JCR

I edited my earlier treatise to clarify & correct after reading Chase's post. I really shouldn't be posting off the top of my head when I'm busy, supposedly with work.🙃

I will look forward to your Culpepper report, especially how the Axiom and Legend perform. I am tempted by the Axiom and have good confidence in the Legend for my hot sites. Maybe a observation by you on how these stack up against the Tarsacci. @Daniel Tnhas inspired me to re test my Vista X, Tarsacci & Legend with their big coils on a .58 cal Minie. Just an air test but it may give me some guidance/confidence on a couple of low mineral deep sand sites that should have more "old" there than what I have found.

@GB_Amateur I am not a Civil War scholar. I do know a good bit about bullet casting & reloading and related history. Most of the military small arms ammunition used during that period was factory made in cartridge form. Hollow base bullet & black powder charge done up together in nitrated paper. You would separate the bullet from the paper holding the powder, pour the powder down the barrel, cram the paper down the barrel, start & ram the bullet home, cap & ready to fire. That is why soldiers had cartridge boxes not powder horns & ball bags. Arms like the Spencer carbine were breach loaded with metallic(Copper) fixed ammunition. I am not sure if any of the factory bullets were swaged at this stage. Perhaps some Union but Confederate was cast in gang moulds as far as I know, There was some casting done in camps also. Shotguns were still muzzle loaded with buck & ball and often used by Confederate Calvary and Artillery and some line troops. Casting lead was made up in "pigs" of around 20 lbs. These were hacked down with an axe for the melting pot. I have dug one of these hacked up pigs in a Confederate camp along with an axe head with the eye split out. This pig is not pure lead. I can tell by the color of the metal & it's hardness. I'm not sure if any of the lead for Factory or field cast was purposely alloyed or not. Pure lead is not natural, it has to be refined. In nature it is often associated with Tin and Silver. Tin is the normal bullet alloy with lead @ 60/1 to 40/1 for Black Powder guns. The Tin, whether added by nature or man is needed to lower the eutectic point of where the metal melts & flows. Without this Tin, the mould won't fill out well & the bullet may have voids unless cast excessively hot.( about 800*F+) My normal cast temp for 20/1 is about 700-710*F. All this may be interesting to some, it certainly is to me but has nothing to do with finding a bullet with a detector. Pure lead or alloyed will TID almost exactly the same.

Got both of mine done.

Not having a F75/T2, I only know what I have read in the Owners Manual & on Forum post. My understanding is that there is a way to run Bp Boost process in both Disc mode and All Metal. I wonder if Daniel tried DST off and Bp on? The Sensitivity control on these units are a combination of Gain & Threshold levels. The Anfibio is the same. The Disc control does do more than just knock out targets. It also reduces EMI at modest levels, then opens the power back up at higher levels of applied Disc. My Anfibio is similar. Lead bullets are always an alloy. Usually with Tin. Factory bullets are swaged, homemade are cast.

That is some neat finds. I especially like the glass & pottery. Good scouting.

My Garrett CXII has true Non Motion All Metal. It runs quite smooth once adjusted properly. Even with the 12" coil it is not any deeper than my more modern detectors in Disc mode. I keep it for the 2 Box attachment I have for it to hunt for dumps. My Anfibio Multi has Non Motion Cache mode that I should play with some more.

Once again, some nice finds. Thanks

All very nice.

Nice looking old house site. Nice finds too.

Thanks for the replies. Yes the At Max in Motion All Metal is very deep. I agree the Threshold is not as smoothly adjustable as I would like. The Vista X is also plenty deep. I have the largest factory coils for both. The F5 is just such a nice unit to run, I would like to use it more. Is that F75 that weak in AM with the DST supposedly off?

Reading the recent conversation prompted by @Daniel Tnon his Manticore comparison at his hot dirt deep bullet site, I have been considering my All Metal capable detectors. I would normally use my AT Max if I wanted to run true motion All Metal. I have a good selection of coils for it. I also have a F5 with a NEL Sharpshooter coil. The F5 has a nice motion All Metal mode. My question is; Is the F5 motion All Metal mode inferior to a F75/T2 in motion All Metal using a comparable 11" size coil? I may want to consider getting a 11" size coil for the F5 if it is powerful enough.

If you have learned to navigate the user interface on those past detectors & the Deus II, you won't have any trouble with the Legend. The main features are pretty straight forward & the "hidden" ones were learned pretty quick for me. A really nice feature is that it saves your last settings so it doesn't take much to get going the next time you use it. The coil selection is an added bonus to the overall value & performance in the field.

Welcome from East Texas.

Welcome from East Texas.

Higher TX output could cause the falsing & instability some are reporting. A lower weighted frequency mix should not. And yes, we may never know per MInelab.

To touch something that was of such worth to people who braved a truly new world is beyond special. We have no real concept of what was required of ordinary people to establish what we take for granted today. I doubt we would impress them.

Very nice. Thanks

Does anyone else think there may be some difference in the TX power on ATHC vs the other modes?

That’s a nice selection of old & newer keepers. Have you viewed that area & rail line on Historic Aerials? Must have been a busy spot. Learning the audio subtleties of an expressive detector is well worth the time & effort, in fact you never stop learning. Nice hunt & post. Thanks

That should help reduce any tendency to ID non ferrous as iron at fringe depth. I have a few low mineral/ low iron sites to try 0 on. May very well be helpful in mineralized soil too. l really like the straight forward way Nokta has addressed both small iron( IF+St)and flat/ sheet iron(BCap). Easy to understand& easy to use with plenty of adjustment control.

I’m thankful that we have so many quality choices today, not only in detectors but in all the things that go along with this hobby. I would hate not having my pinpointer, or using a plain garden shovel to dig thru roots. Consider the research tools we have today. I use to spend years chasing maps & written accounts in musty old file drawers. I try to use & enjoy it all, cutting edge new and updated old school. What a great time to be immersed in a great hobby.

A few more thoughts; The Vista X has very precise Disc. You can set the first Disc to flip flop on a Nickel & avoid most small junk. You can set the second Disc to break up on a Zinc & just dig Wheats and up. You can tailor it to what you want to do. The Disc holds true even at depth unless the ground is quite mineralized. Even then, it will just give a high tone & not drop it to iron. Being one of the few machines with independent Audio Gain & Threshold adjustments you can really balance the detector to site conditions. On hot ground you can run lower Gain & higher Threshold. That works well for tot lots & such too. Reverse those settings and you can skip tiny surface trash. The F5 is the same way. The audio is very expressive. It is not just low & high beeps. You can tell round, long, large, small and shape. Big iron is easy to tell. It is also as deep or deeper than any thing l have except the Tarsacci in bad ground but it is close.

At fixin to be 61, you give me good hope. I’m not worried about my old Jeep.

The 8” Concentric separates almost as well as the smaller DDs. The value of the Concentric is that it really calms the iron down and allows you to run smoother with lower disc and/ or higher gain. I have always thought the DeepTechs were a very good value for the money.