Cabin Fever

I'll be watching closely for reports on the lower frequency performance. I'm primarily an old coin hunter and am always looking for a detector that can punch deep for copper/silver in minerized ground. Hopefully the ability to switch between frequencies is quick and easy. Might be a good tool for cross checking signals to see how they respond.

The blurry guy at 1:08

I'm a bit of a Makro fan. I bought first run Racer, Gold Racer and Racer 2. I sold the original Red Racer in anticipation to getting the Racer 2. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the R2. I liked the added features but did not like what they did with the tighter iron zone. The VID is very jumpy compared to the original Racer that would lock on to coins real hard. I think if they would have took the original 0-40 iron range of the Red Racer and made it 0-20 instead of 0-10 it would have been perfect. I sold the R-2 and am down to the Gold Racer (which im not selling anytime soon) and my CTX. The CTX somehow has the ability to ID coins accurately at depth in bad soil like no other detector I have yet to use. I had a 12.1" certified Tom tuned CZ-5 that would call a dime a nail at 7" in my soil but my CTX can go to 10" with accurate ID. The Gold Racer is so unique that I don't see getting rid of it. The Big 13" coil runs awesome on the Gold Racer and I just received the new little elliptical today. I love the size of it and can't wait to use it. My only complaint about the gold racer is the hallow 10x5 coil. I wish it was solid. Bryan

The new Anderson Shaft for the CTX solves that problem. It also relieves the stress on the cable because the hole for the cable is further up the shaft.

Nice find and congratulations on your first gold ring! At 8" deep a ring of that size makes it even more impressive of a find. Good job. A lot of people would have passed on those ID numbers. Bryan

Here are the finds from the two hunts that week.. Modern clad not included and don't remember how many.. I try not do dig shallow clad and concentrate on deeper good signals. Probably 9 hours total hunt time between an early 1900s house and early 1900s park where I found the two key date coins on the same day. I find a surprising number of semi key date wheat pennies and dimes. Living in the PNW we get a lot of S mint coins which helps but also makes the 1921 D Merc. Dime a very nice surprise.

Nice finds! Looks like a fun hunt.

Any updates on availability of this coil?

I use a Lesche for most digs and a Sampson Shovel wherever I can get away with it. I pass up most coins in the first 3" except for quarter signals because I am primarily looking for old coins and silver. I use Fredmasons technique mentioned above for shallow digs and cut a plug for everything else.. I have a different experience than Steve in my area and dig quite a few coins with decent value so I am very careful when I get that deep copper silver signal when I dig. Last week I dug a 1921 D Mercury dime and a 1931 S penny on the same day. The local coin dealer offered $350 for the dime and $40 for the penny. A scratch on either one would have cut the price in half or more. Bryan

Nice chunk Steve!

Looks like maybe a new small elliptical coil on the very end next to the Impact. I like it!

Nice! Still looking for my first silver half. I live near the Idaho border in the Spokane area. I'm looking for a motor home right now so I hope to get over to Oregon this fall. I want to take the family over to do the Oregon coast trip, then maybe cross over and through your area on the way home. Thanks for the offer. I would love to do some relic type hunting. I don't have a lot to offer on gold hunting tips though. I'm just an occasional gold hunter although I hope to increase my time spent nugget shooting this year. Bryan

The coins in this park seem to hold up well. The Nickel was in great shape too It's not a real lush part of the park. It's more dry and It probably doesn't get fertilized as heavy as some parks. I notice the early wheats tend to hold up better no matter what area I find them compared to wheats dated in the 40s or later. I would say the 1912 s has at least F-12 details but does have some enviromental damage as you can see from my close ups here.

Awesome find Gregg! That makes me want to go out and do some ghost town hunting. I haven't done any research to see what's in my area although I do know of one place about an hour and a half from here with good potential. I hope to get down to Oregon some day for some relic and nugget hunting. I live in eastern Washington so I'm not too far from there. I did go back for about 3 hours and could not even pull one wheat cent. Real strange park. Very little clad too. I'm thinking I just lucked out a stumbled upon a small area that had some extra activity or this small section was missed by past hunters. I will go back again because there are other areas to check out. My city has had a very active detector club for a long time. The Late and great Lucy Bowen probably pulled 90% of the coins out of this town! That's why I was shocked to pull quarters out of a public park. Bryan

Thanks! I was using my CTX 3030. I have been experimenting on cleaning nickels. I used an SOS pad on this one. I just get it real wet and scrub in circles for 5 or 10 seconds at a time, rinse and check. If you go to far they start turning real dull and grey. I like to just bring out the details and leave them a little red. This one turned out pretty nice in my opinion. I don't know if I would do this to a key date coin though.

Just common date no mint Mark Barbers Ray. Trust me I tried real hard to find an S on that 1896!

I hunted an early 1900s Park this week that I had not been to before. I had a solid two hours in to the hunt with only a few clad to show and I was loosing confidence in the location. Working my way back to the truck I pick up a couple of wheats, so I start gridding the area. Pretty soon I get a quarter signal at 5" and start getting my hopes up. I figure it's deep enough to be silver and sure enough my First Barber Quarter, a 1911 is staring back at me! Well that got the blood flowing and a renewed confidence in the park. For the next hour I dig a few more wheats, a pocket watch, and an old shotgun Shell. I get a mess of tones from a spot and am able to isolate another quarter signal out of the confusion of sounds and VIDs. I knew I might have a coin spill, and I was right! My first silver coin spill. I dug the 1896 Barber Quarter, shocked that I pulled not only my first, but second Barber quarter in the same day. Off a few inches to the left, I widen the hole and get a worn no date Canadian Victoria silver quarter (minted 1870-1901) and just next to it a 1906 V Nickel! To top the day off, after cleaning up my coins at home I find that one of my wheats, a 1912 S is a key date! Definitely a hunt I will remember for quite some time. Bryan

Nothing earth shattering in this photo here but on the topic of the Gold Racer for micro jewelry hunting, I could tell from day one it would be the detector to have for that purpose. I bought it with only nugget hunting in mind but after playing in the parks with the Gold Racer on just a few very short hunts I now plan on using it combined with my CTX for old coin hunting and may also take up some micro jewelry hunting too. I have found at least one earring on every hunt with this detector as well as several charms and broken jewelry parts not shown in this photo without even really trying. I did also score my oldest coin find so far with my Gold Racer, an 1875 2 Pfennig. It's hard to score pre 1900 era coins here in eastern Washington. Same hunt I also found this 1897 Liberty Head Nickel, both at 7" in tough ground that had been worked several times by my friend and I using the CTX, V3i and At Pro.. I have a lot to learn in taming this little beast but once I do I think it will be a powerful tool for not only nugget hunting but also for my old coin hunting. It has excellent audio and the powerful sensitivity to small targets, packaged with its discrimination features is hard to beat. I just can't express enough how pleased I am with this detector and I thank Makro for taking the risk and bringing such a unique detector to market. Nothing out there like it that I know of. Bryan

Tom D has a nice report on the Macro Gold Racer on his site. http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,101755 He said it feels like a cross between a Gold Bug 2 and a Gold Bug Pro. I thought that was a great analogy. Now that I think about it the Gold Racer does feel like a very hot GB Pro. Bryan

Nice find Ray! Your starting to make it look like big seated coins are easy to find. What is that, 3 for the year? nice job! Bryan

You said you were ready for a "nugget focused detector" but just in case you were maybe thinking of doing a little coin or relic hunting too, I thought I would mention the Gold Bug Pro is a good all around detector. It's a good nugget hunter but you can also take it to a park and do some coin hunting. I think the Gold Racer is going to be a great nugget hunter and I'm excited to have one, but it really is not a detector you would want to do a lot of trashy park coin hunting with. I think the new Racer 2 might end up being a great all around detector that can do coin, relic, and nugget hunting all very well.. There are a lot of great detectors out right now and you really can't go wrong with most of them. Good times! Bryan

Thanks Steve! It's nice to have a free place to post our adds. I particularly like ability to post plenty of high resolution photos. Bryan

What type of hunting were you doing when you found the seated coins? Mining camp? Park? Ghost Town?

Wow! Nice finds Ray. I would have been stoked to just find the seated dime. Seated coins are so rare in my area that finding a seated half doesn't even cross your mind as possible.. Congratulations. Bryan

Sweet! Thanks for putting up the videos.