Cabin Fever

I'm very uncommon.. I missed that as well. Thanks for the tip!

Until yesterday I have been using the 5" coil exclusively sniping bedrock. Like others have said, the bump sensitivity is worse when using higher gain. The coil cable is the worse offender. Every root or branch the cable hits really makes it sound off. I have adapted pretty quickly to the extra noises with the 5" coil since I'm use to running my coin detectors pretty hot, but when I put on the 10x6 yesterday for the first time it was annoying.. I was still shooting rough bedrock which is better suited for the little coil but I just wanted to give it a run. The 10x6 touch sensitivity was much worse in those conditions than my little 5" coil. A lot of the extra noise can be tamed by running on 6 where I hunt but I have always had a hard time turning down the gain. It's a mental thing I need to get over. Besides the touchy coils, the little Monster is growing on me. I sometimes miss having a threshold I guess out of habit but the simplicity, design and sensitivity to super small gold makes the Monster an easy choice to grab over my other VLFs. Bryan

Thought I would post on how I modified a GPX shaft to make it a little more compact. I cut roughly 6" off the end and drilled 7 more holes in the shaft so the lower poll would go further up into the upper shaft. Now my Monster shortens up to about 30" and extends to 4 feet. I now have lots of adjustment options from extra short to full length. I also picked up an extra lower poll to keep the second coil mounted. Changing coils is a pet peeve of mine so I like to keep it quick and simple. I've been on 4 short hunts now with this setup and can't be more happy.

So it's not a super rare specimen worth thousands of dollars? Dang!

Took my new Minelab Monster out for a spin and ran across this little mystery pebble. At first glance I thought it was a piece of broken junk Jewlery or somethings man made. When I brought it home and looked at it through a loupe, the grey parts look like natural rock. It was really hard to capture on photos so I hope they are good enough for you guys to see and help me identify.. It registers as non ferrous and weighs 1.3 grams. What do you think? As for the Gold Monster, I really like it. Literally found my first nugget in less than a minute after turning it on! Only had about ten minutes to test it out but went back for another 45 minutes on a different day to score the half gram nugget and flake. The little flake was so small it won't even register on my scale that measures down to tenth grain. My only complaint so far is that the little 5" coil is not very sensitive on its outer edge or end. I like to tip the coil on end and get down in to cracks and the GM 5 coil is not good for that. Bryan

I use wooden meat skewers, tooth picks and large pink erasers to clean my copper coins.. I use the eraser first and get more aggressive as needed. Sometimes I will use hot peroxide for a quick dip but this will darken the coin the longer you soak. Don't use any of these methods on silver coins. Bryan

Hey Strick. The Anderson Lower Rod works good with the 10x5. It allows the coil to lay down and doesn't put so much pressure on the cable. The early run 10x5 coil had too small of a hole and did not accept the stock CTX bolt. Some guys drilled there's out. http://andersondetectorshafts.com/products/lower-rods/ Bryan

I'm not surprised. The 10x5 was a dud also with mounting problems of its own. The coil selection for the CTX is sad. I finally sold mine and now run the Etrac. Coil selection played a large roll in that decision. The one thing the CTX has going for it is that its stock 10" coil is fantastic. Its one of the few detectors I have bought that I didn't feel the need to immediately put an aftermarket coil on to improve its performance. Bryan

Nice! Hope your able to further identify it. That 1864 small variety is worth some good money. Great find either way. Bryan

I have D2 coil off an 09 V3 that ways 18.25 oz on our digital food scale. Not sure of its accuracy. Bryan

Here are a few Crow Creek nuggets I found several years ago with a GMT when I was there for a day. Fun place! Wish I had the chance to go more while I was there. Found these in the side of the bank across the creek. Bryan

Great point Steve. I have some parks that I won't even visit in the summer. I hunt them only in the spring and late fall when they are nice and moist. I save the well irrigated shady parks for mid summer hunting if I go out at all. Besides the dead of winter, July and August are my slow months for detecting for old coins. I plan on doing some shallow sport field Jewlery hunting this summer when it's too dry to plug for deep coins.

That video motivated me to finally put the gasket scrapper I bought some time ago in my bag for my next trip detecting. Been using the Raptor 31C Khouse also uses in the video for almost two months now. Can't say enough about that digger. Absolutely love it! Congrats on the ring Kenny!

Hey Mike, your might shoot Keith Southern a PM. I know he's been inside the Lobo and I think he's still got one. Bryan

Now I'm curious. What was the mystery detector that was in Bill Lads video? Obviously not the AT Max.

New AT Max

Looks super light!

I think the Monster will be a success even if it can't out perform some of the other we'll know gold detectors. I ordered one with my wife in mind. She wants to try nugget hunting this year just for a little fun. She is not into detecting like me and will never put the time in to learning how to set up and run a regular VLF. This detector is perfect for her. To be honest I'm looking forward to a little simplicity myself. Running my FBS detectors for coin hunting has kind of spoiled me with their fantastic ground tracking. Bryan

Thanks Mike. Since they both run at 7.8 kHz I was thinking they might have the same guts with added user controls put on the F5. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on one to try out. I'm a fan of the dials. Bryan

Hey Mike. I see you use the F5 and I was curious about it. I picked up one of the last Teknetics Omega version 4 8000s last week when they put a Best Offer option on their already low price. Is the F5 the same as the Omega except with a little more control of settings? How does your F5 handle your bad ground? I too have bad ground and it seems the Minelab FBS detectors are the only ones that can cut through it. I now have a version 4 and 5 Omega 8000 and haven't taken the time to really try them out yet. I was just wanting a cheap and light silver sniper to keep in the truck full time in case I run in to a good looking old curb strip while I'm out and about. Thanks, Bryan

Thanks Steve!

Not all my nickels come out looking that good after a cleaning. (Steel wool on nickels) I get some toasty ones too like you mentioned. Same with some of my coppers. The other Indian I found in a different part of this park didn't hold up nearly as well. It was a different type of soil. Bryan

I found my first ringed bullet yesterday hunting one of our older parks and I'm trying to put a date on it. It's hard to find anything older then the 1880s around here although this park is showing some promise with this bullet and my friends 1836 Capped Bust Dime that shocked us last week. Any help identifying and dating this bullet would be appreciated. My best guess is that it's about 38 caliber and it weighs 12.46 grams or about 192 grains. Picked up a couple of Indians, a 16s wheat and a 1908 V Nickel that cleaned up pretty nice along with the bullet. Edit: I measured the ringed end and came up with 5/16 one way and a hair under a half inch the other. Bryan

I've never been a fan of the AT housing either. Seems out dated and bulky with a poor display. The Racer is one of my favorite pods.. It would be nice to have a waterproof version of that. Now days with the micro technology I don't see why it can't be done. Just take a look at our phones we carry around in our pockets. Amazing screens and computing power. I understand there is a need for power and I don't mind that under my arm. The light RNB battery for my Etrac is amazing. They could probably cut the size of it in half and still get at least 20 hours hunt time with it or more. Bryan

My first detector was a Fisher CZ-5 I bought new in the early 90s. I've bought and sold quite a few since then. Trying to cut down on the arsenal but good deals keep popping up. I think Iike to buy and sell detectors almost as much as using them. Bryan