masslawman

Very nice. Great to hit an area you've been to before and recover more great stuff.

On 3/9/2024 at 2:20 AM, Jeff McClendon said:

I was hunting one of the original Denver area parks that was built in the late 1880s. Shovel digging is not allowed at these parks so recovery is with a screw driver or probe. I have found plenty of wheat pennies, a couple of Indian head pennies, several Barber, Mercury and Roosevelt silver dimes and two silver Washington quarters at this park in the last four years after first getting the Equinox 600 and 800.

I was deliberately hunting an area that I knew would not be too wet or frozen under some trees at the edge of a popular sledding hill. I have hunted this exact spot many times with the Nox 600/800 with 11" coil and Deus 1 and Deus 2 with their 9" coils. I am guessing I have hunted this area at least 10 times since it is near the top of the sledding hill and fresh dropped jewelry and coins happen in that area every year. I was actually looking for gold jewelry but I was also interested in deep high conductors. I had my Manticore in All Terrain General Multi, sensitivity 23, recovery speed 5, iron bias 0, and I had the horseshoe button engaged so that I would hear all target responses including iron. Ground balance was 4. This ground has plenty of magnetite, square nails, modern nails and is loaded with many years of aluminum and steel trash. There are very few places to ground balance.

I heard a deep iron signal, saw red numbers and decided to turn on it and I was able to hear some faint, very short intermittent high conductor tones along with lots of iron tones. I pinpointed the target area with the Manticore's onboard pinpoint function and was able to isolate two separate targets and saw them clearly on the 2D screen with one upper area iron and the other at the high conductor far right edge of the non ferrous line. Depth was 8" on the depth meter. I dug the high conductor farthest right target first and it turned out to be the silver Washington quarter laying half way on edge at the center of the dig hole about 7" deep. My handheld pinpointer was still picking up a target on the left edge of the hole which turned out to be the business end of that iron skeleton key in the photo. It was laying horizontally. I recovered it, filled the hole and rescanned. I got a coin sized high conductor target response plain as day with target IDs ranging from 90 to 99 with very few intermittent iron responses about 6" to the left of the hole that contained the Washington quarter and skeleton key. Depth was again 8" on the depth meter and only one solid target trace was at the far right of the non-ferrous line on the 2D screen. Basically, I was starting to freak out. I certainly had not heard any target responses like that with the other detectors that I had used at this spot. The Walking Liberty half dollar was about 8" deep standing straight up on edge at the center of the dig hole.

Basically, the Walking Liberty half and the silver Washington quarter were in a spill at the same depth with the skeleton key laying roughly horizontally between them and they were all under the Manticore's 11" coil at the same time. They were situated sort of like this but buried under about 7" of iron mineralized dirt.

 

On 2/23/2024 at 5:50 AM, TampaBayBrad said:

I had a stainless scoop on a wooden shovel handle for years. Finally caved in and bought a CKG titanium with one piece carbon fiber handle for just over $300 about a year ago. I see now the price has creeped up a little to $245 for the scoop and around $85 for the handle so $330 for both.....still cheaper than an Extreme by a long shot.

I hunt sandy beaches with no stones. Scoop looks good as new after a year of hunting 1-2 times a week 6 hours or so per hunt. I should have pulled the trigger years ago....what a difference in weight. Get the one piece handle unless the travel two piece is absolutely necessary. One piece will always be stronger. 

I would shy away from the cheaper Dune scoops. A guy I watch on youtube had stress fractures on his after only a short time.

Here's the link....CKG Scoops

 

 

Thanks I'll check them out. 

Nice score. Congratulations on your hunt

Wow!!! What a great day, lots of awesome finds. Just goes to prove mother nature loves metal detectorists. Congrats on your finds.

Good afternoon to my fellow detectorists

I'm looking for any recommendations for sand scoops for the beach, wet and dry sand. I'm currently using a 41 inch stainless steel scoop that's durable but it gets to be fairly heavy after a few hours. I was looking at the Extreme sand scoops but the titanium is way more that I want to spend right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated 

Interesting cleaning tip. I haven't had much luck with vinegar, but going to try the sparkling water idea. It's worth a shot. 

I started with an AT Pro and had a lot of success in the dirt with it. Not so much at the beach, even after ground balancing and playing with sensitivity and other settings. Too many falses for my liking. Bought a new Manticore, looking forward to the beach as soon as the temps come out of the 20s.

Good advice on the Manticore. Just got my new manticore,  a little cold to get out yet but I'll  be out soon. I'll be digging everything till I learn the machine and find out what all the excitement is about it.

Some great information posted here, thanks. Waiting for my Manticore to be delivered, can't wait to try it out

Hello all, been hunting a few years with the AT Pro, eagerly waiting for the Manticore to arrive (supposedly tomorrow) so I can find out how it's going to work at the beach. Hoping to pick up some valuable info here on the site. Happy Hunting!!!!!!!!!