it triggered my pointer. Is this a thing? Too high in iron content making my soil nearly impossible to hunt? I'd love to hear anyone's similar experiences and/or tips for success. Here's the first something special I did find during the dry spell. Late 1800's I think? Almost looks as though it went through a fire, which lines up with what history I know of the place.

Great job Jeff! I have same issues with IDs too at times. Do the same thing as everyone check it with coins before I hunt. Usually very accurate so far,

Kudos, Karma, and other Krap to ya, PI. Excellent sleuthing and perseverance to find the owners, told ya a square diamond is big bucks. Depending on the sizing my wife might have had the engraving buffed out 🤣 You're a great person and deserve a long and happy life, also a credit to the hobby. 👍 Keep Digging! Soon enough there will be one or two you don't feel bad about keeping 🙂

At least she said Thank You 😆 That's probably the nicest thing she said all week. It could have been worse... she could have invited you in 🤢

Did she look like a midnight Waffle House waitress? Lol.

Well good on you, F350, but unfortunately some folks just don't deserve your kindness. You took the high road and stayed true to your nature. Your reward will come later. The woman on the other hand will probably stay true to her nature and lose all that again on her beach bender tonight! 😉

Good on you for taking the time to return the phone , Id and card. That woman doesn't realize how lucky she was that someone honest found it and was kind enough to return it. Karma will repay. Good luck. Mark

I had hoped for a more pleasant reaction and interaction, but after being told by two people she was trouble, I guess it was for the best the encounter was short. I would have photographed the contents of the phone case (ID, credit cards) and the person who took it back. The staff didn't want to do it. 😀 We did briefly and in hindsight consider taking an advance reward at the casino, breakfast and some gambling perhaps. 🤔 I might have got more coins from a slot machine.

Having dug lots of can slaw with the M-Core I can say with certainty that the TT and sound can help to identify these larger targets...Of course you don't know what you are passing up if you don't dig it but I am able to call out can slaw most of the time...am I fooling myself by sayin that? maybe and maybe not due to the odds that finding can slaw are greater then good targets in most situations... But a small piece of can slaw can TID the same as a gold ring...which is why I dig most non ferrous targets when hunting... strick