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I haven’t had much luck on the gold so far this year, a few days of nothing but junk, so today I gave up exploring and went back to my best patch find for another try. I was there a few days ago with the 6000 and 10x5 and spent the day to find nothing and wanted to move away from the patch into the deeper ground but all the 10x5 will do there is find me pellets so today I tried the 12x7. The detector ran perfectly, such a contrast to prior to the EMI fix. I had spent half a day or so in this deeper ground area a year or two ago with my GPZ and 15” CC and found a few bits, one very deep one too so I had hope there was more if I spent some time there and after plenty of pellets my first 2024 gold, only shallow and small but a notch on the belt. In the hole with it a tiny pellet, not sure if I first found the pellet or the gold 😁 What I like about the 7000 and DOD coils I really miss on the 6000, the double blip it does on close to the coil pellets, saves so much time. With the 6000 I have to scrape the ground clear of grass then check it, faint target ok then scrape more soil away in this rock hard ground even though only less than an inch the faint target is now loud, and of course being so shallow a pellet, all of that avoided with the GPZ double blip. It’s truly odd how faint targets improve so much on the 6000 with so little soil removed. I gave up on the deep ground as I was only finding pellets and even larger bits of metal were quite shallow yet started off rather faint and brighten up quickly with some soil removed. I was in normal max manual sensitivity and well ground balanced. I decided to go back over my patch that I tried the 10x5 on the other day with no success, hoping the 12x7 may find something but an entire afternoon of nothing, I guess the 15cc and 8” got it all that I can find, you may remember the videos of the patch with those coils a year or so ago, ended up about 16 grams over 40 or so nuggets I think it was. I think I’m done with the 6000, I’ve given it a good chance but just prefer the 7000 especially with the 8” and 15” concentric coil so next time that’s what I’m using, hopefully my luck returns for a good 2024 on the gold.

Main database file was corrupt. I repaired it and should work again now, but this has been happening more frequently as of late and has me concerned about data loss. Hopefully the next forum update fixes it. If we get to a version that seems stable I may stop updating the forum software as most of the so-called updates do nothing to make our lives here any better, and always run the risk of breaking something. Anyway, add to this thread if anything else seems wrong still after I make this post. Thanks.

Blew off work for a hour and hit one the permissions I have nearby. Was working an area where I had plucked some other oldies out and sniffed out this nice little 1877 seated dime. Turns out to be a S which I don't see to many on the east coast here. In the mix there was some tiny signal which look like rivet heads to clothing, probably turn of the century. Also kept running into some deep targets that had a faint iron audio or nearly none but would have a low TID. Out of curiosity I carefully dug a couple of them and came up with lumps of iron oxide. They weren't very heavy. Out of curiosity I gave them a good squish in an arbor press only to reveal what looks like carbon in the middle. My guess is the iron rusted away leaving the carbon behind. This would explain the coal like behavior and rusty lumps. The longer piece you can see the layers. Guessing it was a piece of an old horse shoe or something similar that was forged.

Forget the 6000, get yourself a pet goat and take him with you. Chomp that grass down and you'll get a few more outta there. 😄

made a mistake with my order I knew he was on it and wanted to correct my mistake he got in touch and sending me the right one and the other letting me send back my mistake no extreme fees a spot on guy and you won’t go wrong with him he cares enought and cares respect over buisness a real trooper thanks for making my mistake pay off and deal with it like a trooper not many left like that these days Thanks Rob for stepping up to the plate and shine thanks

I just got through posting here recently that I'd never top some of my finds of 2023, but I guess I did. 🤯 I dug something so unique and interesting, and got such a rush from its discovery I feel I have to share it. I waited until today to see how I felt about it. Please forgive the lack of specific detail and understand I'm detecting in a place I have permission to and have the current landowner's permission to appropriately preserve the relics I find taking into consideration their significance and potential ties to the original landowners or local area history. It was supposed to be a fairly warm and windless day yesterday, so I decided to go to one of my permissions and detect parts of it that I have not been over. Deer Hunting season is almost over, and it was really quiet, I didn't see a single hunter anywhere. Ground conditions are perfect, enough moisture to keep the ground loose and easy to dig. I first hunted the "beer zone" and "turn zone" of the field, and in almost 4 hours I got some small bits of aluminum, a Zincoln, and a very nice button with a shank as you'll see. Then I decided to go a little further into the field, got another button, what I think is a lead weight, and some odd piece of metal with a loop in it. Upon finding that odd piece of metal, it occurred to me to circle around it, and I'm glad I did. I want to preface this find with some advice, don't ever think you're cool bypassing buck balls, on the Deus 2 the ID is about 55-62 depending upon composition. Just like pull tabs at the beach, you will miss some incredible stuff if you're not digging buck balls from any century. Most of the balls in my area come up white indicating they are really old. So are some other things, like the ~300 year old gold ring I found. It was a 58 on the Deus 2 with the 13" coil, about 4-6" deep. It came out as a ball of dirt with a shiny gold strip in the center, at first I thought I had found a gold coin because the edge looked reeded but it was much more than that. I carefully picked the dirt away, and when the dirt fell out I was shocked. Upon closer inspection and help from friends, the ring is likely a Lost Wax cast with names and dates, the stone is missing but from researching history (and listening to my wife 😀) it was quite possibly a black stone called "Jet". I looked through the dirt and could not find it. The setting is mangled so it could be anywhere, sadly lost forever. Turns out it is a "Mourning ring", a classic way to memorialize relatives dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. The dates on the ring put it at about 300 years old and the inscription ties the find directly to some of the original Colonial landowners of the permission. Here's the total haul, 3 buttons, a lead weight, a few tack studs, and the metal thing with the loop that prompted me to look more next to the weight. The coin next to the Zincoln is a wheat, too crusty bother with finding a date. Here's the trash, not even a handful. Even got a Revolutionary war Pull Tab! 🤣 This is truly saving history and I am taking the appropriate steps to preserve it for the benefit of future generations so the local history of these properties won't be lost or forgotten. Good start to the year!

A few days ago I went to one of my favourite sites ,a field close to a small town where old artefacts ( from 13 to 17th century ) can be found . Probably because there were gardens in the past there . I like this place because it is quiet and the soil is mild and sandy , and of course because of the potential old finds .. As usual I have my trusty D2 with me . I always use the SENSITIVE mode . The only change I have done since the update is to use HIGH SQUARE instead of SQUARE. HSQ works very well in iron infested sites ,this is the reason why I use it especially in this field with old irons ( nails , etc .. ) and modern ones like 1st WW shell fragments . I spent 2 hours there . At the end 4 coins . Only old coins , not even a modern coin 🙂 ... And an old buckle The other targets were mostly 1st WW trash including shrapnells , casings , bullets etc .. It was a nice outing , with a nice weather and nice finds .. Detecting is definitely a great hobby .. A few pics below. Happy New Year to Everyone The field : A double tournois ( 16th century ) : A typical medieval buckle : A broken Nuremberg token : The town center with the Christmas decorations : The 4 coins found during the outing : the 2 on the left from the 14th century , and the 2 on the right from the 16th century

Yesterday I went out to find a birthday nugget. I hunted all day and barely got a .11g nugget. The most significant thing was that I got it with the 15" CC Xcoil at 4-5 inches. It disappeared in the hole a couple of times before it came out. I didn't have hearing aids in as my new ones are on order.

I found the original videos of the patch find

Good stuff Chet. This kind of DIY experimenting is part of almost every enthusiast community from cars to computers, it really makes it fun and interesting to follow or participate in modding equipment for many of us. Goes to show Minelab isn't going to stop it with silly chips, and they should embrace it instead. Everyone wins that way! Good on you for keeping the experimenting, modding, and innovating spirit alive in the gold machine world. 👍

Ok I have seen recently people using the simplex shaft for the deus. I have been also. The shaft is already the same shape and lower works on the coils so why not. Here is what I did. I took the display unit and the coil off of a simplex plus. Why? Because the don't sell for much more than $100 bucks since all the newer ones are out and a aftermarket shaft costs $200 or more so here I am. I ordered an XP mount from Anderson shafts , the one they use on their XP Deus shafts. I then cut off a piece of carbon fiber shaft that I had lying around, 7/8" I believe. Took maybe 5 mins to make and it's done. You have a carbon fiber shaft, lower, middle and plastic upper, it's longer so I don't have to buy a tall man shaft, and it's as compact as the XP deus factory shaft. But way more comfortable. Plus the remote or WS6 can swivel in any direction you want for better viewing. And this just slides snuggly into the open grip that the simplex display was removed from. It fits snug so will never come out on its own. You can also add a screw through original hole if desired. But I only use the WS6 so I remove it while on beach and just use the WS6 as headphones with no display since I dig everything that isn't iron. Here are some pics. Hope you like.

Hey guys, been a while since I've posted. Work has finally slowed down enough for me to get out, and I got to detect some places me and my prospecting buddy Josh have been researching. I've been learning a LOT, and getting deep into research. The gold is still out there, just hard to find sometimes. Here is just under a half pennyweight in chunky Oregon gold I found on Jan 3rd, 2024. I figured it would weigh less than that but it's pretty fat and surprised me when I dropped it on my scale at home. We don't always find gold, and come home with more skunks than an Alabama bloodhound. But as a lot of you know prospecting is about a lot more than finding yellow rocks. I'll post the video if it's cool with Steve!

Very well done,gold is still gold non the less.....that is one more nugget than i have ever found,have found other forms of gold though ie both hammered and milled gold coinage. Lets hope you find more in 24 🙂

The 7000 only had brief time in the deeper ground and I always ignore double blips as they are targets close to the coil the gold is virtually always deeper and in the bedrock or gravels not in the soil, these pellets and especially the metal chunks were from the deeper ground. The patch is nearby but in shallower ground up to about a pinpointer deep and the gold was all down on the bedrock on that original patch, unfortunately it must be all gone as I’ve found none with the GPX on that patch which is why I first headed for the deeper ground above the patch on the hillside hoping for the best. Next time I’ll use the 15” concentric on the GPZ for the deeper ground as I have more hope for it and it did well there the first time, it’s hard to get access as it’s a busy working farm.

Hard to know from those pictures but I'll suggest the obvious thing and point you towards a doctor for the breathing problems and whatever else. I'd guess your health issues aren't from these rocks. Just toss them outside if you want. At least it's not asbestos, if that's any help.

Two of the picks in the pickture where found in nearly identical circumstances along with a large digging bar. I posted a photo on this forum back a couple of years ago titled "I found two pickers and a solid gold bar" no one has believed a thing I have posted since. My detecting pick has failed to get itself loaded on my Jeep many times, but Ive' always been able to find it again.

Two GPX 6000 coils; a 6" RND and a 26" x 22" were completed and tested in the field. They both ground balanced and worked fine. The 6" picks up smaller bits than the stock 11". The 26" x 22" was wound with 12 AWG stranded copper coated aluminum wire to reduce cost and weight. That was a big mistake that cost some inches off of depth. Litz wire is expensive so when possible it is reused to experiment with on the next brainstorm.😄 The attached photo is the 6" coil with the coax and module. The chip and ferrite housing is inside a blob of epoxy which now is covered with heat shrink tubing. The coil shield is connected by a separate spade connector

Just saw this. https://www.minelab.com/accessories/wm-09-wireless-audio-module If it was posted in the past, sorry for the double post. Looks like it works with the Equinox 700/900 and Xterra Pro

Moonshine, mineshafts, & old cabins. I have some shine to drink tonight as well. Cheers from GhostMiner.

August 11 2002 Part Two Another Confrontation Jacob and I worked the rest of the day without any issues. The trommel was running smooth as silk and we were seeing some gold in the sluice box. It was mostly very fine and it was hard to tell how much but at least we were seeing gold again. I always sleep better after seeing it. We ended up with 150 yards of washed gravel. When we walked into camp Bill and Conor were playing with their new detectors. Bill said they had been given instructions by the guy who ran the shop where they bought them and they even used them before bringing them back to camp. He seemed confident that he and Conor would find the supposed 1000 ounces of hidden gold. It had been a hot day and after supper we sat around camp drinking a few beers and talking about gold. Conor and Bill had gotten hold of some moonshine in town and they opened up a jar and started drinking it. I tasted it and it was powerful stuff. Jacob had a sip or two as well. After a while Conor started getting a little drunk again. Then he opened up a can of worms. He was saying that this mining property really was Jed’s and seeing how he had been murdered it should have gone to him. He just went on and on about it. After listening to this for about 15 minutes I heard enough. I told him that it was a tragedy that Jed died and the mine did go to Jacob until the crooks killed the crew and took it over in 1937. I tried to explain to him that I had legal rights to all of the mining claims that made up the vast property. However, he didn’t want to hear it and told me he should be getting a big cut of the gold we had worked for this year. I laughed in his face and told him that wouldn’t happen. He knew that he and Jacob were splitting up Jacob’s gold and they had their own agreement that didn’t concern me. After a spell Conor staggered back to his camper in a fit of drunken anger. Jacob got up to follow him in. I told Jacob that he needed to rein Conor in or I would do it for him. He didn’t say anything and Bill went to bed as well. I stayed up for a spell and had a drink of the moonshine to settle down. I looked up at the big sky and finished my beer. It was nice to have some quiet time alone. I was thinking that Conor had the worst case of gold fever I had seen and he could become unhinged - especially when he drank. TO BE CONTINUED .................

There are several important changes from v0.71 to v1.0 and then some "fixes" to v1.0 that were done with v1.1. V2.0s change sheet for the RC update is very short. The change sheet for WS6 as master is longer. Before you make the switch to v2.0, you might want to review all of those change sheets on XPs website.

4.2 and 4.1 grams are my biggest two, a one gram + nugget is a very rare find for me, most are 0.0x of a gram, not sure this one’s weight I don’t have scales with me and I’m away in my caravan, it maybe .2 or slightly less.

Awesome post Chase. You guys are a great team in a great area . I envy you both.

This is a fun little post. On a different note, looking at all of the picks in the photo (plus the pristine pick head in the first photo) reminds me of the cost in labor and freight to get those picks to the goldfields, and how sometimes, perfectly good picks were left behind. Sometimes by prospectors that had gone bust and just wanted to get out of the goldfields without having to pack out the extra weight (with guns occasionally left behind for the same reason), and probably some that were simply lost. (I lost my favorite pick once, got out in a hurry to show my wife some nuggets I'd found, but left the pick behind at the workings. Years later saw a local no-good with it at his claim--law of salvage I guess.) I found a cache of tools once while detecting in Montana. They were buried under the dirt, with the large, oblong hole underneath covered by a piece of sheet iron, all resting beneath a huge tree. All of the tools' (picks and shovels) wooden handles had long since disappeared due to time. A case of someone thinking they'd return later? Thanks for fuelling some memories, and all the best, Lanny

August 11 2002 Part One The morning came without further incident and Jacob and I were up bright and early with the sunrise. I couldn’t say the same for Bill and Conor who were still sleeping it off at 9:00 AM. We let them sleep and got busy with our own mining operation where we had started down near the creek. It seemed like an eternity since we had mined any gold and we were both chomping at the bit to get some gravels dug. We continued where we had left off and by noon we’d processed 50 yards. The sluice on the trommel was showing some promise. We took a quick lunch break at camp. Bill was sitting in a chair and Conor had just gotten up. They both looked pretty sick and hung over. They had some coffee and a little food. Bill said they were going to town to buy a couple of metal detectors. Then they planned to start scanning the grounds around the Hidden Mine for buried gold. I asked them if they knew how to operate a metal detector and they said no but would get some directions from wherever they were buying them from. Jacob agreed that it might be a good idea and if anything would give them a new skill. As for Jacob and I, we were just happy to dig holes and test pan gravels. The thought of a casket with 1000 ounces of gold buried somewhere on the claims seemed incredulous to me but I figured it would keep them out of my hair while I mined. Jacob told Conor to make sure they bought some good equipment and get some instruction on operating them as well. With that we left them to nurse their hangovers and got back to work. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

I haven't noticed any depth loss after updating from V1.1 to V2.0. Similar to Daniel Tn, my experience with Deus 2 through all of the software updates has been that Deus 2 is now a much better detector than it was running even V.71 especially in the soil conditions around here. Better sensitivity (especially with the improvements to Goldfield), better overall depth, handles tough ground conditions even better than before, still super fast and remarkably target ID stable. This time last year I was wondering if I would keep Deus 2. Now a year later and a few software updates later......it's a keeper.

GPX 6000 test coils I know of some areas that have produced some large nuggets. So in pursuit of large gold I have experimented with winding some test coils and did some air testing. Results are with my poor hearing and varying EMI conditions. But the measurements work for my comparison testing. On bad EMI days the larger coils are very noisy. A 20 inch 12 AWG Litz coil might be the next one to test. Meanwhile I am experimenting with some large GPZ 7000 coils. Have a good day, Chet Coil Description 1oz gold coin Air test inches 30" x 30" = 34"RND 1.86mm flat spiral Litz wire 27 24" x 24"= 27"RND 1.86mm flat spiral Litz wire 27 23" RND 2.3 mm 14T 3 vertical rows Litz wire 26 17.5" RND 2mm Litz, spiral flat wound ID 14" 22 17" RND Vertical Wound 2mm Litz wire 21 17" x 13" Minelab GPX 6000 coil flat spiral layers close wound 12 AWG Litz wire 18 11" Minelab GPX 6000 flat spiral layers close wound 12 AWG Litz wire 17 14" Minelab GPX 6000 DD Coil 14 6" GPX 6000 DIY flat spiral close wound 56 turns 2 layers 1.86mm Litz wire 11

Says Unknown User Error???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZZm9Z8wC4g The man doesn't just know science. He finds really cool stuff. The video is well worth watching. Bill

That would be VERY acceptable. But I find it difficult to run with a sensitivity of 86. Lots of ear fatigue even at that level. I will have 2.0 out today and will compare to .71. I have been running .71 for a week straight, so am up to speed. Going to set identical programs I was running in .71.

It was a big nothing-burger in my part of CA (central coast, Monterey Bay). Most every beach simply got flattened. That's where the beach is overpowered . So instead of mother nature picking a parallel and eroding DOWNWARDS, the waves/water simply go up-&-over the dunes, and make a mess and puddles and lagoons inland. And make a mess of parking lots. And only draw down dry fluffy sand and spread it over the inter-tidal zone. And not truly take it out. That's what I saw @ all my area beaches. A few lone exceptions happened on 12/28 and 12/29 (on the heels of the big event). And if you knew where to go, there was some straggler pockets . I got perhaps 150 coins, a few silver coins, and a gold band, by sampling multiple beaches. And found a few exceptions. But all in all : A big nothing burger. Very disappointing. And the forecast continues to tease of incoming swells, that drop in strength by the time they reach our area. Not sure how southern CA did. But based on Compass' report, sounds like it wasn't an epic event there either.

Great find on the ring and hopefully the ring can be rejoined to the person who actually lost it. You may want to check with the county court house or newspaper and locate some records as to who the peoples names are. That way it can be given to one of their children or grand children. Best of luck in this new year and stay safe out there.

Good save on the nugget Simon, and remember that it all starts with the first one each year. I am sure that this year you will be finding many more to pocket. Have you been sluicing much the past few months yet? Good luck and good hunting.

I went back a couple of more times with the 8” after this within the week then not again until the 10x5 a few days ago and the 12x7 today.

Just the gold ring is a great find, but the inscription to go with it must have left you in shock! With a 300 year-old ring, there must be other stuff there older than zincolns…

Ndplumr You have good feed back from Hardpack & Phrunt. The big thing with the frequency of detectors are these days related to size of the target (Gold as you asked). The availability of nuggets are now limited as the easy medium size and shallow nuggets have been detected. What I would add to your knowledge by getting a target the size that is commonly found where you intend to detect and redo your tests with it. Having the right gun to hit the target is the way to go.

I don't see anything worth processing there, but pictures can be deceiving. Lookup MBMMLLC (Mount Baker Mining and Metals) on Youtube, he's in Washington State. He manufactures commercial ore processing equipment, does assays, and does (or used to do) ore milling and refining. They might look at your stuff in person. But I wouldn't get your hopes up in terms of values there, unless there is something I'm not seeing in the photos.

Here’s the Forum Detector Database link: https://www.detectorprospector.com/search/?type=&tags=tesoro detector. 14 kHz is a little light for a gold nugget hunter. Noticed the detector is not waterproof, if that’s a feature you want. On a side note: been reading “ Roadside Geology of Nevada”. The introduction gives a good but brief account of the geology of Nevada before getting into specific areas. The University of Nevada, Reno, School of Mines & Geology has loads of information. https://www.unr.edu/mackay

Hit the nail on the head!👍 A new subject heading is the way to approach this, and broaden the discussion! Not trading "barbs" about it, even though they were tame! Steve has general rules in place for "our" benefit! And he has freely admitted that he ain't perfect, and open to suggestions for improving the format! He's not trying to be difficult, or bully anyone on his forum! On more than one occasion, we have gone off subject, being silly, etc.. and he has left us alone, and/or joined in too! But when people seem to get their "feeling" hurt, or get nasty with another, he and/or Chase will step in with varying degrees of response; sometimes for everyone to be aware of, or sometimes through a PM! I think it's as good a system; or better, than anything else out there! JMO🍀👍👍

I know cleaning/not cleaning and method of cleaning may be controversial. I do not post this with the intention of discussing whether or not to clean, nor the merits of any particular method. I simply wish to show some results. I recently found some old coins and a token. The Indian head penny was so badly crusted that some faint relief was visible where the date should be. The head was barely visible. The token had the number five visible on one side and nothing was legible on the other side. As such, I considered them essentially worthless unless more details could be seen. For this reason, I obtained a set of the Andre’s cleaning crayons from an Internet vendor. I got the set with five tools – one white fiberglass, two black (hard and soft), one scraper, one steel wool. My basic take on this set is the white is coarse, the blacks are medium and fine, and the steel wool is clean up. I did not use the scraper. I probably spent at least two hours on the three items I cleaned. Before and after pictures are attached. The mercury dime was not cleaned at all, I just don’t have any other before pictures. I didn’t really do much with the V nickel other than clean up around the stars. However, I think the difference on the Indian head penny and the token is night and day. Not only is the date clearly visible on the penny, but so is liberty on the headband. The token is now clearly identifiable. My previous oldest coin was 1882. So, I am especially pleased that this “new“ penny is now my oldest coin! In hindsight, I think my biggest mistake was trying to clean them up too much right after I got home. Even with a soft bristle toothbrush, I lost part of the rim by scrubbing too hard. In the future, I think I may gently remove what dirt is loose and let the rest dry and harden before attempting to clean. I can post more about how I proceeded if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the report Colonel, I'm pleased to see that others are observing differences that may not be documented. The timeline of releases was such for me that certain nuances weren't perceptible until where I was hunting changed. I've followed the versions as they came out, and only having one RC unit and one WS6 until this past November made some transitions difficult at best. Not from an updating experience, but experience in the field. All updates were relatively smooth. As it stands now, after many sessions where I tweaked parameters during live hunts, I'm extremely pleased with V2 over the older versions. When I think about it the environments I hunted in did not change, but the way the detector worked did, and did so to sometimes an uncomfortable degree. I've already compared my two V2 RC's in the same environment with the same program and found there to be no additional fear of hardware differences, so that concern is out of the way. Maybe some took that for granted but I didn't. Now I'm thinking of rolling back one of the RCs to V0.71, creating identical programs on both - this may be of interest as well if some parameters are not the same - and trying both in the same live conditions. Would anyone interested in that? I have never used any of the Gold programs, for the most part it has been Beach Sensitive, Relic, and General. I want to help anyone who might be reluctant to update to V2. I was not reluctant and am pleased with the final outcome, but it took some effort to reach that outcome. 🙂 There are still some things that bother me, and I want to see if they were there all along.

It is a double digit nugget, but the wrong side of the decimal point. ☺️

Speaking of speakers, it would be nice to see a small (no larger than 3”x3”x1”), rugged, clip-on, wearable type speaker with adjustable volume and a mute button, 10-hour minimum battery life, with IPX7 dustproof and waterproof rating…something like this.

What a pickture!

Yesterday, Santa Cruz main beach (Boardwalk), had the following phenomenon occur : Whenever epic ingredients like this coincide (high tide coincide with monster swell ), a phenomenon known as "overpowering" can occur . Where : Instead of the beach eroding DOWN , at a certain parallel (to create cuts or slopes or scallops), instead the water merely washes up into the previously high & dry sand dunes. And brings down all that fluffy sand into the inter-tidal zone. So now you just have scattered clad. And puddles and lagoons inland (parking lots flooded and strewn with seaweed, etc...). This is what happened to the S. Cruz main beach yesterday (and Cowells and Seabright) : It just "flattened" the beach. Same with Palm beach in Watsonville so far. I got some scattered clad, but it was immediately apparent that I was going to need to scout. Finally ended up by ~4pm at New Brighton. Which was eroded correctly and lots of targets were showing up. Including some silver coins (even a nice 1871 seated dime) was showing up among the 4 hunters. A few gold jewelry items. So the tactic next, based on my 45 yrs. "storm chasing" experience, is this : That in the subsequent days following an epic event (which "flattens" rather than "erodes"), you merely check back in the subsequent days. EVEN if things have calmed down in those subsequent days. And lo & behold, what can sometimes happen is that mother nature readjusts her slopes (with the intervening high/low tide cycles) . To fill in voids off shore. In other words, there WAS erosion occurring at the epic day, but that : It was happening off-shore where we can't visually see it. Then in the subsequent days, mother nature robs sand off the inter tidal zone, to fill in those off-shore voids. And THEN the slopes occur. Does that make sense ? So if any central coast CA people are reading this, and want to take a shot at it, I'd try S. Cruz main (and the various other beaches nearby) by Saturday PM's low tide . Because another swell bump is happening Saturday, and is more south facing anyhow. Scout them all, from Cowells, southward to Watsonville. Look for indentations where the low/damp/wet spots indent further into the beach than elsewhere. And where you see abnormally steep slopes, or scallops, or cuts. And best of all : Send me 20% of all your finds (I accept paypal 🙂 )

I retired from the rat race in 2023 which naturally opened up a lot more time for metal detecting. I didn't know what to expect for 2023, but I did figure that I would at least get more opportunities to detect which hopefully would translate into more quality finds than in previous years. It turns out that was case, but what really made 2023 enjoyable was not just the finds but the opportunity to try out different things and to hang out more with my detectorist buddies. Especially partnering up with Bob (@F350Platinum) who is just constantly pillaging the Northern Neck of Virginia with new finds and permissions. I was fortunate to meet Bob 3 years ago after he started posting his yard finds on the forum. He was really just starting out and while I knew he was aware of the history behind his amazing finds, I am not sure he realized at the time just what a detecting paradise he had at his doorstep. I know a lot of folks who would consider just about everything he found on his first few hunts as bucket listers because they would not have ready access to detect such historic relic laden areas. As a Northern Virginian city dweller I had little to offer in terms of reciprocation in terms of permissions and sites but I did know detectors and how to detect relics and met up with him to detect and share my knowledge of detectors, history, and relic hunting. The mentor soon became the mentee as Bob's opportunity to frequently detect, his rapport with the local landowners, and his research and IT skills soon lapped my abilities and now I am just thankful we became friends and he let's me tag along with him at his permissions. Anyway, with that backstory out of the way, on to early 2023. We started out hitting some of Bob's sites that he has had access to for a couple of years. Happily pulling out whatever we hadn't already found or that were turned up in the plowed fields. And as per usual, we ran into one of the landowner farmers who were out and about on their properties. An offhanded comment to that landowner and low and behold Bob made another connection and a potential permission to a farm we had been eyeing for some time. Off to a new permission and all the excitement that comes with it. We've posted our finds on these sites before so not going to bore you all with that, suffice to say, I found some bucket listers and finds that I have never before recovered including a pipe tamper, a brass men's ring stamped 18K, and a North Carolina CW button and the largest spectacle buckle I have dug (though only partial). Bob snagged A LOT of silver coins from the "front yard" of the home site. It was supposedly pounded previously, but the site was challenging with lots of iron and other junk and we felt that in this case, the latest D2 detector technology (fast recovery, multifrequency) provided an advantage vs. those who had gone years before us, probably with slower or less discriminating machines. We were rewarded and had a great time visiting that site throughout the year and anticipated Fall harvest to access fields that were unavailable to us at that time. Bob and I attended a group hunt we both attended the prior year that was fun and productive. This year, not so much. Bob managed a CW Eagle button and, I managed...nothing. I was focusing on learning my new Axiom PI detector and also testing out a new smaller coil. I could have exploited some previous minie ball hot spots, but decided to not limit myself and we explored a large portion of the farm. It happens and the Axiom proved itself later at a bigger group hunt in hot soil. That was Diggin' in Virginia (DIV) at a new site that was the location of a running artillery and infantry battle of the Civil War called the Battle of Freemans Ford which was a tactical water crossing of the Rappahannock River. Union Artillery and Infantry units engaged a Confederate supply column that was being protected by a number of Confederate regiments. The Union units were routed back across the river but the Confederates took a lot of shelling from the Union batteries on the high ground across the river. A ton of artillery shell fragments, fuses, sabot, and unexploded ordanance were recovered as well as other typical CW relic items such as plates, buttons, minie balls, etc. Since the site was adjacent to the river, it also contained a number of old Colonial, 19th and 20th century former home sites. I recovered a number of shell fragments, sabot, a fuse, and small arms projectiles with my new Axiom, but one non-CW-period find was my favorite. A 1923 SLQ in excellent condition. Probably dropped exactly 100 years prior. The Axiom proved itself that day and my GPX found a new home with another detectorist. Over the summer, during the traditional relic detecting hiatus (the fields are planted, the bugs are out, and the sun is high), I did some beach detecting on the Chesapeake Bay and also met up with Bob a couple of times at his local "beach" haunt at Colonial Beach VA. Found some bling and a lot of quarters and yet another beached Sacagawea dollar coin (weird) and generally had a great time soaking up some rays and talking to the local beachgoers. Sometimes getting some more leads to permissions in the general area. When fall finally came around, we some of our old haunts. Didn't expect too much because the sites had either been minimally productive or we had pounded them to death. In that context of low expectations I had one of my best days ever. Three 1930's silver quarters and an Bob snagged an eagle button, but nothing else out of a traditionally stingy field so we moved on after a couple of hours. The next field we had pounded multiple times but hit the known hot spot areas. We weren't getting much other than lead bale seals until we hit a known iron patch where we started pulling out various old flat and ball buttons and other pieces of brass. I then finally pulled an unfamiliar two-piece button with an anchor on it. I knew it was some sort of Navy button or possibly even a civilian decorative button until I did the research and found it to be a British Naval Officer's button from the late 1700's to early 1800's. In context, it makes sense. The area was raided by the British during the war of 1812 and also there may have been colonists who were former British Naval Officers who lived there. Anyway, for me this is a bucket lister in the sense that it is potentially linked to British military action in the area during the war of 1812. I also got to detect some sites up north in central Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland and scored some silver, copper, brass, lead, and pewter Colonial spoon bowl. Bob got some additional intel regarding one of our sites about a potentially unexploited former home site. It was in a field in which we did not have previous access due to crops. When the crops were finally harvested, Bob let me know, we met up and we "attacked" the area and were successful in finding the site. We hit that area twice and it was very productive. Bob got a 1798 Largie (a bucket lister for me is recovering ANY pre-1800 minted US coin, silver or gold would be a bonus). I was very jealous of that because even though I was seemingly pulling relics from the ground at will, I could not get my coil over any coin. Regardless, it was a great couple of outings and stood out to me because of the sheer number of relics but also because, even though I was not able to snag a coin, I was able to snag silver in the form of a very old, patterned cufflink. We capped off the year with a hunt at an initially promising new site that coughed up a number of colonial buttons, some oddities (including an unexpected Eagle GS button), and we each somehow managed to snag Merc's in the same area to finish off the hunt with some silver, which is always nice. My final hunt of the year turned out to be the capper for me, and hopefully, a sign of good things to come for 2024. It was an especially good year for silver for me. At least 4 silver quarters, a number of silver dimes, a silver 1840 Seated Liberty half dime (my first), and the silver cufflink. We hit a field that had iron but had only given up a few keepers. I noted to Bob that I was not ready to give up on it, though we both had low expectations based on our previous visit there. Bob and I started to hit areas that we had not detected previously and hit the iron patches hard. A few brass relics started to pop and then I hit a solid 91 that did not waver even after I did a 360 turn. I thought to myself, well at least I am going to dig a silver or clad dime. I flipped the plug, pinpointed and flipped out some more dirt and silver DID pop out of the hole, but not what I thought it was going to be. I thought, wow its a quarter or half, by sight, but that didn't jive with 91 TID. I looked closer at the coin design details and realized that I just popped my first 2 Reale Spanish silver - 1793 King Charles IV (stamped as Carolus IIII on the coin) with a Lima, Peru mintmark. If that coin could talk and tell the tale of how it ended up in a Virginia farm field, I would have loved to hear it. Called over to Bob, and even though it was only 10am, told him my hunt was over and I was going home because I knew I couldn't top it for the year, much less for the rest of the day. I might have dinged it with my digger, but in my defense, I thought I was recovering a dime. It happens. I stuck around though, for the rest of the day, and we pulled some more brass and then called it a year! In 2024, my quest for my ideal VLF IB detector has pretty much ended with the Deus 2. I still dabble with other machines but if I am serious about the dig, it's going to be the Deus 2. ALL my quality finds this year were recovered with the Deus 2 or the Axiom. Thanks to Bob for some great detecting adventures and friendship! Goodbye 2023, had fun. Hello 2024, can't wait! Wishing everyone great digging in 2024.

I like that - good one VL!

Look, this has morphed into something it was not supposed to be. I think the OP has all the information that he needs about PI's to make his decision. If I had the power to close this post, I would do it. But what it has exposed is the need for some to tell some of us that we don't fully understand how to use MF. What I was getting at, and that's when things really went sour 🙄, was the fact that we should not be discussing the clever ways to tweak MF to get it to do what we want, but rather the fact that you have to do it in the first place to get it to respond to a very shallow nickel. How quickly we forget that tweaking a machine to get the most of it was for the most dedicated and experienced hunters. Are we now to believe that everyone has to tweak MF to get it to work for us?? My beaches are nothing compared to those who test completely black sand beaches, yet my results are very similar to the masking that is being experienced with MF. Instead of defending MF, why not question why it can't go through black sand like other machines can? Just think, if PI machines started to function like the MF does, would this conversation be the same? *** As for you Steve, please don't cave in to those who want to teach us something most already know. The flow of information, good or bad needs to be here. If people like you fall into the background, then we lose that critical information. 🥺 I for one will continue to post about the good points of any metal detector I use as well as the bad points. My suggestion to anyone regarding my posts is: if you are not willing to listen to the issues I have and discuss them without bypassing the intent of my post, then please use the function to ignore me.

On the heels of Tom's comments, I hunted Seabright Beach which is just across the way from the main Boardwalk Beach. I arrived a few hours before low tide and could clearly see that the King Tides pushed the surf all the way to the steps that lead to the street (about 200 feet). There was a lot of debris left from the storm surge, but surprisingly, there wasn't much in the way of cuts or scallops. At that point, I might have driven to another beach, but traffic was so bad driving up to Seabright, I decided to give it a shot. There were a lot of targets, but mostly recent clad. I did find some costume jewelry-a ring that I thought might have been gold, but there weren't any markings inside. I'm going to try another beach further south tomorrow and give it a shot. In the meantime, here is a picture of what I found.