1515Art

More pretty gold in the poke, nice work

I'd happily eat crow any time the dessert menu includes gold too clean my palate. Nothing like the sweet after taste of yellow, or so I've heard. Congrats on your finds! Happy to hear the z is running sweet

Thanks Rick, ya, she looks down right sporty with them meatier treads. I'll give them a good test in June, my wife will be in China for a month and I'm gonna romance the zed while she's out of town... I'm going to cowboy it around downieville and n Nevada, or where ever the urge points me. Hope to have your kind of good luck on the yellow stuff, but know I need to learn a lot a pay my dues first. Good huntin out there... Clark

Hi hawkeye,I don't really know to much about off road tires, but the Nevada desert is teaching me some lessons. I called a couple of tire shops looking for the most aggressive tire I could find to fit my old ml 500, they got a laugh... There was not very many choices based on the stock 17" wheels and limited tire clearance from the springs. I wanted the goodyear mt/r Kevlar, but they don't make one to fit my ride. The best I could find was the Goodyear wrangler dura max lt truck 10 ply on the tread, 245/70r 17. They run around $210 plus all the charges they tack on to the bill. The reviews are ok and the ride seems ok on the pavement, they hum a bit, but I kind of like the noise and it makes me feel more off road ish driven bown the boulevard. Last month I nearly got stuck trying to get down a very steep dirt road, actually down was no problem... Up hill was the challenge. I even had to drag out my hand winch at one point to get out of a jam and away from the cliff edge of the road. Blasting up the road as fast as I could and I nearly stalled out several times, but finally made it back out. I'm hoping these tires are a big improvement over my old street ms treads. Anyone have any experience with the duramax tires out in the desert? I saved two of my old tires for extra spares now I just need to pick up a used rim or two and I'm set for the next hunt.

Nice tires and happy feet, show the gold no mercy now! Just added new shoes on my old steed... Hope the desert gods will be merciful to us now.

My lower shaft lock is keyed and will not rotate, the upper shaft lock allows my zed s coil to rotate an inch or so when the shaft is fully extended. occasionally I find it's not quite lined up straight when Im out swinging it around too. It takes a little force for it to move, so I haven't been really bothered by it yet, but it seems like it should be made to lock solid.

Don't keep food in the car, bears can and will tear the car apart to get at the food they smell. A bear proof food locker on site or up a tree that's not right next to the tent is what I've learned. If you have to store food near camp have your friend sleep on the food side and tie his shoelaces together after he falls asleep.

I don't know much about it and you probably have already seen this, but there is a company (gold hog) that makes something called a gold hog pan. Its a gold pan identified device that will process and sample material faster, they claim performance similar to a sluice, but it is legal like a gold pan.

BTW my settings were fairly basic, high yield, difficult, sens 10, volume 12, low smoothing, thresh 27

I spent a few hours time checking out a club claim just a little southwest and over the hill from Rye Patch with no success, although the GPZ did find about an ounce of scattered lead and copper. on my way through the desert heading to rye patch at what i thought was a safe speed to avoid tire damage, my luck ran out and my right front tire turned into something that looked more like a birds nest. I haven't used the spare for a while and forgot it was one of those skinny you don't really want to be driving in the desert type of get you home jobs. I pull the thing out and damed if it don't feel just a bit soft... I grit my teeth, put on the tire i wish id checked before i headed out and hope for the best. I probably had a good 20 to 25 miles before i had any hope of paved road. kept the speed around 15 until i hit pavement and breathed a big sigh of relief. I detoured into lovelock and after a quick stop at Jim's Tire Store, (not to be confused with Jim's Auto Service a few blocks away) and i was on my way with a good used tire for 50 bucks mounted and balanced. I was finding bullets and very small pieces of metal also a single strand of very fine copper wire from graded wire about 2 cm long, most of this stuff was shallow. Ive been thinking i have to be missing something, but my 3 grain and spongy 149 grain test nuggets provided a great signal. finally very close two a small desert shrub i hit another signal, it sounded like the other signals, but the location next to the bush was more hopeful for me and when i removed the first inch or two my signal stayed in the same spot. I could be off but I was pretty cautious and dig my holes wide, id guess this was at 5 to 6 inches deep and a strong signal. Finally my first piece not much at .56 gram fully cleaned, but a start and much better than lead. i worked that area very hard with no more luck and drove back to Lovelock for the night. next day i headed back for another session with renewed hope, finding a little nugget gave me a little confidence the detector was really working. just as I was nearing the first place i wanted to check out my left rear tire found a sharp little piece of bedrock. I was only going 10 mph or so, to no avail another flat... at least my crappy donut spare tire is now filled with air. so, i spent another couple hours as long as i was there, but did not have the liberty to do any scouting around at different spots as the only reasonable route at this point is one that takes me back to pavement.

We should should go hunt the same patch sometime, except mines silver and I've put enough miles on it that I don't care about the tree induced pin stripes...

I'm still a little concerned about salt air exposure to the gpz, considering the way salt affects all the electronics and everything else on my boat. Even good marine stuff can have a pretty short life and being careful is no guarantee against corrosion, I'd hate to throw my $10K detector off its delicate attitude, by insulting it with any performance altering corrosion.

I have a pair of those also, they are really comfy and keep your feet pretty dry in wet grass... Just wish they were taller and not a mid boot.

like i said , haven't tried it yet but it worked really good in the video. clark

I think I need to post a couple more for pics...

I saw a guy on utube using a modified plastic snow scoop to pick up targets on the beach. He just walked with the scoop and pulled up sand until the hole was clear of the target, he could also run the dttector over the scoop to check the target or just scann the last pile he scooped from the hole with his detector. The scoop blade is narrowed to make it easier in the sand, holes are drilled in the shovel bucket to filter out water and sand if you want. I also replaced the metal screws holding the blade to the handle with nylon bolts. I bought a nice heavy abs plastic snow scoop at osh for around $25, the blade abs snow shovel blade cut like butter with a skill saw... Just be careful. The guy in the video was able to work very fast picking up targets in both dry and wet sand. I made one but have not used it yet, will try to post pictures.

Rudy, Thank you, It was a lot of fun hunting with you and Zach also. A big group sounds like fun to me...let the hunt begin...

Hey Scott, ya I was looking for the grandfather of the nugget Rudy found, or any of its other relations. I'm sure they are out there just gotta get the sweet spot on the right spot. I tried higher up the mountain and finished off lower... Lot of ground to cover but it's sure fun lookin. We'll keep in touch and it will be fun to hunt together. And NuggetBob, I sure do hope someday I can show you, thank you, hope to see you out there. Clark

Steve, Thanks for the words of support, I'm enjoying the hunt and really appreciate the advice you offer and help from everyone on here. It would be many times more difficult for a new guy to experience this without access to networks of information like you have here.

Hi luckylundy, That's a beautiful nugget... It felt about a heavy as my gpz and it could not have been found by a better guy. Rudy was super helpful and took a lot of time showing me things and sharing information about how and where to hunt in the desert, I also learned some interesting stories about the patch and the local history. It was fun hunting a little with Rudy and Zack, both a couple of great guys. I met Richard and a couple of other guys out there ( im not very good at names... Age, ADD...idontknow ) and chatted a bit over breakfast in Lovelock about detecting with another experienced prospector who was sweeping the ground out at rye patch, Scott, was also very helpful. Everyone I've met out prospecting has been really nice... Hope we get to hunt together some time And hi to vanursepaul too, Clark

I spent two days with my gpz at rye patch, Friday and Saturday from 8 till 4 both days just a couple of short breaks and some relocating to different spots looking for old patches in the pay streak areas. I am completely new to this nugget hunting so the only thing I can really contribute is the experience of a newbie with his detector that I hope I am someday worthy of. What a great adventure, I can say the time went by very quickly and I would have stayed a few more days but did not want to abandon my family for too long. I've been researching for a while, but it still took me half the first day to feel comfortable with my surroundings. Luckily I ran into a few really helpful dectorists and with some help I was able to better understand what I needed to be doing out there, thanks guys very much. The detector was very easy to use, the menu is intuitive and after adjusting the settings a couple of times I felt comfortable navigating and playing with the settings while on the go, switching back to default and readjusting from time to time checking with test gold was also easy. I did not find any gold and am yet to find my first nugget, one of the guys I was hunting near was a former minelab dealer using a 3000, he found a nice chunk near a bush that day not far from where I was. The machine is easy to use, but I may have even walked past it, his knowledge and experience made the difference and I have to thank him again for all the help. I did find bullet shells, live rounds, bullets and tiny tiny bullet fragments, microscopic pieces of rusted tin fragments and sweeping near a rusted tin can sends it into overdrive, it has to be great fo relics if you can dig it all. Over time using it I was able to kind of guess what the target was, but dug anyway...hoping I did not use the supplied guide arm but should have, the weight is tolerable, lighter battery and coil would be better. I agree a smaller coil would have been helpful in the bushes, but I shoved the 14 around in the brush and it was quiet. The threshold was a bit chattery although my test gold a tinny tinny piece produced a clear response. This is getting kind of long... But I did run into part of the gpz gold rush out there at least 4 other gpz s were sweeping the ground at rye patch. I don't know how they all did, but one guy was sporting about a dozen rice grain pieces from his first day, he was also very experienced. Cheers, Clark

My Gpz came late yesterday (Saturday), by the friends at FedX. I'm glad it came unassembled, because it gave me a chance to appreciate the individual quality and fit of each component. Everything is nice quality as I would expect for the money, even though the detector is a bit heavy, judging by the individual parts and the materials used in construction it's as light as possible with existing technology I'd guess. Fit and finish is in a different ballpark than my Whites as was the cost. Assembly was easy, my only question is it best to use only one strut on the harness on your dominate side, or just put struts on both left and right (they sent two but only show using one)? I found the harness comfortable and with the harness the detector weight was a nonissue. Gave the batteries a full charge, powered up and completed the setup and audio sync... Also very simple to do, just follow the on screen prompts, no problems. I have large power lines directly behind my home so the Gpx was a bit unstable and not warmed up. I did not have it on for more than a few minutes, I'll play with the settings after studying the book some more and see if it will handle the interrence from the power lines. Clark

Steve, Rick... Thanks you guys made her smile, she wants to be a good example for all wives around the world. Now it's time for me to make her smile, I'll keep you posted... On the detector. Clark

Hi All, I'm new here so first let me be polite and say hello. I have been following and lurking around for the past few months trying to learn as much as i can and thank you to everyone for all the great insight and information. I came here a few months back looking for tips to increase my success with my whites sst, and in the process waded into the riptide of the Gpz. The water has felt pretty good so far thanks to Steve H and the like, so I decided stay in the current and see where it would take me rather than swim for safety. The longshoreman's strike has had everything held up at the docks affecting most US deliveries, thankfully that has now ended and my Gpz is on a UPS truck and with luck I will be holding it in a few days, (big thanks to Chris at Arizona OutBack). The price was higher than I expected and required a lot of rationalization for me... World Series of Poker $10,000 buy in and I could be out in one hand... my boat... on and on, anyway after the sticker shock began to fade a little, my dear wife offered to buy me one for my birthday, can't say no now can I? Will be heading to an American river claim next week and will see how things go for me. I'll give some feedback on how things go one way or the other.