oneguy

glad you guys brought this up as I'm considering letting my etrac go as I'm outta places to hunt and turned to gold closer to home. Mine is out of warranty (4yrs old?) and has the Sunray X-1 probe, stock 11" coil, 13" Ultimate, 9.5x 5.5 Nel, 6" EQ2, Sabich book, charger, manual, etc. Hate the thought of parting with it but it has been sitting for a year doing nothing? If I sell it...sure as S**T they'll tear up Main st 2 days after I sell....lol I was kinda thinking 1100-1200?????

The red one will clean up for sure with steel wool....other green one looks pretty ruff? Just remember that it's easy to overdue it on cleaning those old buffs and V's, especially if you go with the chemicals. Stick with the steel wool and you'll be pretty safe. Modern nickels I clean with vinegar & salt and throw a bunch in a small container and shake the piss outta them. ALWAYS keep your nickels separate from other dug coins when cleaning, don't mix them with any other pennies or clad...... I don't know why (?) but I love digging V's/buffs even tho they usually are in bad shape............. NICE coins!!!!!!!!!!!!

chuck....PM sent

PM me if you want the coin for $110 ($10 extra to cover ins. & ship)..... I have a couple other pics I can send of the coin. I also did some research after I found the coin and from what I read they say that the way to determine a real from a fake is to look for the "stream" where it looks like the buffalo is peeing that was caused by bad dies (common on the real 3- leggeds)? Mine has the "stream" and also a dug coin so I highly doubt a fake? I also understand grading and dabbled in coin collecting for many years before I realized the difference between the Grey Sheet price and the retail price (I think coin dealer premiums are WAY too high, etc.). Coin is a dug coin so you have enviremental damage, cleaning damage with physical and chemical. But yes....the coin would have been a damned nice coin had it not been in the ground? The obverse looks pretty good also. If you can make a buck off it...fine with me? I have nobody to will my stuff to and all my coins would end up getting sold for nothing to a dealer in the end anyways? Here's another....see the "stream"...???? Coin was dug in Missoula, MT........

Thanx guys!!!!! I use steel wool first, then depending on how pitted the nickel is depends on if I take it further? If not pitted too bad I'll then scrub by hand with an abrasive like Comet or Bon-Ami. If not pitted and in real good shape (for a dug nickel) then I might QUICKLY run some Santeen with a Q-tip on the coin trying to lighten up the field of the coin...coin has to be in REAL GOOD shape before the Santeen as it'll really ruin the looks of a badly pitted coin so be careful........... Here's the best looking 1910 V nickel I've ever dug so it can happen. I did use steel wool and a little Santeen on the coin. It was found under a Doug Fir tree in a pile of needles and for some odd reason was in exceptionally great shape? A rarity for sure...... Unfortunately my Etrac just sits and I'm not sure whether to keep it or sell it? I'm so far out in Podunk and have to travel too damned far to coin shoot so I switched to prospecting the yellow stuff closer to me instead. Hate the big city and the crap that goes with just being there, hate door knocking, hate people in the parks giving you the stink-eye or calling cops, etc. I truly love and miss coin shooting but I'm better off out in the brush chasing the yellow metal by myself with nobody around to bother me......

I LOVE digging nickels mainly because there are so many out there and I love old coins even if not worth anything? Most guys don't have the skill/patience or a machine that ID nickels well so they don't want to mess with a little extra trash/effort, etc? Etrac, in the right hands is KILLER on nickels and trash to nickel finds tilt in your favor so digging 4-5 trashy beaver tails for 3-4 nickels is a small price to pay imo? When a park has been pretty well cleaned out of silver to YOUR best abilities and pickens are slim....try some "nickel knocking" as there are still a LOT of cool old nickels to be had! Most guys just don't chase nickels..... Only nickel I've ever found that had any value above 5 cents was this 3-legged Buffie in good condition for a dug nickel. Even after using chemicals and abrasives on it to clean I still "think" I might be able to get 50-$100 for it possibly on that auction sight? I've only dug 4 gold rings with the etrac and they were all got chasing a nickel signal so there could be a payoff so to speak? This pic is my last season "keeper" nickel totals (2016). 200+ regular nickels that got cleaned and put back into circulation.........

Got out today for the first time this year for 3.5hrs. Had a blast even tho no gold for me...YET! If lead, and very small fragments of lead, shell casings, 1 pull tab, 1 nail were nuggets I'd be rich!!!!!!!!!! NO problems what so ever with falsing except a few bump falses. Put it in auto and started swinging ground balancing once in awhile doing figure 8's or re-working a target. Still a little too much snow but found some spots I could play in and may return tomorrow????? Got snowed on but just a spring squall. I did find one target solid in the bedrock that I just couldn't dig out with my rock pick no matter how hard I chipped away? That GM is an absolute pleasure to swing and as much lead (some really small frags too) as I dug I'm sure it's just a matter of time until I find some yellow........... I'll surely secure that coil wire...thanks!!!

Kiwi.... PLEASE keep posting on the GM! ALL you guys have helped me with your info. Phrunt.... Only had my 5" in the water once and first thing that came to mind on falsing under water was the current on my coil wire as it's not tied down secure? I don't think my GM is faulty in any way and like I said before, I just work around any bump falsing. In the short 12-15hrs I've used the machine I've dug plenty of lead and SMALL lead fragments along with shell casings, a 1906 V nickel, and modern aluminum so I know I'm on the right track and will find gold eventually. A little bump false here and there doesn't bother me..... Keep the info and the finds coming if you will?????

Having little time on my GM (12-15hrs?) and no real experience hunting nuggets but 26yrs detecting old coins all I can ad is my GM also bump falses. I just deal with it and haven't had any problem being able to work around it? When it bump falses I also feel a bump at same time so it's real easy to determine from a false...imo? I did notice with the 5" under water that just moving the coil under water back and forth would make it false....... If I thought there was a real problem I would send it back in but so far, with my limited experience, I just deal with it and understand it's a very sensitive machine and try to work on my coil control....????

Thanks for bringing that up guys.... didn't even think about the balance changing while trying a depth test. Out in the field I'll pay attention to keeping the coil to the soil as best as possible......and re-balance if and when I can't. Thanks!!!!!!

Well curiosity got me about the auto sens balancing target out. I NEVER do air tests or coin gardens, etc, don't trust them compared to in the field. Like I said...curiosity got me so I grabbed a zinc penny and tossed it out in the yard. With the 5" coil I went over it maybe 1-2" while in auto (not auto+) and signal stayed strong until I raised coil 6"+ then it started to fade once I had more depth. Then I tried manual 10 and signal stayed strong and never faded. I started to lose the signal (not fading but breaking up) once I started to reach max depth around 10-11" range? I was surprised at how much stronger and deeper manual 10 was over auto...period. Auto started losing strength around 6" and manual stayed strong right up to 10". I did not try auto+. Manual got me at least 3"+ over auto on depth alone. I will definitely try manual as high as the ground allows me to once I get out in real world........... take all this with a grain...just thought I'd pass it on. Thanks again for your responses and great info!!!!!

Thanks guys and all your answers make sense and I understand what all of you have said. I've got about 12-15hrs on machine last season (no gold...YET) and ran in auto 95% of time while trying to learn the machine. The balancing out targets doesn't bother me and I understand it....but was curious about the question I asked so I'll play with it in manual when I can get out and see how things go? For now I'll keep digging all repeatable targets until I learn the machine. Already dug lots of lead, small lead fragments, shell casings, 1906 V-nickel, square nails, large steel rivets, small copper rivets, etc. so I think I'm on the right track.........if I can get coil over some gold?? thanks again

Somewhere in this, or possibly another forum, I read that if the GM is in manual sensitivity that it won't ground balance (fade) out a target like in Auto???? Not sure if the GM only auto ground balances while in auto or does it always auto ground balance even in manual sensitivity???? Hope that my question makes sense...... Still snow on ground so can't test this myself just yet.... Thanks guys.........

I don't feel so bad now....lol Can't play with my new GM so it's the ol' shovel, buckets, and the box for now (last weeks pic).....

Reese..... month and a half and a guy will be able to get over the hill to the "miles of piles".... I can't wait as this digging/sluicing is killing my back... but it's been nice to get out a couple times this year. Should have gone out today digging but Sundays trip to river has the back healing up (again)..... Spring is coming!!!!!! NICE noogies............

yeah....go ahead and rub it in!!!!!! lol

The title of your post and your noogies made me VERY jealous.....!!!!! (wtg on those noogies)

Not familiar with gold "on the other side of the hill" (continental divide), I'm on the west side of the hill. There's been lots of gold scratching all over the west side like around Helena area, south to Butte, Dillon, and also further west. I'm sure your hubby knows of some spots or someone that does. Last spring we had quite the runoff so most the waterways got stirred up with new gold, some old buried with over burden, etc. but definitely things got re-arranged? Could be good or bad depending. You guys enjoy..........

Ditto Fred .....just takes a couple weeks to get used to it, pace your self accordingly.............

Just come on out and ENJOY the area like you planned. Do your research and I'm sure you'll find some areas to scratch around in? I'm new and a rookie so can't recommend any areas near Bozeman but you'll find some. Might learn to use the claim maps here to help locate area claims? Good luck!!! http://www.mylandmatters.org/Maps/Mining.html

Not familiar with the Safari but think it's an FBS machine? With my etrac I have many coils and they all have their place and work well. With that said....high dense trash my 6" EQ2 is the go-to coil (and also my favorite of all coils if and when the situation calls for it).

agree.....only time I dig gold rings is when I'm chasing a nickel.....

The phones that came with my Monster didn't work at all...period! Took my seinhauser 280's that I've use on my etrac , stereo and also for noise cancelation for my practicing my drums.... they work great (as usual) on the Monster. I also usually just use the external speaker tho. The 280's have served me very well for 7-8 years now....they are sold as noise canceling audiophile phones, come with both plug sizes and have a long cord.......... Monster phones look and feel like crap imo

Your 1st post you wanted a coin shooter....now you want that machine to double as a gold machine? I'll withdraw my recommendation of the etrac then......it's primarily a COIN machine, that is where it excels......... good luck