Jim McCulloch

One of Southern California's premiere beach hunters, AND electronic prospectors, was Ray Gailbreath, aka "Randsburg Ray." He made his living detecting gold jewelry from the beachs, and gold nuggets from the deserts, of Southern California. One of the most interesting stories Ray told me was when he was detecting at the ritzy portion of Malibu Beach. A very distinguished-looking English butler in a suit came up to him and asked him "My good man, might that machine find a gold medallion on a gold chain?" When Ray said "yes," the butler escorted him to a private section of beach in front of a really pricey house, and asked him to find the medallion, for which he would be well paid. Within a few minutes he found a gold medallion. The butler told him that wasn't the correct one! Ray happily pocketed it. A little while later he found a gigantic medallion. It was a 1952 coronation medallion of Queen Elizabeth II. He presented it to the butler, who said "His Lordship will be well pleased." "His Lordship" was nobleman whose mother had been one of Elizabeth II ladies-in-waiting. He gave Ray $2,000 as a reward.

Creeping Senility. That's one of my favorite garden flowers! Once, while detecting at Randsburg, I got a signal, immediately adjacent to a fresh drywash pile. Laying there was a 1/2 oz "stubby" glass viaI. Inside I found a tiny little note which read "Ransburg," as well as about 7 grains of gold dust. I wish I could have returned it to the owner...

Way cool my brother. I totally agree.

Thanks, Simon, but I am 67 and have been battling Parkinson's Disease for 8 years now. When I told Jeanie about the probable closure (not a total certainly yet) she happily exclaimed "You an retire now and enjoy your life!" Maybe so...

Sad indeed, especially for someone who has been a user for 37 years and a dealer for 31. Yes, many factors contributed, but not to be overlooked are the negative effect of counterfeit machines, produced "you know where." I cannot tell you how many times I lost genuine GMT sales when the potential buyer opted for a $150.00 machine from overseas. Often I got vilified for asking an "exaggerated, ripoff artist" price, but a month later, when the $150.00 counterfeit arrived, the victim "cried bloody murder". "I'll never buy a White's detector again!". But the problem was that it WASN'T a genuine White's product.

I clean mine with Aqua Regia. 😉

Reminds me of a similar story Woody Woodworth told me about his first foray with a metal detector in 1977 at a location he had personally drywashed in the 1930's. First signal was a rusty 1930's-era tin can. "Probably one I discarded." The next 5 signals were also cans. Signal 7 was a stunning 3.5 ounce chunk of the Most Happy Yellow Metal. Yeah, this post just might revive the "dig 'em all" debate. HH Jim

Stunning find, congratulations to Ron for recovering it, and, especially for his perseverance in digging that deep. I guesstimate that it has about 25 square inch surface area (7" by 3.5+") and with 17 ozt AU content, and only 16" deep, the ear-bashing Ron likely got could have made him. conclude it was large iron trash. But, no, he kept at it. Well done!

Wow. What a coincidence.

Although I've personally owned over 100 machines in 37 years of electronic prospecting, I would consider the chestmount version of the GMT to be my (former) favorite. I totally wore one out, total poundage of AU found with it now faded into memory. (Actually not completely forgotten, since much of it was converted into real estate.) My second GMT-BM, far less used, with only about 1350 nuggets to it's credit, is now owned by Glenn in CO. Glad to know that it is still being used. Which means that my new favorite is the Goldmaster 24k. Only drawback is that I wish it was chestmount. HH Jim

By all means, return to that site. Suggestion: $2.50 gold pieces register at the higher end of the pulltab scale, and $5.00 gold pieces register as screwcaps. Mintage of 5's were vastly greater than 2.5's, so, be sure to dig all such targets. Hope more gold coins surface for you. HH Jim

Way cool Mitchel. Thanks for sharing. HH Jim

Simon, as Steve stated, you are blessed with having low soil mineralization. In really bad ground, depth loss can exceed 50%. As regards depth loss, years ago, when I was a staffer for "Treasure," magazine, in my soil, to detect a dime in discriminate mode at an honest 4 inches deep was the "Holy Grail" of coin hunting. One day I was given the assignment to field test a new machine. In my test garden it screamed on the 4 incher, likewise the 5 incher. INCREDIBLE. NO detector on the market at that time could do this. Burying another dime to increasingly greater depths, I found it got an "iffy," but clearly 'good" signal to fully 10 measured inches. As I headed for the house to phone the manufacturer to ask for a "sweetheart" deal on my own machine, the thought occurred to me that I had not tested it's discrimination abilities. Tossing a steel double-ended drill bit on the ground, setting the disc. to nail reject, and passing the coil over it, it produced a great signal. It could not reject anything on or in the ground. I telephoned the company, and spoke to the owner/engineer. When I told him the foregoing, his reply was "You have mineralized soil." He then went on to explain that soil mineralization dropped that machine's discrimination depth potential to ZERO.

The video was precisely what it was intended to be, a synopsis of the performance characteristics of the 24K and GMX, involving different coils, target sizes, and gain settings, in highly mineralized soil. With full disclosure of Volume, VSAT, and GB offset settings. No mention, reference, or negative comparison to any other make or model of metal detector was intended or implied. This video was made at the same time that we filmed the White's Dealer GMX release video for White's dealers. Rob, Craig and I were out nuggetshooting, and since Rob had the GMX, with 2 coils, and I had my 24k with 3 coils, Rob decided to shoot this video for his own use. Until he told me a short time back that he was going to publish it, I never thought it would be broadcast. It was unrehearsed and unscripted. Frankly, the use or gain 10 was far too high, therefore the performance on the 1/4 grainer was flawed. HH Jim

On the "Spud Diggers" YouTube channel appears the video "White's GMX and 24K: All 4 coils tested". We did an in-ground performance comparison using an extremely mineralized drywash pile from a black sand-laden auriferous wash. Coils tested: 14x8, 10x6, 6x4, 6.5 concentric. Nuggets tested: 1/4 grain (laminated to a business card), 1/2 grain, (almost) one grain, and one gram, at one inch depth. GAIN settings of 10, 5, and "0". Note especially how well the 6.5" concentric and 14x8 DD coils performed. HH Jim

Compared to those Argonauts of times past, we modern-day gold-seekers are just a bunch of puny wimps. Myself included.

Ger, having seen you clamber up steep slopes, and also having witnessed you crawling into heavy brush, which was perfect buzztail habitat, I've decided that you are bolder than we lesser mortals. But... I'm glad you're no longer snapping such risky pics! HH Jim

I just received an email from White's Electronics advising dealers that they will reopen on Monday May 11 with regular hours and full staff. Whoo hoo! HH Jim

Buzztails are no joke. Here in Yucca Valley are a fair number of hobby gardeners who lack fingers or thumbs as a result of picking a tomato from a bush occupied by a rattlesnake.

In short, on high power, high frequency VLF's, for the best combination of depth, sensitivity to small gold, and least amount of time-wasting false signals, use the highest gain setting which still allows smooth, STABLE operation. In extreme soil conditions, excessive gain LOSES gold, and increases frustration.

Although they are not large, the "bad boy" of Western rattlesnakes is the Mojave Green, Crotalus Scutulatus. It looks very much like the Western Diamondback, Crotalus Atrox, the main difference being the number and size of scales on the forehead above and between the eyes. Where I detect, both species are common, and to tell the difference when I encounter one, I grab it from behind the head, lift it up and inspect the number of scales between the eyes. Don't want to step on a Green Mojave.

Here is a possibly life-saving hint for US nugget shooters: when in the field ALWAYS use "blue-blocker" eyeglasses. Most of the buzztails in US nugget country are some shade of green. By blocking ("subtracting") the blue, the snakes are now a fluorescent yellow, and thus far more visible. HH Jim

I hate serpentines. I hate their beady little eyes, I hate their flicking forked tongues, I hate how they slither around your feet, I hate... Oh goodness me, I must be suffering from cabin fever... HH Jim

As soon as the factory reopens and production resumes I will have them in stock. When that occurs "Spud Digger" Johnson will post a video that we (Rob, Craig, and myself) made comparing all four coils on various size nuggets in-ground at Dale. Wait until you see the performance of the 8x14 on sub-grainers.

That certainly is a small batch... Barely enough for Mitchell and I...