schoolofhardNox

18 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I had one of those also, but was too stupid at the time to realize the power I had in my hands with the very first ground balancing metal detector. Ground Exclusion Balance (G.E.B.) was our introduction to VLF ground balancing technology. The funny part is all I focused on was the Coinmaster V Supreme would find nails per swing that my earlier T/R models ignored entirely. If I had caught on to what potential the machine had for nugget detecting things might have been a little different, but I let it go way too soon.

Here is an ad blurb from the 1976 catalog, plus a picture below of a little later model Coinmaster 5/DB (crude discrimination added) at the White's factory. Click on photos for larger versions.

I'm still trying to figure out when the Coinmaster V Supreme first came out. GEB was top dog then . But it cut right through mineralized ground and had some pretty good depth, if you like digging those whisper targets. Nails could be figured out somewhat if you did a 90 degree turn. They would double bleep if they were close enough. Not 100 percent effective though. We dug a LOT of holes back then. I had the 5DB also (or was there a 5000D model?)..... the worst machine ever. Total loss of depth. I heard the later model Di's were good but I left whites for a while, and only returned when The Eagle and Eagle Spectrum came out. That Spectrum was another great machine from them. The older units weighed a ton and changing them 14 AA batteries hurt the wallet! The word ergonomics wasn't even invented then

Great topic. Besides a $19.99 radio shack detector, my first real detector was a Bounty Hunter Rebel (BFO), soon after, a Bounty Hunter Outlaw (w/ Good/ Bad meter). The first White's machine was the Coinmaster V Supreme. What a machine.... NO more digging hot rocks that sound like a coin.

4 hours ago, Mark Gillespie said:

For those who don't like all metal, next time your hunting in a stock program with discrimination and you start hearing what sounds like false chirps, open up the screen with the horse shoe and you'll hear what is really going on.  Super feature.

Yep I run mine with everything accepted, but I run iron volume at 0. I don't want any nulling of targets, but I prefer not to hear the iron. I just watch the display as the negative numbers flash on the screen. For me I have learned to hunt this way for gold on the beach.

I run multi all the time....except when I was hunting an area that had a major highway on one side (rt 95 in CT) and the electric powered high speed Acela train on the other side of me. Probably about 200 ft. from me on each side. Multi would not work with both of those producing different EMI. I had to go to single frequency and the only frequency that worked well was the 40 KHz. Without it, I could not hunt there. That's an extreme case, as most times multi works just fine where I hunt.

5 hours ago, Mark Gillespie said:

I'm speechless.  The very best collection of beach finds I've ever saw.  I'd be happy with 10% of what was found on any hunt.

Thanks Mark. To say I wasn't surprised myself would be an understatement. I struggled the first time I went beach hunting about 2 years ago. I would never have thought anything was left to find. I was naïve and under-educated on how a beach works. Not that I have learned how it does work, even today . My answer to lack of knowledge is to dig a lot of holes  We shall see if I can repeat some of it this fall. I did see the same results with some New Hampshire guys on You Tube. They were killing the silver and gold like never before. Their beaches were stripped way down!

22 hours ago, Happa54 said:

It is interesting you say this re the Nox. A couple of months ago I was at an old 30's small semi-desert park and the infill was sand and grass on top. I hit some deep high CO signals and after about 8" of digging I covered the holes and walked away thinking deep rusted iron or irrigation pipe. I think I understand now and I may have walked away from some good finds.  Also have the So Cal beaches at my disposal and yet I have never hunted them. I do good on coins but lousy on jewelry. After seeing your wrap up I think I better head to the ocean and at least give it a try. Thanx for sharing. 

Deep iron can still fool you sometimes. Getting used to the pinpoint on the EQ is tricky sometimes too. You may have just been off a bit. If the signal was weak then maybe it was a bit deeper. If the signals was very strong you may have been slightly off center and missed it. If you do those beaches, I use beach 1, sensitivity  as high as I can get it and a slower recovery speed. But just the stock program works well too. Good luck if you do them.

12 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Average of 1 gold find and 6 silvers per hunt?!  Obviously you not only have some good sites, but particularly know what you are doing.  This sounds like the good old days when virgin ground was abundant.

It continually pains me to see the condition of the silver you get on the beaches.  Does seawater always do this (I mean around the world)?  Land hunting here in the US Midwest, silver coins come out of the ground as pristine as the day they were dropped.  (Pennies and nickels, not typically.)  I've done just a smidgen of waterway hunting (just a couple creeks) and have yet to find silver there so don't know about that.

It seems odd that someone in the US Northeast takes the summer off from detecting and can do so well through the darker (colder) months.  Due to the warm weather, schools being on break, and (late summer) creeks being low it seems to be my best hunting time.  Maybe I should head up your way when the sun goes to reduced hours.  ?

Thanks,  The beaches up here are hammered pretty well. We have a lot of detectorists now, more than ever. The difference is nature is eroding our banks and producing stronger storm surges. This strips away more sand, just allowing some of the older targets to be in range for certain machines to find them. Exposing the coins also exposes more black sand and more rocks, so the average detector isn't gaining much because of the conditions. Now, the PI units and the experienced detectorists can hit some of these targets easier than before.  Yes our silver is oxidized due to  (I think) Sulphur and/or Chlorine reaction which is not good for silver. Tumbling in the sand doesn't help either!  Yep for me, winter is great for beach hunting and summer is cellar holes and battle field projects I do.  If you are ever up this way in the colder months, PM me and we can hit a beach. CT and RI beaches.

10 hours ago, strick said:

Nice work! looks like beach #2 was the hot spot this spring. Looking forward to your "battle field" stuff.

strick

Thanks strick, Beach #1 and beach #2 traded targets. One was great for gold and decent on silver, the other was great for silver, but decent on gold.  Just did my 3rd battlefield hunt (today). They are boring compared to the beach, as I only found 5 round ball (musket balls). But believe it or not, that was a great couple of days work. In 1637 round ball was the weapon of choice for the English. The Natives on the other hand had brass arrow points. For those hunts the EQ is first to go over an area, but it is no match for the GPX. When that thing enters the field, no lead is left behind lol.

8 hours ago, Randy Lunn said:

schoolofhardNox,

Congratulations on a superb year. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Thanks Randy, I'm really grateful for my success this year. I will see this fall if any of it is repeatable. I'm feeling a bit better today and  I was almost presentable at todays hunt. I kept to myself most of the day though. No one wants to hang out with the old sick guy LOL.

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Fabulous display of gold and more - very impressive!!

Thanks  Steve, With the right equipment, reading forums like this one, You Tube (after weeding out the junk videos) and Clive's book, All I had to do was add the time and muscle. In essence I am a well equipped ditch digger :)  I di want to thank you for having this forum and for keeping the rules realistic, but firm. It really shows.

5 minutes ago, Happa54 said:

Holy Cow!!!!!!  That is a super fantastic wrap up. Not only do you have the "much wanted gold", but you have (more than most can get) a large amount of silver too. You must be up there in the 1%-5% class. Congrats on that impressive haul !!!!!

Thanks Happa54. A lot of people on different forums have bashed the Equinox as not being much different from Minelab's previous machines, but nothing could be farther from the truth. My CTX never found that much gold and neither did the GPX. This machine hits well enough on shallower small gold and chains, and hits very hard on smaller gold rings, even if the band is cracked. That difference alone is responsible for me finding more gold than ever before.  And the GPX, properly tweaked, can hit those deep silvers even with the clay and black sand. I watch others walk all over the area I was finding most of those silvers, and they never stopped to even dig one hole.  Without those 2 machines I would be in the middle of the pack percentage wise.... maybe 

19 hours ago, foreverteachable said:

I think I found one gold ring ever and I usually release my fish unless it is a batch of porgies. If I bring home some gold I bet my wife will tell me to go fishing more ?

There is a drawback to finding a lot of gold.... You only own it until you get home, especially if it is jewelry!

44 minutes ago, foreverteachable said:

Holy smokes that is awesome! You sure inspire me! Now I'll have to bring my metal detector to the beach when I go fishing or better yet I'll have to bring my fishing rods when I go metal detecting LOL

Bring both....Catch dinner first, then detect for gold  Thanks, but it's Minelab that deserves the credit for these finds. Even my other Minelab machines never found this much gold.

1 hour ago, Mark Gillespie said:

I'm debating on whether I'm taking my Equinox or TDI Sl to the beach. 

Either way you won't fail. If the beach has very few targets, then I would probably go with the TDI, but if there is a lot of iron I would take the Nox.

21 hours ago, bado1 said:

The steak lives on until next fall! Very nice work! I always enjoy reading about your hunts and enjoy hunting the beach vicariously through them. Thanks!

Dean

Thanks Dean. It's been a unbelievable end to my season, since I bought that Equinox.  Hopefully I can sneak in one more hunt. I guess home "to do" list can wait one more time

18 hours ago, steveg said:

VERY nice digs!  That half heart sure LOOKS to be gold...

Steve

Thanks Steve, I have to check the numbers of that heart on the machine again. It looks and feels like gold, but I'm worried it may be a recent drop. If it reads low than it's probably gold. Under 10 and I'll consider it possibly gold. Over 10 and it's probably plated brass.

Possibly my last beach hunt until fall. They don't allow detecting while the public is using the beach, once they open for the season. Today I tried 2 beaches, but quickly left the first one to go back to a more reliable one. It was a good move. The gold streak continues with 2 (possibly 3) gold items. I found some nice silver too, including a beefy .925 Academy ring. Great day to be out detecting and I finally found my first gold chain with the Equinox!

Great hunt! The Equinox loves gold. It's amazing!

Nuke em, When I tried the 40Khz next to the train I was able to keep a decent sensitivity. Higher than if I kept multi frequency. I would have had to drop it down to 15 or less! in multi. Try 20 KHz or 40 KHz at about 20 sensitivity and let me know how it does. Hope you can find a solution, because sounds like you have some spots most people can not detect with great accuracy! As for the headphones cutting out, make sure your 800's volume is set to full . That way you can turn down your headphones, which may make it behave better.

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Be careful what you wish for. Equinox is very high gain and that leads to increased susceptibility to EMI. Reducing its susceptibility to EMI will not come without a resultant lessening of sensitivity to desired targets, especially smaller targets and the deepest targets. There is no free lunch.

Since Multi-IQ is receiving multiple frequencies it is more susceptible to EMI. Terry is right in that the single frequency options offer some relief in many areas. In general, low frequencies receive more undesired signals than higher frequencies, and if you flip through them 5 kHz is often the main culprit. 20 kHz on the other hand is usually very quiet by comparison.

Yep, I used 40Khz the other day when I had to detect next to a train. Multi was not going to work anywhere near this train. 40 worked rather well. Like Steve said try 20 and also try 40.

1 hour ago, Cal_Cobra said:

Cool.  Only reason I asked is I showed this post to my wife and she loves the last two rings you found, if you want to part with them, let me know.  She loves the old style jewelry. 

Good luck getting them away from my wife. The down sides of being married, your gold rings are history even before you get home

2 hours ago, martygene said:

all i can say is WOW and congrats. those finds go a long way of paying for your machine.  

Thanks martygene. I've found 25 pieces of gold in 7 hunts with the 800. I may have just paid off the machine already

2 hours ago, strick said:

Great hunt! ...do you remember the ID numbers on the three un broken rings? 

strick

strick, I think the 2 rings with stones read 09, or close to it. Not sure on the nugget ring but it should be close to that also

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

Gets me excited to hit the beach even though my beach does not give up the gold and silver like yours do.

Chase, you may be surprised. These beaches were kind of stingy before I used the 800. They did give up some rings with the CTX and GPX, but not like this!!

8 hours ago, matt said:

Wow! Great hunt. That's a very impressive day for sure.

Thanks Matt. I love this machine.

8 hours ago, Cal_Cobra said:

Nice digs for sure!  Wetting my appetite for beach detecting!!

Do you sell your finds?

HH,
Cal

Thanks Cal, I usually don't sell any of my finds. I did recently sell some early dog tax tags to someone who collects them.

8 hours ago, bado1 said:

Very nice! The X-Terra is my favorite multi purpose "single frequency" detector.

The streak continues!

Dean

Thanks Dean. I'm shooting for 8 in a row next week. Beach days are ending here soon, as the season opens up to the public.

8 hours ago, Terry Soloman said:

Amazing!!!!?

Thanks Terry. I swear this machine makes gold out of thin air

3 hours ago, Jackpine said:

Awesome hunt!

Thanks Jack. Never had a machine this good on gold.

Well today was beach hunt #7 with the Equinox. There wasn’t a lot of detecting room, with the way the tide was today. Also, a lot of people walking and laying out on the beach. It’s getting crowded out there. I was hoping to keep the streak alive today and I didn’t have to wait very long. First good target was the pink stone 14 K Gold ring. I almost didn’t believe it. That made the rest of the hunt less stressful and more enjoyable, as the gold streak would continue. But I didn’t expect to get too much more, but the finds kept coming.  All the time I just kept shaking my head, I can’t believe what Minelab has done!!! 4 gold rings, some silver and a small amount of clad. The broken class ring was found in 2 separate holes about 60 ft apart. The breaking points match up perfectly…they were part of the same ring. The tiny targets were out in full force, as well as the pull tabs too. A small price to pay for the good finds that can come with it. Probably the smallest chain this machine can pick up. Had a hard time locating it once it was out of the hole. I was glad to get out today… a picture-perfect weather day!

Don't get too caught up in the numbers. Look for solid (2 axis) repeatable hits. They should sound good. Then look at the numbers. Iron will be very hard at first to not dig. It will sound good one way but will not the other direction (90 degrees). Except for large iron and flat stock, they usually sound pretty good. Don't crank the sensitivity either. Go fairly slow, but not too slow. I do a 2 second swing in one direction. But most important  - have fun!

Beauty of a dime  Especially an New Orleans mint!

It looks like a newer rosette. The back bar was bent causing it to break away from the attachment point

13 hours ago, SittingElf said:

That has been my experience as well.  I just hold if off to the side for a moment and return to target. 

Yep, me too. If you move quickly it goes very, very quiet, almost like it has the volume turned down to 1. But if you initiate the pinpoint and stay still for a second or 2 the full volume come on. Now if I can just remember to do that I will be fine

4 hours ago, TerryinHawaii said:

Your ring marked 585 is 14K.  The ring marked 14 FG is an old gold 14K ring that need to be cleaned. The class ring maybe 14K because most old class rings that are 10K will have green coating due to the copper leaching out.

Thanks Terry. The 585 ring is modern and looks like it was laser engraved with the style #, manufacturer and 585. I'm always leery of modern rings being cheap China fakes  I also had a ring on a previous hunt which I thought was too tarnished and actually rang up high on the CTX (12-31), so I thought it was fake. I tried that ring and the 14K FG ring (reads 12-19 on the CTX) on a stone and old acid test kit I had kicking around. The FG ring did not dissolve in the acid even up to 22K. The other ring did dissolve in the 18K and 22k, but not the 14K, so that one is real. Here are both rings. Thanks for the help on them.