abenson

Gold monster going multi IQ is my next guess.

My guess is they are re-releasing an improved version of a past model such as the eTrac or CTX. Neither of those 2 machines had updated models like the Explorer series or the Sovereign series of detectors. Both the eTrac and CTX are still considered top of the line detectors and simply need to be put in a new shell with modern features such as wireless headphones, internal rechargeable batteries and lose a few pounds. They would probably implement the newer IQ technology as well.

Excellent info Steve. Can't wait to get my hands on one. But that will have to wait until Spring as Winter has set in here. I do have one question about the Big timing. What size targets are we talking about when using this timing? Is it meant for targets mainly bigger than an ounce or targets much bigger and deeper? Might be a hard question to answer but any advice you can give would be appreciated as I suspect that's the timing I would want to run at a beach or relic hunting.

Nice write up and hunt Jeff! Congrats on the rings.

Nice bunch of gold thanks for posting.

Great Hunt! Nice looking ring!

I agree, I was just telling one of the guys I went with that I could drive 3 hours from my house and dig more stuff in a day than I dug all week. However, I can't find much Confederate stuff out west. Some of those Confederate bullets can fetch a few hundred bucks a piece.

LOL yea I've even cursed a walking liberty half once at one of those older sites. I only used the D2 for about 2 hours the whole 6 days and that was in the trashy areas the GPX wouldn't work. Ground mineralization was aboutbthe same both places. 10% of the bullets were confederate. I think the trap is post civil war. The field have been plowed in the past. But some of the depth comes from winter huts being occupied by troops over the winter. A 2 foot deep hole was dug and then a log hut topped with a canvas tent made up their winter quarters. Thanks glad you liked the video. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. Takes about 6-8 hours to edit and produce each video. But I figure if nothing else I can go back later and watch them myself as a reminder of the good time I had.

The D2 is pretty limited in depth like any VLF in that soil. Coins in general are hard to come by at Civil War sites. IHP are the most common find as far as coins go.

Last week I went to Culpeper, VA to attend Diggin In Virginia 52 & 53. This is where 100,000 US troops spent the Winter or 1863-64 and the Battle of Brandy Station took place. This area is know for some of the worst dirt in the USA. Bury a nickel 5" deep and most VLF machines can't see it. On the other hand take a PI and you'll be digging targets the size of bullets 16-18" deep and larger items such as shell fragments and belt plates over 2 feet deep. To top it all off these farms have been pounded over the years so finds can be slim. That being said it's still fun for me to attend and catch up with the many friends I've made over the years and meet some new ones. Now on to the particulars of the GPX 6000 as a relic machine. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I will never go back the GPX 5000 for gold or relics. The 6000 IMO is that good. Water resistant, interchangeable rechargeable battery, wireless headphones, light weight and compact. Everything the GPX 5000 isn't. The only thing the 5000 has the 6000 doesn't is iron reject and I can honestly say I don't miss it. I started beach and relic hunting with the Whites TDI that also lacked iron reject, so I had to learn what iron sounded like on a PI and this knowledge has transferred over to the 6000. Not saying I didn't dig any iron, but I don't fell like I dug any more than anyone using a 5000. Not only that ther are plenty of iron targets I want to find like horseshoes, artillery shells and fragments. I was a little concerned that EMI might be an issue with all the other GPX's present at this hunt. Things can get crowded in good producing areas. However, I found the 6000 to handle the EMI very well, as long as I was at least 30 feet from another machine or not under power lines. EMI for the most part was rock solid with no waiver most of the time. Now obviously I was wearing headphones with all those people around so I can't say if that would be different or not without them. I used the 11" mono the entire time, ran the machine in difficult, sensitivity all the way down, threshold on. That's it! simple settings without having to worry about whether or not I had it setup right. Setup this way, the machine is plenty deep. In fact I had one of my buddies check a deep target I found with his 5000 wearing an 18" coil and he said he could barely hear it. On the 6000 it was a clear signal. Just think how deep you could go using normal timing with sensitivity all the way up. But there's a reason I run difficult timing and you can read my post here if you want to know why. So below is a video and pictures of my finds. I found a lot more than shown like fired bullets and case shot that I just won't display. Also found about 6 artillery frags and only one is shown. I didn't find anything spectacular this time, but did have a great time and dug plenty of targets. Top is an artillery frag and an iron ball used in canister shot, next picture shows what canister shot is. Round balls are case shot which is similar to canister shot. Eagle I cuff, Bullet is a confederate Gardner and finally the display I made.

I know the tin backed ones are 1830-1850's I would assume yours is from the same time period.

Nice bunch of stuff. Love the navy button, is it tin backed or brass?

Yea dug some relics, I'll try and make a post tomorrow or Sunday. That buckle looks like it's stamped brass, is that what it is or cast? Yea but probably a $100 or more behind LOL.

Nice bunch of relics! Always love the assortment of stuff people find relic hunting, keeps thing interesting.

Just getting around to reading this post as I was in Virginia all last week looking for Civil War Relics and it took me until today to get caught up on work. Nice bunch of finds guys! You really have the cream of the crop for sites to hunt. Tom what's the story on the star buckle? Is that a Texas buckle? Part of a cast buckle was found with a star and those are Texas soldiers. BTW Tom I picked up #17 this Summer