Jim McCulloch

John, your comment "West Coast Justice" reminded me of a situation that occurred some years ago in California, the West Coast of the US. My dad was a high-ranking Los Angeles County Sheriff officer at the time, who got a "Be on the lookout" letter from a northern California County Sheriff. It seems that a huge amount of cattle rustling was occurring in his County, and since Los Angeles has a large meat-packing district, it was thought that the rustlers might be trucking the stolen cattle to them. Several more such memos were received of a few weeks, then stopped altogether. My dad sent a follow-up inquiry, and was informed that the rustling had totally stopped. Why? It seems that the disgruntled cattle owners took matters into their own hands. Some hikers came upon a rustlers camp, replete with trucks, cattle pens, etc. Interestingly, all the rustlers were swinging in the breeze under some big oak trees. Case closed.

For more photos of the hunt see Gerry's "Idaho Mining Town Finds" in the "Metal Detecting for Coins and Relics" Forum. On YouTube the Tough Run Metal Detecting" channel the first of a four part series on the Diamondville hunt appears. James is one of the two hunters who found their first natural gold. On the "Park Rat Metal Detecting" channel under "The Last Day at Diamondville" video, the latter portion shows the wrap up and awards ceremony. HH Jim

If I may be so bold as to say so, the gold nugget field training team of McMullen and McCulloch is first rate :) I do like it when trainees express appreciation for what they've learned. Yes, the coins were found on Sunday, after everyone but we and Lisa had left. Removing the several inch thick layer of pine needles helped get us onto productive ground. Craig found a really nice INTACT gold pocket watch, with the glass lens intact. He also found a cool (1930's?) Junior Pilot's badge. Craig and Lisa hit the bottle dump hard, and got upwards of 10 bottles for their efforts. I found an embossed name tag, but somehow mislaid it. Bummer. Thanks for posting the picture of my gold. And no, the coins were not found under the painted rocks, but under yet more hail! Gang, to watch Marine McMullen stalwartly marching back into camp head high during one of the several hail storms was inspirational! Oh, yeah, Gerry, thanks for letting a couple of California Desert Rats pillage more Idaho gold! Let us know when we can return the favor. HH Jim

Last weekend Spud Digger Johnson of the "Spud Digger" YouTube channel hosted another outing at the 1863 ghost town and gold mine located on private property near Idaho City. About 30 avid detectorists were in attendance, lots of goodies were found, and a good time was had by all. Two attendees found their first natural gold, needless to say they were delighted. My 9 pieces weighed in at 2.8 grams (GM 24k) but Craig's baseball sized chunk will far beat that in gold content. Several nice coins were found, among the ones I found were a Shield nickel and "fatty" Indian Head Cent, both "firsts" for me. Likely some video footage of the event will be posted on the "Spud Diggers" and "Tough Run Metal Detecting" channels. It was fun. HH Jim

Well done! A couple of questions for the NZ guys: do you know if any larger detector-found nuggets have been reported? Might this be a record? NHNZ, regarding cleaning: Don't!

Simon, to answer your question regarding how far the 24k will air test on your 0.011 gram (0.169 grain) bit, I just ran tests using 1/20th grain (0.003 gram), 1/10th grain (0.006 gram) and 1/4 grain (0.016 gram) bits. To make this test REALISTIC I did not crank the sensitivity to maximum, rather, I set it up EXACTLY to the in-field settings I personally use here in the Mojave Desert. The reason I did this is that I deplore metal detector dealers who "demonstrate" the "performance" of their machines after adjusting them to settings beyond what can actually be used in the field, and then claiming such distances represent true performance. The settings I used were sensitivity 8, boost 2, and ground balanced to the actual soil, then locked those settings with traclock. I used the 6.5" Concentric. In short, all I had to do was tap the ON button, at which point the 24k automatically reverts to the last-used settings, without further ground balancing or adjustment. The carefully measured results, using a clear plastic ruler, are .003 gram=1.0 inch, .006 gram=1.5 inches, .016 gram=2.0 inches. In each case the 24k gave clear, audible signals, not "hopeful whispers." Since your .011 bit falls midway between the .006 and .016 bits, I would estimate it would be detected at 1.75 inches. Looking at the photos posted, I can guarantee you that the 24k is capable of detecting each bit shown. Hope this helps; HH Jim

"Advanced Nuggetshooting with the Goldmaster 24K" is selling very well, even to places outside the US to buyers who are willing to pay the modest additional shipping fees. Many thanks to those who have already purchased it, and for the kind words from same regarding the book's content. HH Jim

Well done, brother, just exactly the concise, unbiased report that many have been waiting to see. Here in the Mojave Desert my 24k has found microflakes as small as 1/20th grain (1/9600th of a Troy ounce). With gold at 1,300 USD per ounce, they would be worth less than 14 cents each. Looking forward to more videos! HH Jim

My philosophy about newly-released nuggetshooting "how to" books is that if it contains JUST ONE gold-finding tip that I didn't already know, then it was worth buying the book. Reese, put me down for a copy. I hope it sells well for you. HH Jim

Pursuant to Simon's comments regarding shipping prices from the US to NZ, I checked into the postage fees to ship an Export Pack from Los Angeles to Wellington NZ. Cost was NZ$300.00, US$200.00. Whoa!

Mitchel, show those Ozblokes what a California Desert Rat can do! Best wishes, bud! HH Jim

Sorry to learn of your disappointment. If you have any specific questions, email me or post them here, I'll do what I can to answer them. HH Jim

"NHNZ", although you addressed this post to Aureous, I thought I'd chime in and answer some of your questions. Reason being that I have used the GMT since it's inception, and has long been my favorite gold detector, and, I was instrumental in the testing and development of the 24k. For a White's dealer to be permitted to sell 24ks they must be "24k Certified," and my pal Jerry McMullen and I developed the Certification Process, and wrote the test. My Field Test Report on the 24K appears in "Western and Eastern Treasures," and my book "Advanced Nuggetshooting with the Goldmaster 24K" was just released, and is selling very well. Comparing the 24k with the GMT: 24k has greater power and sensitivity, due to having 54% more power to the searchcoil. (Therefore GMT and 24k coils are NOT interchangeable). The patented XGB ground tracking system is the most advanced VLF tracking system on the market today. With the 24K I have found specks of gold weighing 1/15th to 1/20th grain, in highly mineralized Mojave Desert soil. Other 24k advantages: the Iron Reject is adjustable, from black sand to hot rocks to iron, therefore you can use only enough as needed without loosing unnecessary depth. You can reject small hot rocks and still find 1/10th grain bits. The Ground Balance can be OFFSET, to permit enhanced black sand and hot rock rejection. The 24k has adjustable frequency, pinpoint mode, and tone ID. Plus all the regular features of the GMT, but usually in an improved figuration. The 24k has totally usurped my use of the 24K. My 24k, fitted with the 6.5" Concentric coil, is making my "worked out" sites productive again. Check out the "Spud Diggers" YouTube channel for some 24K videos. Hope this helps: HH Jim "

Well done, Chris.

Lunk, thanks for the kind words. It is selling very well, and all the comments have been very positive. One person told me that he couldn't get a signal on a small test nugget using the factory preset setting, but once he employed my advanced settings the 24k now screams over the test nugget. HH Jim Jim's Metal Detectors (760) 401-7514 Ophirau@gmail.com