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My detecting mate and I have been working a dry gully for quite a while using our 6000’s with 10x5 Coiltek coils attached. We had been finding a bit of small gold but lately our returns diminished and we had almost decided to move to a new location. In a bid to squeeze out a few more pieces, we decided to detect the ground with our 7000’s and try to uncover a few deeper nuggets. We weren’t expecting much as we had spent a considerable amount of time working this area on the short gully and thought that if we could come home with a piece or two we would have achieved our goal. The Six with the small coil really suited this area as there were many potential gold traps and hiding spots for the tiny pieces that inhabited this location. The Zed’s were fitted with Nuggetfinder 12” Z search coils and after a ground balance and tune were running exceptionally well. The hot rocks and noisy ground that played havoc at times with the 6, were ignored by the 7’s so we knew that we had a bit of potential to find that really subtle signal. We moved slowly and tried to get into difficult areas and hopefully jag something for our effort. After about 20 minutes we added a couple of small pieces to the rattle jar from steep banks on the sides of the gully. It was agreed that the shallow pieces would have been picked up easily with the 6000 but were now happy that we hadn’t been “skunked” for the day. Joe was working a stretch of ground that had produced well for us in the past so I decided to move upstream about 50m to give him some space. I started at a rock bar that had given up some treasure about a month or so ago. We had pulled about 6 very small pieces on and around the outcrop and made a concerted effort to cover all the ground in that area very well. Every subsequent trip resulted in a repeat of that process just in case we missed something. The same region was detected today with the Zed and to my surprise, a very faint signal was heard. It was in an ideal location next to the rock bar on the inside section of a bend. You can see the hole in the photo. We had hoped to find a piece of gold at a depth that the Six couldn’t see and it finally happened. It must have been on edge as the signal was initially very soft and only increased during the dig. What popped out was a pleasant surprise. The 6000 has dominated our detecting for a couple of years now and the Zed barely gets pulled out of the cupboard. It was good to get its coil scraping on the ground again and put through its paces. We had forgotten how quiet it could be when the ground suited. We had also forgotten about digging deep holes until we were quickly reminded of its power. Rusty nails and bits of steel with soft enticing signals generally resulted in ugly growls and swimming pools being dug half way to China. We moved upstream and continued to detect some old ground looking for that deeper target. I was lucky enough to get a really faint signal behind a large rock. After digging a deep hole, a small, shiny nugget surfaced. I could see why the Six would not see a piece of gold at that depth. When the hole was inspected with the coil, another break in the threshold told the story of a surprise awaiting inspection. When a piece of gold ended up in the scoop, I called Joe over and we started moving rocks and detecting a small area thoroughly. A bunch of small pieces resulted. We had a lot of fun working that area together. Joe finally moved 20 metres upstream and found another patch of deep, small pieces of gold. The river worn gold was often visible in the scoop or in the ground like the piece shown in the picture. Joe pulled a couple of pieces on the walk back including one that was in a pool of water. Boots and socks came off and a slow and frustrating recovery followed. It’s great to see a prize for all the effort put in. The final picture shows the result of our day out. Quite a few of the pieces were so small that they wouldn’t move the scales but they all added up. It is pleasing that the Zed can still earn its keep on the tiny gold. Most of the pieces found would still be in the ground if we had used the 6000’s on this trip. Having a combination of machines has proved to be a winner in this area.

This one is for the button fan, I dug a 1926 wheat in another field but that was it for the coins. Invited Chase up for one of the last hunts here, a new 100 acre permission that I didn't find much in before, we set out to scout the other half of it that I didn't get to. It's a huge field that had beans on it last year, usually I prefer to hunt in bean stalks but this one is tough, the stalks are too tall. We ran into a farmer friend who told us this is because when they are rushing to get the beans before a rain, they lift the combine collector and don't cut them short. The stalks become really stiff by spring and are very hard to walk on, they chip at your shoes and can go through your hand or foot if you're not careful. 😬 We set out heading to the other side of the field, Chase went ahead and hunted around the old barn, I think he got a couple of wheats there. I walked up the center of the field not expecting anything, I had crisscrossed this field before and found literally nothing. Got a 47 and dug this rolled copper "tinkler" that was traded with the Indians: https://www.nativetech.org/metal/tinkle/tinkle.html It would be a "point" or arrowhead if it had a point, these were hung on their clothing and they jingle. I immediately went into circle mode, making a spiral around the place I found the first object, and hit 3 buttons. By this time Chase was way across the field, so I noted where I found this stuff and joined him to scout the rest of the place. We found next to nothing, I got just a few buckle bits. We decided to go back to this "hotspot" and the buttons just kept coming, I think between us we found well over 20. Small cuff buttons, medium buttons, a couple large, both brass and Tombac. They were everywhere in about an acre or so. What I thought might be a pretty bad day turned out to be a great one, I got all this: 16 buttons and a bunch of other brass stuff. Chase did as well. When things wound down we quit for the day, but there are certainly more there. Here's the trash, only a handful but I got fooled by a few bits of big iron today: I was using Relic exclusively, with the 13" coil on the Deus 2, with reactivity at 1 and Audio response 7. Some of the buttons were over 10" deep! We found other artifacts that deep too. Sadly we found no coins in that spot. We think it was an area where people got together and traded stuff in the 1600s and 1700s, and possibly with the Indians as well. This is a great example of how you really have to search a farm to find the hotspots, it takes a lot of determination and some really good guesses. You just can't give up! There may be another hotspot here, there is a part of the field we didn't go to, but we'll get there. 🍀

Condor and I met Andy out in the desert during a brief spell of good weather for a little detector testing and nugget hunting. Andy put together some good video footage during the trip of the Axiom in action.

Hard to describe the mixed feelings here. From initially seeing it come out of the sand and going.. "GOLD!"...then feeling the weight and being ehhhh, then getting to the car and not seeing hallmarks..but then saw no worn plating..but then it's very light...but also "well if it was brass, it's so cheap, why hollow it out?" "hmm looks pretty clean tho" . Ughh. Went straight to the scrap gold buyer with the XRF and was more than pleasantly surprised to hear that it was testing between 17 and 19ct gold!! Wow what a relief. I was hoping 9ct at best lol. Didn't sell, just holding it for now. The links are hollow and it's super worn, like hanging on by a thread of gold. Definitely for the scrap pile. I was soo thrown off by the weight. Being hollow links I thought maybe 13-12 grams, but not even close, 37.4 grams!! Although there has to be a little sand and water in the links so maybe closer to 35g. Still over 1oz and my heaviest gold to date. Up at 5:40am, left at 6am, got there 6:30am right at sunrise and left by 8am. Made roughly $2700AUD in scrap gold hehehe. Overall, terrible conditions in the water, super rough, 5m vis, very very strong current and big waves. I found a small patch and found a silver 2 shilling coin and a silver ring as well which was nice. Was hoping to snag a gold ring too in case the chain was fake but it was hard going after sunrise so I just left. Tides weren't ideal either. HH

First time out with the XP deus 1, 9 inch x35 coil, found 2 sterling silver rings with CZ and a tungsten carbide ring with a very very small diamond I'm saving up for the high frequency coil I heard it's much better, I was getting EMI with the x35 coil Hope this is a sign of things to come with this detector https://youtu.be/Lbg1r4fAJUw?si=7JGqLBJ0kACY-1up

I took up a ritual as a pure pastime, devoting a few hours to the shoreline. Some time ago I found with great wonder, a small ring in a really forgotten stretch of a beach, where I could barely find iron and a few coins. This morning, it being stormy and so for the rest of the week, I returned a little further than the spot where I was successful. The only promising area with obvious erosion was about 10 square meters. A very strong concentration of clay and black sand was making Ctx sick, so I immediately opened the pattern and changed separation, given the incredible masking I could hear. What happened next, in a dozen coins, is nothing short of a miracle for me. For the first time I found myself looking for a pendant that might belong to the necklace instead of the other way around, and the little ring had opened a sliver of hope amidst very obvious signals, but mixed with really too much iron. I think the necklace gave a minimal signal because of the knot along the links by the way. Nothing else to record for today, but what a day guys!

Here are some pictures of 3 successful hunts using the M8 on the wet salt beach. The little gold pendant has what I think to be a garnet with tiny diamonds weighing in at 1.4 grams. The other picture showing 2 pieces of gold side by side weigh .4 grams on the 10K thin ring and .8 grams on the 10K toe ring. Another picture shows how this coil is hot on finding open earrings of which some are silver. The "gold" disc pendant is plated over steel. That one had me take notice for a minute or two until I put my magnet next to it. The chain was the deepest I have ever dug one, probably 10 inches. I was hoping it was 10k and heavily corroded but alas... just plated copper. Haven't had much time in the water with the coil yet but so far so good.

More Tekkna finds. Yesterday I went to a different area of this park and first target was a nice low 60s and about 4-5” down was a silver bracelet. This with the 13x11 coil. Went back this evening after work with the 9” coil and hit the same area that I hit the other day with the 13x11. This spot is loaded with iron. Again, I dug some nails, but pulled 4 more wheats and to my surprise a Japanese phoenix coin that is silver! Three of the wheats and the silver were in a very polluted area within a few feet of each orher. The phoenix coin came in slightly scratchy but with numbers in the low 90s and a decent two way 90 degree cross signal. I think most of the coins gave a two way signal. By two way signal I mean a good signal in one direction then turn 90 degrees and I still get a decent signal. Hard to believe I’m still pulling coins from this spot! The only changes I made to tekkna was lowering the iron volume to 8.

On topic videos are fine as long as they are embedded (copy and use the YouTube "Share" link) so the videos appear here. My assumption is if people embed videos here they are doing it for the forum instead of just promoting a YouTube channel.

Photo of nuggets from this thread

We actually ended up using a Kubota 80 on this plan. We got a deal from a guy who owned it. They are good machines & fairly powerful for their size. Normally I would not go smaller than a mid size but the big mini was all we needed. Bedrock was only 6 - 10 ft in depth and there weren't any huge rocks to worry about.

I'm trying to get into nugget detecting this year too. I've been reading. And reading. I like to read, so I've just read and read. I'm signed up for Gerry's class in April, really looking forward to that. I've been watching @abenson videos and they have been very helpful. The biggest thing I have planned though, is just to get out and do it and try to find some as often as I can this year. My first trip this past weekend was a skunk. But, I figure, that's just part of paying my dues. I got in lots of coil on the ground time and dug a lot of bird shot and tiny fragments of bullet jacket and such. Got practice using the pick and scoop recovery method for tiny bits. I figure, I keep trying, it will eventually start to come together. - Dave

Yes I am. I have found that when I do get a chance to detect that it is only a very short amount of time due to work. I only go maybe 15 miles from home and look in creeks on or near farm land with permission of course. I do have a nice size creek that I go to on a regular basis, because there is plenty of flour gold in them. I will start detecting the sides of the creeks and get a few tones, then I get a few pans full of pay dirt and check it out.. What I like the best near me is a creek that shows some quartz and black sand on the walls and that is the first place I look. Don't get me wrong about how much you will find in those places, but I have found a few ounces over a year of work. Should the work don't get you the bugs just might. You will be using a pan, a sluice and almost anything you can to get as much as you can. I have even gone to the Salvation Army stores and found some 5 gallon strainers in the cooking area and used those to classify some of the soil so I could run the rest through my sluice. Those do pay for themselves in the long run. I take it that you are in central to southern IN. which is a nice area to be in for gold. I have been to the southern end next to Kentucky and found some nice gold on a few farms down there. I am located almost 50 miles south of Springfield, IL. I hope this helps, Caleb

gold nugget hunting I've dug a few targets like that and some have turned out to be small nuggets, others have been small bits of iron. One the flip side, relic or park hunting, I don't dig those targets unless there is some indication of a decent target. I recently dug several buttons and bullets at a site I've pounded over the years. I was just getting a chirp with ID in the 90's, no trace and depth meter pegged out. 2 turned out to be small pewter buttons, 1 was a .69 cal bullet and 2 were nice coat buttons 1 GS the other D for Dragoons. I did dig 3 deep nails as well. The small pewter buttons were both over 6 inches deep and the buttons & bullet 9 or 10 inches deep. So IMO it's worth checking out signals that are out of the norm.

You should have no trouble telling target size with the M-Core after some use...small items that are deep esp aluminum will sound faint..like mentioned above by Okara I don't spend too much time looking for the micro targets...push it around a few times if it don't reveal itself the hell with it...How many big diamond earrings are actually real? none that I have found.... and what is a small diamond earring really worth...not worth the time for me personally I'd rather spend it looking for gold rings.. strick

More Aussies are starting to do videos, this one with the 12x8" EVO, that coils always intrigued me, never enough to buy one though.

A low cost and small scale start & then scale up if possible. Some may prefer to stay small. Usually when the larger scale is considered it is time to find investors.

I've been using the M8 exclusively on the wet beach sand and am now at the point where if I spread the sand out paper thin and still cannot locate the target, I move on. I used to cringe at the thought of leaving anything I might detect again but it is painstakingly slow to try and recover every little bit. A very successful hunter friend of mine told me this years ago... If I don't see the flash of gold I move on. The M8 is picking up the tiniest shards of non-ferrous metal and many of them blend in with the darker sand, mainly tiny copper pieces.

I got interested in gold prospecting when I joined this forum and although I had hunted for gold nuggets before was not all that interested in it until about 7 years ago. The first thing I did after I bought my GPX 4000 was take a class from Gerry, which is actually where I meet Steve Herschbach for the first time. The next thing I did was buy a bunch of books and join a gold prospecting club here in Utah where I found out real quick that Utah doesn't have much detectable gold. So I joined 3 clubs down in Arizona and went to a few club hunts and meet Jeff R. from Dolan Springs I think on this forum. For about 3 years I would go down to the Gold Basin area and meet up with Jeff who really helped me understand the why and where to look for gold and meteorites in the area. I didn't find much in the way of gold, a few small bits here and there but did find a lot of meteorites. As I've gone to more club events and meet more people both on and off this forum I've learned more and more about gold hunting. Since I have to travel so far to get to areas that have detectable gold, 9 hours to Arizona and 6 to Nevada, it was very important to have help to get started so trips wouldn't be wasted not finding anything. I can't thank Jeff R., Steve H. and Steve F. enough for all the help they have given me over the last few years and thanks to everyone else that has contributed on this forum to help me and others learn how to metal detect for gold.

LMAO, I like that the coil appears to have a metallic housing. I would design it with vibranium, besides being durable it does not support eddy currents so is not detected.

Just a bit about myself. Grew up in outback QLD, Meet my Partner in NT when I was doing tag along tours, prospecting for Garnets and Zircons in the Harts Ranges. We meet up with Mels parents and friends going to WA to prospected for Gold for 3 months. I wasn't into gold really but I did live in a gold area as a child and my parents brought me a gold pan when i was 7. I joined the group traveling with them to find camp spots and where to find watering points, so for the first 2 months I learnt to pan and finely they convinced me to try the 4500 which I now own. We stopped at a spot they showed me how to start the detector and all went off, so I just went near the car detecting and got my first signal under a tree, they all come to see me dig and there was my first piece a gram worth. Off they all went 5 mins later I got another signal so they all came back, another good bit of gold bang I was hooked and have been ever since getting over 1 ounce of gold in WA. Now in Vic, but I have a dam hard time finding gold here as the countryside is so different. I have hit some good patchers over the years here and found gold up to 10 gram nuggets' last one was a 9.6 grams with the GPX 2300 at Christmas time. Also compete in the Gold panning comps at Blackwood and Wedderburn scoring a first and second, but after a serious work accident nearly 2 yrs ago, its a battle to just get out to detected or to compete, but still having a go. One of my daughters just competed in her first gold panning completion and came 3rd she was so happy, and she just done her first token hunt with a detector at the Celebration of Neville Perry Day and for her effort won a gold nugget, so proud of her. G'day everyone looking forward to reading the forums and see all the photo's Cheers Kel

I was at the beach the other day and some guy was swinging a Nox with a 15 inch coil. I was a little envious and embarrassed thinking about how much area he was covering with each swing and here I am with this little 8 inch. The M8 is the smallest coil I have used in decades! At times I think about going back to the 11 inch just to cover more ground at the beach, BUT... I am running a sensitivity around 26 to 27 and at times 28 on the higher slope. I could not possibly run that high with the 11. I know a lot of guys are saying that a lower sensitivity is better for more accurate number ID's and in a lot of instances it is. I had a small target easily coming in as non-ferrous and at 26 sensitivity, I lowered it to 21 and the target was gone. It turned out to be a small open silver earring. I think it is a give and take with what you are comfortable hearing. I am always thinking small thin gold chains, so that is primarily why I run it so high. I think the beaches are loaded with chains, but we just can't get a decent signal on them especially in the salt water. A lot of guys on the forums are saying the M8 is just as deep as the 11 and awesome in heavy iron trash infested sites. I can't say how they feel about the 15 in. I am just amazed at all the small open earrings I am finding with this coil. I don't think I'm missing anything deep that the 11 would find, just suffering with ground coverage. If you are looking primarily for fresh drops, the 15 would get the job done in quick fashion!

in addition to using black sand as a guide to where to dig your gravel for gold panning or sluicing, look for bird or buck shot that is corroded white. They tend to hang out in the same traps in small creeks and branches. Found decent amounts of gold in north georgia using that method with the Fisher gold bug back in the late 1980's.

I would say a very good day indeed. just goes to show you don't always need a $1,600 detector. What you need is a decent detector like the one you own and get out there and hunt. Alas, sometimes I don't even follow my own advice.

Once the basics are down pat, which it sounds like they are the hardest part is putting the coil over some gold.

Tekkna is now my go to program for old house sites.

I am not surprised with your finds with the 9" which is THE reference D2 coil for ultra high iron trashed areas ... From my little field experience with Tekkna I found it excellent on high / ultra high iron trashed areas . Still very good on medium iron trashed areas but not much difference with other programs like SENSITIVE to my opinion there. I found Tekkna to be more chatty than SENSITIVE but it is just a matter of getting used to it . Anyway I use Tekkna all the time now ...

So, after using so many different detectors in the last 50 years, some things never cease to amaze. There were so many fan boys when the D2 came out and how it was going to RULE small everything. Well, we know that did not happen. YET, the Equinox never falters and excels at small bits. Got this pear-shaped diamond surrounded by many small chips. It looks like a setting that came apart from a ring. Nothing has been tested nor certified. I suspect from the look and quality it is real. Rang a solid hard 8 on the Equinox in Beach 2. Had big waves and lost it through the scoop on the first try. Was lucky to reacquire and run it up the beach to find. Interested to see how others are doing on small bits!!!

I need to double check but any 00 reading may indicate a channel is NOT ground balanced but in an overload state, which would mean all bets are off as far as detecting. It might give the appearance of being ground balanced when it is just the opposite. That is why I suggested trying the same ground after a reset and not doing a ground balance. The machine will act more like a pure PI and will function just fine in most cases with slow and even coil control since the autotune will smooth the ground signal. It can even have better depth in milder ground though the worse the ground, the more unmanageable it will be. See this ATX video for reference to the method…

I like Andys channel its about the only metal detecting channel I watch these days 😉 strick

Beautiful finds. The Z with the NF12 remains my preferred detector for a reason. GC

Slightly less than 10g. But 18K 🏴‍☠️

Well, it's basically confirmed, the Storm is the AT Pro replacement, coming this year too. See Garrett's reply to someone asking when the AT Pro replacement is coming above. I've already started saving for it, it won't be cheap in NZ.

Outstanding, NC. Your coin is a 50 Sen coin, date uncertain, but it's the "Small" one. .720 silver. 👍 Gotta love Tekkna. 🙂 The 9" makes a difference when there's a lot of trash.

Here's another possible option which works in the field if you can just get to a hardware store: Top photo shows the factory White's bolt and nut. Bottom is a toilet seat bolt and nut -- 3/8-16 plastic (nylon) size. Note: some toilet seats use a larger 7/16 diameter bolt. (I don't know what the standard is in the rest of the world, but wouldn't be surprised if a similar solution exists with metric sizes.) You can see in the second photo that the White's coil bracket hole is just slightly undersized such that the non-threaded shank of the toilet seat bolt won't quite fit. You could file or sand down the bolt pretty easily, and at least for the White's coils the 2 1/2 inch length leaves plenty of room to add the nut even if you don't go that extra step. As to whether this works for the Axiom, IDK, but you could take the coil to the hardware store to find out. Cost is ballpark $1.00 to $1.50 if I remember correctly. They should have 3/8 plastic washers, too. Here's an example of a pair from Menards (midwest big box lumber/hardware store similar to Lowes and Home Depot):

So here is a small scale plan executed in 2020. It was a 3 month operation involving 3 - 5 people. It used 4 separate plans of operation so as not to trigger SMARA (surface mining and reclamation act. SMARA is triggered when surface disturbance exceeds 1000 yards and requires much more detailed and expensive permitting. We do our own plans of operation at no cost by using federal and state agencies to do the proper environmental evaluations. Average time for plans to be approved can vary depending on how busy the agencies are but 4 - 6 months should be expected. Our bond was moved from one site to the next as each plan was finished and reclaimed. If you want to run multiple sites at once you would need a bond for each site. Our bonds vary from around $3500 for a small plan like this upwards to $10,000 or more for larger scale operations. The bonds are refunded as reclamation is finished and approved and all equipment removed. I am posting a very small scale plan here first. We did this plan after several years of hand prospecting to ensure success by proving the ground as best we could. One word concerning mining in California now - I noticed on Dave Turin's new show when he was up at Happy Camp he kind of clouded the issue on mechanized mining. Mechanized mining can still be done in California but you must be at least 300 ft from the creeks. For our claims this is not an issue as our commercial grade ground is anywhere from 600 - 2500 ft from any creeks. If you are planning to mine with equipment closer than 300 ft to a creek in California you may as well forget that plan for now. Perhaps it will be changed someday. Here is the small scale plan with the gold values conservatively adjusted for today's price per ounce. I will be posting a larger scale mining operation here as well. MINING PLAN FOR 2020 Equipment & Starting Expense : Super Hog Highbanker $ 2033 Custom built hopper/grizzly 500 Small 2 Yard/Hour Highbanker (Vern) 0 Semi Trash Water Pumps 2000 2100 ft 3 inch Lay Flat Hose & Fittings 2267 300 ft 2 inch Lay Flat Hose 149 Extra Fittings & Clamps 100 Bobcat E85 Excavator Rental (one month) 4667 Delivery & Return Fee 500 Porta John (one month) 300 Storage Shed 2000 Fuel 500 Misc & Shipping 500 Total : $ 15,516 Production Estimates : Run Time (8) hrs/day Monday - Friday Saturday/Sunday make up time & gold cleaning & processing. 7 yds/hr 56 yds/day 280 yds/wk 1120 yds/month $ 50/yd gold value after refining $ 2800/day $14,000/wk $56,000/month Operating Cost : $ 5467 1st month (fuel & excavator rent & misc) Net Revenue : $ 50,533 per month Would be scaled up to the larger operation Description of Operation : At Site #3 the north bluffs at Upper North Mine have 300 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 37 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravel will be processed. At Site #2 the west facing bluffs at Upper North Mine there will be 250 ft of baseline gravels that will provide 31 cuts or trenches into the base to bedrock. From each trench 45 yds of pay gravels will be processed. Site #2 Production : 31 cuts 1395 yds @ $ 50/yd $69,750 Site #3 Production : 37 cuts 1665 yds @ $ 50/yd $ 83,250 Total From Production : $153,000

My 800 with the 10x5 on it has found me good solid gold in a few creek beds that I have been sluicing in. Most of our gold is flour gold but once in a while you get a nugget about the size of bird shot. I have used it a lot to find gold bearing ground around here and it has always put us on it to sluice. Very fine detector with the right coils on it and easy to use.

After having seen others paint the keys on their Legend I decided to try something totally different. I used Glow Paint. It was tedious, and I can probably get another coat on it but this is how it looks both day and in darkness. I like it. Again, it was tedious due to how the paint is. I used a bamboo skewer to apply the paint inside the button indents. Wiped excess off. Found out it was easier to just coat the button and immediately wipe off excess. This is what it looks like after 12 hrs cure time. The paint used is Glow-on. I had some Neon Green on hand from another project but I'd prefer it to be blue. The stuff isn't cheap but a little goes a long way. https://www.amazon.com/Super-Phosphorescent-Sights-Concentrated-lasting/dp/B00GUA92RQ?ref_=ast_sto_dp Again, this stuff works best in multiple coats. What you are seeing is just a thin single coating. Will probably apply at least one more layer. But giving this 24 hrs between applications works best. Thought you might find it interesting. EDIT: Oh, I also installed a Skinomi screen protector to the display. In the picture it has a blemish but I have since wiped that off. I cut the piece to fit. It's a Matte version of their clear model. Really cuts down on glare in the sunlight.

Thanks, now I know I don't need one, saves some coin. The E1500 would be great to get kids into prospecting, easy to use that's for sure, and with the weight they'd swing it no problems. Only problem I've heard of is someone had some shaft twist with a large coil on it, but I get that with my 6000 with a 10x5" coil so that's not a bad problem, Minelab have conditioned us to be used to that 😛

I dig them at the beach as long as I don't get an iron grunt in any direction. If it's a faint repeatable with no iron, I dig. But my digging at the beach is much easier than your digging at the park! Last week I got a very faint repeatable in the dry sand and it turned out to be a small St. Christopher pendant 18" to 20" down.

I see a Manticore in your future. When I saw the pic in the first post I said "that looks like 18k!" Nice deep gold color. Congrats.

Those are amazing finds and also hard to find at that. Great hunt and you really showed your skills with your detector on those finds. Someday I hope to be as good as some of the people on here. Good luck on your next hunt and stay safe out there.

Yes there was a slight out of balance reaction, but really not much more than normal, and was not abnormally noisy. it makes sense that it acts much like salt if it has high black sand levels, because I know in Extreme Black Sand it could not balance AT ALL in ANY mode, and fine mode was completely unusable at any settings, But as I pointed out in the last video the BAZAAR Thing is it detected decently in EXTREME levels of Black Sand in Salt Mode and MAX Sensitivity..! BUT was unusable because of ground noise, UNLESS threshold was at zero.! Then it had only occasional breakthrough ground signals, AND did OK on target depth, nearly silently.! It is obvious that Fine Mode does not like noisy ground even in slow speed, if it involves black sand, I am just surprised it can seem OK but lose so much sensitivity apparently from balancing out ground level targets in fine mode under certain conditions.

Thanks Bob! I did a google image search and couldn’t find an exact date either. I would guess that it was brought back with a soldier when he returned home from WWII. I am loving tekkna. I don’t know what it is but I’ll take Gary’s word that there’s some witchcraft going on with it! Lol

Welcome to the team Kel, great introduction post.

Ya know, the Navy did a whole bunch of research at their facility on Priest Lake here in Idaho. They were researching ultra-low frequency communications for talking to the world-wide fleet of submarines. Would be interesting to know what freq they ended up using, assuming you didn't go to jail for espionage...LOL. I thought your idea was pretty good. If I remember right it was useful for more than precious metals, too....like rare earth minerals. I'm still getting into the data-logging with the two box deep detectors, though haven't been doing anything with it since winter set in. Start of March we had bare ground, and then the blizzard hit and we had 15" of snow, and single digit temps, and that took care of spring for awhile. Snow's gone now, but we got 3/4" in one squall this morning. I think I'm still looking at a month before I can do much. Looking forward to at least one trip to your area this summer. Jim

Wow great finds! I would keep hitting that beach instead of going underwater. I never used a ctx, but I would bet the Manticore would do a good job on that beach.

I have absolutely no idea,but pure gut feeling tells me if it has been engraved or what ever they have done with it,it's for insurance reason and they would not do that unless it was pretty valuable....very well done on possible finding a potentially valuable ring.

Location... location... location! About any stock program should definitely find clad unless you have discriminated about everything out or have the sensitivity way too low. Assuming that's not the case... you just need to make sure you're swinging over ground that has clad in it! 😉

Yep I agree. I've had no problems with battery movement. When a cover is available it will eliminate any concerns. Out of sight out of mind. LOL 😆 I made one out of a neoprene drink cooler, nice tight fit and works a treat.