HardPack

A Garrett AT MF, that would work!

The rumor mill is dead quiet on this exciting 2024 new Garrett Metal Detector pending release. So I am starting my own rumor straight from the horse arse. The new Garrett MD is a camouflaged first edition at a price point we can’t pass up, equipped with digital “selectibility” that allows switching between a Discriminating PI and SMF VLF or both, a stock a 10x5 coil switchable between DD and mono, a finds bag, a rebranded TRX Bullseye Pinpointer, three days of training on the rye patch with meals & lodging included. A large selection of switchable coils and…

Looking forward to reading about your Colorado prospecting experiences. Had family that worked quartz mines in the Montrose/Gunnison area in the 1930’s. They had some interesting tales of underground mining. Glad you joined the forum.

In the foothills the old timers working stream placers would often dry sample upslope once the gold played off in the stream. I believe Chris describes the process. I often follow the same procedure, stopping to examine quartz float found on the slope. As you stated or impied the limitations are the depth of the overburden, the detection depth of a metal detector and the amount brush covering the slope. I have found old sample holes while crawling under the brush cover and a few times found the source. The new collapsible detectors make the process workable. Once on or near the ridge I will follow the quartz stringer, if any, looking for a place to stand up and happy for it. I do not use headphones but the ML pro sonic speaker. I use a VLF if the ground mineralization allows. Like you I am looking for prior activity, the older the trash the better. I consider lead balls a good sign plus it gives me some idea how deep to look. Once close to the source the old timers would dig a trench down to bedrock parallel to the slope. So picks heads and broken shovels factor into the search. I often find myself thinking the old process worked for them, it could work for me. That is usually when I discover the old timers arrived at the source long ago. But it is fun, I keep searching and even get lucky from time to time.

Yeah, I got to stop sprinkling those wild mushrooms on my morning snow cone. Pretty rugged coastline north of Point Conception. No telling how many New England whalers navigated up the coastline stopping where able to resupply. I think you may have proof they pulled ashore. I got to get back to the harvest before the snow closes off access to the crawl space. Later

An 1800’s mariners/seafarers brass picture button? Might be worth some further research. Amazing! Does it appear the person in the rear has an oar with a second person seated forward? The oarsman seems to be enjoying their undersea voyage. The fish a grouper, another sea lion or the oarsman’s knee? Is the figure up forward a female reaching towards another sea lion swimming past the bow? Or is she rescuing a drowning sailor entangled in kelp? Poseidon/Neptune cruising through a kelp bed? Any sign of a trident? Leucothea & Palaemon, according to The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch, both held power to save from shipwreck and were invoked by sailors; jurisdiction of the ports & shores. Leucothea (Ino in the Odyssey) a Greek sea goddess who saved Odysseus from drowning when his raft was shattered. Her murdered son Melicertes became the Greek sea god Palaemon (Portunus to the Romans).

The button appears to be a man overboard caught up in seaweed with a seal/sea lion swimming overhead; the sea lion may be chasing after a diving duck or cormorant; there also appears to be a large fish with a big mouth located below the man’s arm. The bullet mould shows some craftsmanship.

Great finds

Two Toes, Bill Southern, Brass Medic, Chris Ralph… open to suggestions. Good news, glad the hear rumors Garrett has something coming off the bench.

I’ve run into timber rattlers about half that long but just as thick. Ain’t no mountain buffalos for them to prey on. As a youth awoke one morning with a rattler and brush rabbit wrestling between my exposed feet. Sleep with my boots on to this day. Them brush rabbits are dangerous.

.. and spreading quarters on the beach. My kind of people.

“Mountain Gal Sal” illegitimate great granddaughter to a mountain trapper by the name of Monte Wolfe. At the end of a hot day she spends more time soaking in the spring pond than the bears. She runs with a coyote, as a fashion statement she wraps a rubber boa snake around her neck and shares her table with a lowly opossom. You can’t imagine how many of her spring water coffees tasted of toe fungus. But as she is fond of saying “ Coffee’s coffee no matter how homely the company”. Here’s a link to the demise of Monte Wolfe: https://www.calaverashistory.org/files/f6e40e1f5/monte_vgl_book.pdf

The smaller diameter 6” coil dodges between the pieces of iron trash easier. Using both the 6” & 11” nox coils with a higher IB setting was able to tone down iron falsing over a 8” deep horseshoe and railroad spike. An 8” deep iron plate (8”x 8”) gives off a consistent non-ferrous TID regardless of IB setting. An 8” deep axehead gives off an iron falsing signal regardless of IB setting. French reales? A few Spanish Reales pulled out of the ground here in the west by others, I am still searching. During the gold rush coins were in short supply, the old prospectors cut the reales into eight pieces for trading and often traded their military belt buckles. Another round of cold & snow moving into the west coast on Tuesday the 9th. In the teens tonight. One side of the family started west in the late 1700’s from Lancaster county. The other side moved out of western North Carolina at about the same time. They all met up and began begetting in Texas before moving up into the Indian territories prior to the civil war. Stay dry.

You could contact Mount Baker Mining & Metals to see if they have any interest. I am sure they would require test samples. Mt. Baker Mining and Metals Bellingham, WA Website: mbmmllc.com

How did the 7000 miss all those pellets and small brass, did you elect not to dig based on the double blip? The center photo appears to be a shallow seasonal drainage, is this the location you detected the pellets? If so you may want to hit that area again but a little deeper.

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

If you hit that Culpeper dirt could you post the ground balance setting for the Abyss plus how the detector performed. Thanks

I buried a few modern coins adjacent to offset rusted square nails at 4, 6 & 8 inches. Close iron will definitely pull down the TID. A good control test that gives an idea what to look & listen for in the field. Did notice on a SMF detector that while adjusting the iron filter higher a nickel signal will begin to clip. Works as an IF adjustment gauge of sorts.

I found several square nails, tip of an old drill steel and a 10 inch iron spike today but there weren’t no coins at any elevation. Sorry she’s busy.

Found a video by History Revisited demonstrating recovery speed, masking/unmasking, depth detection. I am liking this machine.

My bad. Good information to know about both detectors. For a stable clean signal it appears in this dirt 8 inches is close to the depth detection limit with the 11 inch coil at sensitivity 18. Bumping up to a higher setting increases background noise but workable; at 8 inches the weak signals increase as does the TID spread on shallower targets (dime/penny). Getting closer to breaking through the iron curtain. The bedrock isn’t far enough down to worry about the maximums.

How did the “model” like the steak filet dinner? I could use a set of uppers.

I am liking the Nokta approach with the M1, M2, M3 & M?.

I was using the 11” Nox coil in the “Separation” post. I was attempting to arrive at a stable baseline detection depth for the EQX 900 in a specific soil type GB 40. I started with the Sensitivity setting adjustments with Recovery 1 & IB 0. Then to get a feel for recovery setting adjustments impact of depth with Iron Bias at 0, Sensitivity 18. Then a separate run over the buried coins adjusting Iron Bias settings with Recovery at 1, Sensitivity 18. At the actual detection site the soil type differs with a ground balance of 30 (isolated areas at 54), has ground noise plus an overlaying carpet of buried rusted tin and major EMI. On this specific site the recovery & iron bias setting are headed up in order to cut down through the buried ferrous trash in search of deeper non-ferrous targets. This is driving the need for the ferrous/ non-ferrous target separation. Prior on site use of the coils with EMI demonstrated the stock Nox coils were more stable than the coiltek. How much depth will actually be lost, this portion is still a work in progress. I would suspect in higher mineralized soil types sensitivity adjustments would have a proportional impact on detection depth…

Check out the post in “Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons” under the topic “EQX 900 & Legend Separation”; on the top of page 2. Chase may be on to something.