schoolofhardNox

Beautiful ring Mike. Looks like an older design too. Odd about the grip. Wonder how that plays into reports of bad EMI. Maybe a solvable issue.

2 hours ago, craigsmobilerepair365 said:

Hi, so I've been metal detecting for a while now and have had some really good metal detectors like the Garrett Ace 400 and such and last week I just purchased the whites DFX Spectrum E-Series because I couldn't beat the price. This metal detector is awesome but really advanced and what I really would like to know is if this Jewel can be set up to find small gold nuggets or any gold nuggets for that matter. Any advise or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. 

What part of the world are you located in?  That will make a big difference, but generally I would not think the DFX will fit the bill. It may hit on some bigger nuggets, probably will never even see the small stuff, and will probably not work in any kind of hot dirt. It is a decent coin and relic machine, but being a VLF and not being a PI machine, you will be quickly limited in hot dirt. I had one for 10 years and when used for relics and coins, it held its own quite well.

House lots are hard to do, especially if they are farms. The coins are mixed in with a ton of nails and lots of high conductor targets like copper pipes, large aluminum, etc. You have to really slow down your swing and lower your recover speed to 4 or lower if you can get away with it. Slowing your physical swing speed down to match it. That gets you depth. I would also try setting it up in 5 tones and have the 5th tone be the highest pitch and have it set to 25 and up. I would just concentrate on those high numbers to see if you can get some silver or large coppers out of it. If you find a spot that produces you can always come back to it and go 2 tone with no discrimination and dig what numbers you want.  Just some thoughts on how I might try it, but every place is different.

10 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I swear you are the best salesman for the GPX. Unreal! Congratulations on a winning season.

😄 Yeah free advertising.... not even a free GPX 6000 for my troubles 😆 When I'm talking with people on the beach they always ask what machine are you using. Once I tell how much it cost the conversation usually stops. I do end with the line " I am an unpaid sanitation worker". I figure they may put in a good word for us if they ever want to eliminate metal detecting from the beaches.

8 hours ago, Raphis said:

Haha...it does suck getting old.  I can relate to your hand wanting to close itself shut.  😌. Your push for 200 reminded me of my push for 800 silver coins back in 2015...I came up a little short, but I ended up with way more than I thought I would get, and that year turned out to be my most productive ever. 
 

Congrats on a great beach season! 👍🏼

Thanks, I feel the same way. I didn't make a certain number, but it was my best season for beach silver ever.

8 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Once again another nice hunt for you with some good silver at that.

I would love to see the silver cleaned up some if you have time to do that.

Good luck on your next spot and may the coin Gods be with you.

Silver cleaning is going to be for my grand kids 😄 I may get to it, but I'm getting into my other jobs season and time is going to be very limited.

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

That is a good 'final hunt' but I bet you hit 200 the first trip back ... won't that still be in 2021?  haha

Now, where do you go until Labor Day?

😄 Yep still 2021, so I can cheat if I want. 🤔 Now I guess I'll try park hunting with the Equinox which has been gathering dust. I have a small park in mind, so Equinox first and then the GPX to try and get the deep stuff. I have pulled a couple of large cents from this place. But in reality, I have some work related moves that probably will chew up my time this summer. I want them gone by fall so I can cheat and reach my 200 goal 👍

52 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

Sorry 'bout that Chief !!!

Missed it by THAT much....

Maybe you didn't miss it ...try counting again ! Sure wasn't due to lack of effort..!

 

 

I will count again, and may "miscount" just to make me feel good..... You know - participation trophy 😄 Actually there is a Canadian dime I did not count because I think it too new and is clad. I will have to research it more but I'm pretty sure it's clad and not partially silver. The effort is so that I can keep me strong enough to get as many years as possible out of this aging body. I want to hunt for as long as my brain and body allows.

      Well, this was my final beach hunt on this beach until after Labor Day. I needed 5 silvers to make it an even 200 from this beach this season. I made it out in the sun longer than I thought I would – from 8 AM until 3 PM. Got a farmer’s tan in one sitting.   😄101 coins including 4 silvers. I did not make 200 no matter how hard I tried. So 199 it is, and I am happy for that, considering the number of visits I missed due to Covid restrictions. I just could not squeak out that one more silver. It’s funny when you stay in the sun digging all day, strange things happen to you on the trip home. Like scratching your back and your hand cramps closed. So, you use you other hand to open it and then that hand cramps shut Dehydration, even with 64 ounces of hydration drinks, just doesn’t cut it. I’m fine now but getting old sucks!      😡First target of the day was the Walking Liberty Half. Then a lull and I knew it would be a long day. Managed 2 nicer condition (and dated) Buffalo nickels. Pictures were taken when it was getting dark, so the are a bit rough. Later I’ll post all the silvers for the season and total for the other seasons combined. One thing I can say about the GPX is that it can find the half dollars like no other machine I have used, including the Equinox. Best of luck to you guys that can continue hunting beaches. I will be rooting for you to get gold      👍

I can wait until Labor day, then I start crying 😢 I have some relic and beach hunts planned. Come on MInelab throw us a bone!

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

This is more like park hunting than beach hunting in the area where I found the coins.  These never got wet.  Most of the coins with age that I have found were in the 40s.  I can't remember any of them even in the 30s so far so I think this area was a house party area during WWII.  I'd have to research it somehow and confirm that.

When I'm done with the Nox and getting most of the trash then I could use my 5000 to see if there is deeper beeps.  There is kind of a hard pan under the several inches of sand.

What settings would you try?

Yeah, They look like it. Every once in a while my silver, very high on the beach, come out much cleaner looking and only starts to turn black on a very small section of the coin. They also clean up nice. If hard pan is under 10 inches (clay or rocks?), I would just use the stock settings. If you overdrive the machine that close to clay you gain nothing. Better to get a smooth threshold than to do what I do looking for 15-20" coins. The GXP on low settings can handle 10" and under nicely. At 10" it should be a sweet, quiet response. Deeper than that I can't give you (and the rest of the world) my settings 😆

3 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Great stuff! Awesome you found old silver.

"CH" is "plated" in Spanish. 😀

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! It has too mean solid 24K Gold 😄 What does SU stand for (if anything)?

Nice hunt. It'd be hitting that area hard digging anything that even peeps on the EQ. Anytime you find silver like that, there must be more just under, a little bit deeper. I'm not sure on the marks on the chain, but maybe it could be silver under that gold (vermeil). A successful day for sure.

Great hunt! Excellent ring and silver and Buffalo's and not much junk. If after a storm that sand moves even a little, I can't wait to see what you get there.

3 hours ago, midalake said:

 

Beauty contests are for dry sanders.  

Hey....😡 I resemble that remark 😆

6 hours ago, rvpopeye said:

Nice target count,,,,,,AGAIN !    

Guess I'll have to go back out now. 

 

Thanks. I'm spoiled 😄 I can feel that withdrawals are on their way. I won't be pulling these numbers from parks and cellar holes... that's for sure. I'm going to need therapy ☹️ I know....... I'll go detecting to brighten me up 😆

5 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Have you (or anyone reading) considered asking the grateful owner for possible permissions to detect?  Seems like that would be a nice non-monetary reward.

It's impressive that you're able to hunt so many hours in difficult weather conditions.  (I'm recalling your sub-freezing hunts from this past winter.)  And with a heavy detector on top of it.  You definitely earn your loot.

Have you pulled the dates and mintmarks off those silver coins?  The Standing Liberty Quarter looks promising.  I'm sure you (but maybe not everyone here) know how often those lost their dates to wear.

Permission from them...🤔🤔🤔 Only if their house is pre 1900 👍 It's hard to believe, but you get used to the weight and the weather after a while. But there are limits. Cold, windy rain or 90+ degree heat and no wind and I can't last 2 hours (if that). As for dates, I generally scan for them, but the crusty black coating obscures some dates and mint marks. I just look to see if any old ones come up. Not one seated in the whole bunch. The Standing Liberty quarter is one of the better ones I found there, but I can't tell if it's a '24 or '26.

Looks sturdy now, that's for sure! 👍

17 hours ago, kac said:

Wow thats a long day of digging! Nice silvers and 10k ring.

Thanks kac. Beach days are my recharge days from work.😄

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

You have killed that beach and it keeps giving.  Do you think it was there because of tidal action at some point or was it there because of a commercial enterprise?  That silver is really nice and getting on to 200!  Fantastic.

This beach has been awesome to me, not just this season but for 3 or 4 other seasons. Hopefully I can get one more hunt in this Thursday and then I'll do a final count for this season and a total count for all seasons at that beach (with pictures). I think it's given me about 450 silvers in all. Most of it comes from 3 smaller sections of a pretty large beach. The rest is scattered in area of opportunity.  It's weird, once you get to an area that starts producing the deep stuff, you don't move very much. I could spend 6 hours in a 20x40 foot patch. My wife moved her blanket over next to me, cause she says you haven't moved in hours 😄 I bury my holes well, but it still looks like a bombing run.  The tides definitely move a lot of sand during storms and I think the result of over 50 years of surges, made most of those completely disintegrated, paper thin coins. The rest of the solid coins were there probably from the 40's and up. It's an old beach and a popular one, so just the fact that it's been around from at least the 30's is the reason for all the coins. This beach gets detected a lot!!! I can just imagine what others have pulled from here.

12 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Great stuff. 👍 It will be really interesting to read the story of the rings' return should you decide to write it. Glad you found all types of metal, sad you have to wrap it up. They don't allow metal detecting after Memorial Day?

Can't wait to see what you do with the Equinox! What coil will you use for the most part?

Kudos to your wife for helping out.

Thanks. If it works out that they respond back to me on the ring, I will let you know. I'm not one for getting their pictures or a video of the return. I would be happy with a quiet return. Just glad she gets her ring back. More and more beaches here are restricting detecting during operational hours. Same with pets on the beach. That's what the off season is reserved for. Usually they turn a blind eye after the life guards go home for the day. They probably won't bother the water guys either. But for me, not in the water, going there late afternoon is not worth it because of the travel time. I'm have zero time doing parks with the Equinox, so I will be sticking with the 11" coil until I find a decent program for it. I'll switch to the big coil once I get the hang of it. The 6" coil will probably be reserved for cellar holes and not parks, at least for now. My wife is a Saint 😄

      I went out to what may be my last visit to my silver beach before opening day. It is a lot busier with preparations going on for Memorial Day, but If I am lucky, I may sneak in one more visit. I only need a couple more silvers to make 200. Lucky my wife went along as the heat was starting to get to me. It was nice to have someone be able to go back to the car and take some of the heavy targets and bring me back drinks. Hunted from around 8:30 to 3:30. I was toast after that. I started out again looking for low conductors and on my second hole I found the 10K Class ring. Hopefully, an easy return since the full name was engraved in the ring. Because of that I ended up digging a lot more iron than I wanted to. I was not planning on clearing areas of iron, but finding the ring made me change my plans. I did not get a lot of good targets this time around by clearing iron. Almost all of the silver found was not near any iron. Weather definitely played a part in how fast I dug targets. Full sun all day and hotter than they said it would be, probably around 70, with almost no breeze. So that beach still has good targets for me, but much harder to get in quantity. I guess I will be doing parks or cellar holes on my days off from now on. Time to put away the GPX and pull out the Equinox and learn some new tricks for the parks.

8 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Exactly.  When I got mine back from a no threshold problem after 3 months it only said 'Replaced PCB Board.'  I sold it before I used it.  There was no attempt to make me a satisfied user.  Those of us who are dissatisfied have remained so and are growing in number.  When do they get around to Customer Service?

Don't think they ever will until they go the way of White's and Tesoro, which by the way had really good customer service. I guess they figure if they do good, they will go out of business 😆 They received mine on 5-5-21. Not a word from them yet.  I'll say it again just in they missed it. I see not incentive to ever purchase on of their products again. At least Minelab delivers on their machines and for the most part are durable. They may not have the best releases, but they got their act together enough to be on top. Hopefully Cuniagau's situation is resolved once he gets a clip for it.  Sad really, that a product that has so much potential is diminished with this kind of disheveled bureaucracy.

11 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

If it wasn't for you, Kac, and others on the forum I'd be skunked a lot more. Thanks for all your advice. Hopefully my progress is return enough.

Got a couple of beach adventures coming up, so the future is bright. They're about to clear some land on that hill I find the Mason jar lids on too once the pipeline is flowing again and we can get fuel. Got a couple of coins out of there so far, and a Model T key. It's an old landfill that again has a 50 foot drop to the river. Can't dig to much because it's for sale.

For the most part you don't get fooled too often. When I got the hang of ground balance I improved the quality of my finds, I didn't think it would work in water but it does. What the ID is, it probably is. Shotgun shells and now Mason jar lids are the things that always get me. In the fields it was lead shot, bullets and tacks. Just about every house in my neighborhood has a rifle or pistol range, and hunting is king here. I don't dig a lot of nails or iron because they ID well. Believe me when I say that the Equinox is very noisy everywhere but I don't tune it out. I'm sure there are targets I miss because of the iron so I've been digging more "iffys" lately.

Should I use auto GB tracking in the water?

That's why I like this place. Many different people that can add to a topic. I learn a lot from here.  Good luck on your beach adventure.  Use tracking whenever you can't seem to get the manual balance to stay quiet enough for your liking. In the water I would like to have it the most stable ,so I could concentrate on the quiet ones. If that means tracking on, then yes. If you get a really deep quiet hit, don't dig it and try the other options out. But I'm going to guess it won't gain you enough to worry about it.

Nice couple of finds. Sometimes the thimbles are marked lightly or deep inside the cap part. It looks like silver to me and is a really nice thimble! Your ratio of iron to non iron is actually quite good for your location. I'd be happy with that ratio. Getting skunked is all part of trying new areas. Without trying, how is anyone ever going to find that 1800's picnic spot that would be a dream hunt? It's all about the hunt and the hope of getting on to something good.

Round ball can be very big sometimes. If you can get some calipers, see how big it is.  a .69 cal ball looks pretty big. Some even go higher. Bigger than that they can be in canister or case shot. Nice finds, and yes check for that "D" mint mark before we die of anticipation 😄 I too live near an old gunpowder manufacturer. They all explode after a while no matter how careful you are. 😬  That's how the one near me finally closed. Great Civil War era material and early coins was found in the one near me.

7 hours ago, Raphis said:

Sounds like you have your 5000 dialed in for hunting your beaches. 👍🏼 There has been some talk in the prospecting forum about hunting the beaches with the new GPX 6000.  The 6000 seems much more simplistic, and doesn’t have iron reject or timings (can’t delineate between high/low conductors on a 6000 like you can on the earlier GPX machines ??).  I saw you express some interest in possibly seeing how a 6000 would perform as a beach machine...it seems like you will lose your conductor delineation ability.  I’m thinking the 6000 would perform like a super-charged TDI Pro (with the Ground Balance set off), allowing you to “angle” for specific deep targets based only on target response (i.e. shape of the sound (smooth, double blip, single blip, etc).  Do you have any additional/contrasting thoughts on this subject you’d like to share?? 

EDIT:  after rereading Steve H’s review/experience with his 6000, he did talk about the following tone delineations:  “The tone tricks still work, with most small gold going high tone, and most big gold (meaning cans) going low tone. If you have nothing but sub-gram gold, it is unlikely a low tone signal is gold.”  

 I wonder if the cutoff point between high/low conductors (as you described earlier) on your 5000 (zinc penny range ??) would be similar on the 6000....(just food for thought...I’m just trying to hypothesize a beach scenario utilizing  a 6000).

Yeah, it has left to us speculating on how it will do. I'm thinking it will handle the annoying, moderate EMI I get on this beach. With that gone it will be easier to hear the deep targets. It probably still has timings, you just can't choose them. If as advertised, it is really all soil all the time, one would guess that they found a way to get it to work everywhere, therefore not needing all those manual timing adjustments. They basically automated the 5000 is my guess. It's hard for us old guys that have 40, 50 years detecting to get rid of old ideas on how to use a machine. In the old days, it would be suicide to let a manufacturer limit us. That is how we tweaked the machine to get great depth. But technology is so advanced, that it may be better to let the machine maximize itself, and just adjust sensitivity. I still would love to have some ability to overdrive the unit. And yes, the sound of the 6000 sounds like it is the same as the 5000., with the low/high response.  I think it will perform well on the beach. No discrimination does take away some perks, but the pluses probably heavily outweigh the negatives. I've heard and seen enough from You tube videos to get on board. I probably will not get mine in time for the remaining beach season out here, but maybe someone will be generous enough to let me detect their private beach 😄. But I will get a chance to try it in a hunted out Native American village. All items are part of an authorized project, so the fun is in just finding things. This spot has been hammered by the 5000, ATX, Equinox, Deus, CTX, E Trac, DFX. Will be interesting for sure.

14 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

Well at the current price of silver, let's hope you make it !

The price of all metals is way up there. Even copper pennies are worth it now  😄 If they made our coins out of Rhodium, we would all be set for life! The wife just informed me she wants to go Thursday to the beach. I will bring the Equinox for her. Free labor 👍

On 5/15/2021 at 2:37 PM, Raphis said:

I have a TDI Pro...it has the low, all, high switch settings, but those are only applicable when the ground balance is enabled...I easily lose 4” to 6” of depth if I turn on ground balance on the TDI Pro.  Yes, I have to swing very slowly in wet or mineralized sand to keep the threshold more stable, but that extra depth is key for having a chance at the older finds when there’s no erosion present. 

I’ve never used a Minelab PI before , but if you don’t have any loss of depth and are still able to hear high/low, low/high conductivities, that’s the cat’s meow!! 👍🏼👍🏼  I believe a Garrett ATX can give similar conductive delineation of target response with no loss of depth also. 

 

 

Just to elaborate on the loss of depth question. There is no loss of depth while using any timing, while in that timing, since the machine still responds to high and low conductors. You just ignore the high conductors when you want to focus on low conductors. But you still hear them. But that does not mean it responds to each the same. It may prefer low conductors based on how that timing works. So I pick a timing that responds to low conductors better than another timing that might favor high conductors. How you choose from all available timings can result in a loss of depth. That just means that timing is not the right one for the type of target you are hunting for and the type of soil you are in. So using something like the "fine gold" timing may not be a good choice for looking for deep coins and may not hear them as well or at all. The depth loss is dependent more on your choices in timings as well as the other controls.

Must be a huge amount of EMI coming from that resort. Luckily, all metal worked for you. I'm kinda surprised that volcanic mode didn't work there. 🤔 Still some cool looking targets, especially that ring. Deep it was!