Goldseeker5000

Degreaser is probably the best material to remove tape residue and it won't harm the coil. Same stuff used for refurbishing heavy equipment- taking off all the decals. I've used it alot for work years ago when I sandblasted, painted and redecaled heavy equipment.

I agree with Oneguy, the monster is your detector of choice. It sounds to me that with your age and lack of being able to dig deeper or lack of wanting to dig deeper, you are severely limiting your ability to find gold. Take the gold you are able to find, even if they are tinky dinks. Non of us live in a perfect world when it comes to gold bearing ground. Better to change your thought process in regards to choice ground and what the ground gives up and be happy it gives anything up at all. I have a friend who is 87 now and he is still gets out there swinging his Gpz7000, Gpx5000 and Equinox800, he is happy with any size gold he gets because he is happy he can even get out there to still do what he loves. There is no magic detector out there still be be bought to do what you want to do that you don't have already.

I suppose anyone that wants one can order it from Dubai or some other place in Africa and pay for the shipping. It might get to the states faster.😆

You need rare earth magnets at least 20 lb pull. They will be much smaller with less weight. With what you have there is too much weight. If you have to, glue them to the rake with JB weld to reduce weight.

Great story Dan, I've been there myself, more than once. My truck I use is packing mud around the threads. When it dries, it holds in there pretty good and it stops the nut from working further off the bolt. If it weathers off, I have more mud easily available, even if no mud is around. A little water and more can be made. This has worked well for a few years now. Nice gold, glad you are getting out and finding some. How is the Van conversion coming along?

Yah Rob, I agree, totally. Good gear in addition to the detector is paramount.

This all sounds good 👍. I sure hope I hear something within a couple weeks on whether it will be covered or not so I can get the surgery and get back to my life.

Any issues with lifting things of heavier weight.

For sure! Sure wish someone would carry them here in the states again.

I have some questions for anyone on here that has had a hip replacement. Steve has brought to my attention that there are some things you can't do anymore after healing up from a hip replacement such as lifting over 35 lbs., or running. Is there anyone else on here that also has had a hip replacement that can shed some light on how it has affected their ability to detect for gold as well as camping or setting up camp while out detecting. From what I have read there is a period of time after surgery that there are movements that are a no no. After this period, long term say over 6 months to a few years after surgery are there things you still can't do such as kneeling down to dig a target, or bending at the waist past 90 degrees. How has it changed your life in regards to detecting and getting outdoors for extended periods of time? The Steve I spoke with is Steve from Spokane. Thanks!

That's funny 😂. Snakes are really the only thing I have a hard time dealing with. I can deal with everything else. A friend's buddy has a claim just west of Butte, Montana and last year he killed 50 rattlesnakes on his claim. I only have to deal with grizzlies and mtn. lions where I hunt at, and there are alot fewer of those to be concerned about. Hahaha 🤣.

Ok, so I just looked it up and they have 6 poisonous snakes in the Philippines, 4 of them are cobra's. So that is enough to make me bow out of this idea.

I have a buddy who goes every year. He is trying to talk me into going there. You have a point in that if foreigners were allowed to detect there, it could and probably would be difficult if not impossible trying to get to some areas. Do they have alot of poisonous snakes there Paul?

No worries Paul. It's all good. I'm just trying to find out if it is possible and if it would be even remotely worth the experience. It wouldn't be the only reason to spend time in the Philippines. There is lots to do there.

Here is a little I found out to start

I read today that the Philippine government is trying to boost their economy by encouraging mineral exploration and mining. I read they are making it top priority, because of the pandemic. I know foreigners cannot own land in the Philippines. I am really curious as to foreigners can possess a mining claim or how that all works there. I am seriously thinking about going there in a couple years or maybe less to give it a try if I am able to sort out all the laws and details of doing so. Isn't it fairly close to Australia as well?

Does anyone on here know anything about the laws regarding detecting for gold in the Philippines? I know gold has been found all over the Islands and sits #2 in the world for gold reserves. I would like to know about requirements, permits,where to contact for any Geological/Gold maps or production journals,are you allowed to keep the gold, staking a claim in the Philippines, regions that produced nuggets, etc... I know of one area that produced nuggets and it was placer.

Really easy to get one from Lucky Strike Gold Prospecting.

How deep is the creek that you are talking about. What is the name of it? Alot of these adventure detectors have a underwater depth limit of 10 feet. Most creeks won't be a problem but there are some over that depth in Montana.

Here are the photos of the location. Somewhere in the zone of the yellow line is where the truck couldn't stop and ended up in the river because there was way too much weight on the truck to be able to stop to make the turn on the road. Also gold bars of that size would have to be produced by a very large smelting company and a large smelting company will need alot of power to operate. Not something that a creek will be able to provide. But a large river, sure thing. The bare dirt ground in the upper part of the photo is where the smoke stake was situated. It was blown up I think in 1983-1984. I sat across the river and watched them blow it up with dynamite 🧨. I am from this town. Gold bars that heavy and that many would not be able to be transported on a stage. They would have to leave from where they were made by a much more robust means of transportation. The railroad goes right along the grounds of the smelter company to load copper and other metals onto a train car to be shipped out.

You know, I was contacted a few years ago by a gentleman that was telling me a story about a robbery in Great Falls, MT from the Anaconda Copper Company in Black Eagle. I was told by this old gentleman that some workers plotted to steel some of the gold by-product from the smelter in Black Eagle along the Missouri River. This guy was telling me that 2-4 guys loaded up an old truck (this happening in the 20's-30's) and was driving out of the lower smelter facility and that the gold was too heavy for the truck and it went off the road rolled down the embankment and into the Missouri River. This guy discribed where the truck entered the river and I said that puts the truck entering the river about 200-500 yards above Black Eagle Dam. He said exactly, that is correct. He wanted me to drive to Great Falls and get into the Missouri River with my detector. It is deep and swift at this point. I told him how do you plan on searching for and retrieving the gold bars without being seen by law enforcement, Dam personel or anyone caretaking the copper company land without being seen? This sounds exactly like the story I am now seeing posted on here now. Except for the body of water. If this is the same guy looking for a way to get to the gold bars, then it is a major river, not a creek. I will get a photo of this location and post it here. Too funny 😂.

I have been wanting a Walco pick for the last 12 years now and have had a hell of a time getting my hands on one. Last month I contacted Lucky Strike Gold Prospecting in Geelong Australia 🦘 and to my surprise, Justin said yes we will ship to the United States. He had the Solid Swinger handle and he had the Walco heavy duty pick with a 29" handle. It has taken a month for them to get here. This pick has a very well balanced pick head with plenty of length on the hoe blade to sink deep along the edges of a hole to widen it as you have to go deeper. I my opinion, and this is just my opinion but Apex picks just don't have the details figured out. They told me they refuse to lengthen the hoe blade. I told them then I won't buy an Apex pick. This Waco pick is light weight but still feels like it has enough weight to sink the pick deeply into the ground. Pick end and the hoe end. I'm impressed with this pick for sure. The Solid Swinger handle is awesome as well. Now I don't have to worry about breaking a handle when I am swinging that big 25" NF DDX coil. Hahaha 😁. Justin with Lucky Strike provided great customer service. I would highly recommend them. Can't say I am too impressed with both the USPS and Australia Post on the shipping end of a month long.

Steve and Mike, I totally agree 100% with Steve with what he created with his forum. This is Steve's forum! It is his discision as to how this forum should be. Steve is right in the fact that this is much like sitting around a camp fire after a long day nugget hunting. The discussion flows as water flows where ever the power of interest takes everyone. It is your choice to join in or not. It is not for you or anyone else who doesn't like it- even me to try and change it. If you don't like the conversation topics, just wait a while, it will change, and perhaps you will like the next topic. I am sick and tired of people coming in from the outside and trying to change something that works very well, just because they don't like it. I am sure everyone who likes this camp fire, as Steve puts it, likes this safe space, comfortable space, just the way it is. There are other forums out there, and if you are the type that feels you have to socially change something good then go to those! Leave this one alone. We all like it!

Very awesome thread Lunk and Sturt! This kind of thread gets me fired up to get back to my gold fields and find some gold when ever that will be. I might have to find new ways to dig up targets from how I normally would being I don't have anywhere close to the range of motion in my foot/ankle that I used to have. I also will have to be mindful not to move my left leg in a few different ways, so I don't get a sudden, shooting, dagger pain in my hip as well. Time will tell down the road, but for a while longer I am happy seeing and hearing all you mates finding gold like this. Congrats to both of you on your splendid gold finds.

SD stood for super detector, GP stood for Ground penetrating, GPX stood for Ground penetrating extreme. If you look back at all of the sd models,gp models and gpx models, the number did in fact resemble the price even if they did not mean for it too. Give or take roughly $500. Even the X-terra series the price was close to the number of the detector model. 305,505 and 705. When you got the gold package the price shot up to roughly $1000, because it had extras. The SDC was a slightly different operating frequency, a very fast one. I knew as soon as it was released they were coming out with a GPX 6000 that the price was going to be around the $6000 mark. I am sure the GPX 6000 is majority a GPX in nature with some features of SDC, GM 1000 added to it because the technological advancements of simplicity is what they are finding people want. To be able to turn on and go, and not having to worry about are they in the best timing for the area they are detecting. It levels the playing field to a point between those that are experienced and those that aren't. That leaves each person's ability to slow down while detecting and desire to dig every target being the factors that enable someone finding alot of gold and someone that finds some gold but not as much. Steve summed it up in the Novel thread regarding this.