Lunk

The 2300 won the day with the most nuggets found, and I was swinging the Minelab Gold Monster1000. It's a rare occasion when everyone finds gold.

That's a lot of targets Chet, you certainly get an "A" for effort! Like Randy said, the south side of the freeway is a tough hunt with far fewer meteorites, but I'm sure there's a big one out there with your name on it.

Dubious, I see nothing on the BLMs website of the Warm Springs Wilderness that prohibits the use of metal detectors there.

Welcome aboard Majuba man!

WTG Phoenix. That’s a super good photo; if the dime wasn’t there I’d swear that nugget was a huge lump!

No doubt one of the quirkiest looking nugget detectors I've ever seen, the SDC 2300 is nonetheless a top performer in the gold fields. Compact, rugged, waterproof and equipped with full-time automatic ground balance, it is a turn on and go machine able to go anywhere and handle any ground type from extreme iron mineralization to alkali salt rich soil. Its sensitivity to tiny nuggets is exceptional. The jittery threshold took a little getting used to, but once I did I was amazed at how even very faint targets were recognizeable amidst it. The unit is a little on the pricy side, but definitely worth evey penny.

By far the best performance gold nugget detector I have ever owned. Superior depth and sensitivity, outstanding ground cancelling, great user interface and downloadable software updates make this machine the weapon of choice for professional nugget prospectors as well as the serious hobbyist. Even though it could shed a few pounds and cut its price tag in half, I believe the GPZ 7000 still merits 5 stars based on its incredible performance alone.

If there's such a thing as the perfect VLF gold nugget detector, the Gold Monster 1000 is it. Super simple to operate, lightweight, weatherproof, extreme sensitivity to a wide range of nugget sizes and depths, boosted audio, rechargeable battery, two coils, great price...what's not to like?!

This was my first gold nugget detector, and I don't recall anything that I didn't like about it. Although there is a learning curve to operating it, once I undersood what it was telling me no piece of gold was safe, not even the smallest crumb.

Fred, I must have been standing on one of those granite boulders out there...??

Thanks Fred, Being only 5’4” tall and a scrawny 130 lbs, I’m certainly no he-man. But the GPZ stock harness and bungee adjusted correctly fits me well, and I can swing that massive coil all day without fatigue. I never use the swing-arm either. However, if I get crazy and swing too fast, the inertia can about knock me down!? As a side note, I once ran into a guy at Rye Patch that could swing the GPZ all day unaided by a harness, hipstick or bungee, and he WAS a he-man. I don’t recall his name, but I may as well call him Arnold...with a German accent...

Thanks Dubious. The southern half of the strewn field south of Interstate I-40 is accessible by car. The large majority of the northern half is included within the Warm Springs Wilderness, where vehicles and other mechanized equipment are prohibited.

Got out to Franconia early this week. My main objective of course was to score some nice space rocks, but I also wanted to try out White’s new Goldmaster 24k VLF unit to see how well its proprietary XGB automatic ground tracking would handle the extreme variable ground in the northern half of the strewn field. Anyone who’s searched this area with a VLF detector knows how tedious it can be dealing with the endless volcanic hot rocks, and while the 24k handled the ground matrix extremely well and running a low sensitivity eliminated a lot of the hot rocks, there still remained plenty of them to deal with. Although I did find one half-gram iron with the 24k, with all the hot rocks it was hitting I just couldn’t cover enough ground to increase my odds of making a good find.   As many of us detector operators know, in hot rock hell pulse-induction and zero-voltage transmission technologies are king. So I put away the VLF and brought out the Minelab GPZ 7000 equipped with the 19” coil for maximum ground coverage...time to get serious! With a quick adjustment I was able to ignore all but the largest and most insidious hot rocks and cover a ton of ground, netting several small irons and 2 stones at 27 grams and 75 grams. But the best part was just enjoying the peaceful serenity while roaming the wide open spaces of the Franconia strewn field, and even spotting a wild burro.

Mike, we sure enjoy hooking folks up with a detector that fits their predilections and search areas, and then seeing them going out and being successful with it. Congrats again on those nice nuggets, the first of many!

JW, that little ripper would be called an half grain bit in yankeese lingo. ?

It’s a work of art Steve, thanks for yet another great resource!

You guys hit the nail on the head. I read somewhere once that the one big secret to successful nugget shooting is that there is no one big secret; it's many things combined, including technique, location, persistence, etc. And I know from experience that the sum of all those things is an emergent confidence: confidence in your ability to operate your detector, confidence in your detector, and confidence in the ground you are searching. When you attain to that level of confidence, you’ve truly become a successful nugget shooter and the gold finds come as a matter of course.

I’m really liking the new Goldmaster 24k, a very versatile VLF gold machine with innovative ground balancing technology and adjustable feature set. It’s lightweight, well balanced, very stable at high sensitivity with minimal coil bump falsing, has a pleasant tone, and won’t easily tip over when sitting on the ground. And the machine's versatility is enhanced by its DD and concentric coil options.

Well done, GB Ameteur! You’ve proven the old nugget shooting adage, “persistence pays”. I’m glad to have met you, and that you were able to find your first gold with the EQX and Gerry’s field training.

Wtg Fred, nice little nugglet.

Fantastic finds Lanny, WTG to both of you!

Congrats on a super awesome find amigo, and I think golden oreo is a perfect name for it!

Yes, I hunted with Brian after the class was over, and he's totally in club Zed now.

Good onya Phoenix!

Looks like a mighty fine season of gold-finding fun, Peg. Hope you find a fistful of doubloons on the beach this winter.