Quick

Spurr's writings have helped me gain a better understanding of ore deposits. A good author if your into that kind of stuff. Root

Copper ore.

What kind of country rock are you deteting over? I have had this happen over serpentine but only if there were pockets of it in the greenstone.

Cost effectiveness is measured in a year or two buy how much gold is found that other detectors missed or can't get a signal on.

I found a claim jumpers GPX 4000 battery headphones harness and jacket this year on one of my claims. It was stuffed in a crack in some rocks with the jacket on the top. The jacket was faded enough to make me believe it had been there for two or three years. The battery worked after i gave it a charge and is still working for the guy I gave it to.

I have used my GMT as a coin machine in a pinch. In my opinion it has the best discriminator on the market for a gold detector. Good luck,Root

I also agree with you Steve I own a DFX and a XLT. I'm selling the DFX and I don't think I'm missing out by getting rid of it over the XLT. For me the DFX just seams jittery compared to the XLT.

You out swinging your 7000 yet? Did the box freeze to the porch when the truck dropped it off? The weather that I looked at this morning in your area said 2° feels like -11° Hope you are staying warm.

You would think they would show off their GPX 5000 a bit. It is only the second best detector in the world for finding gold.

Nice one!

The first of many more to come.

I personally prefer a coin only detector for coin hunting. I use the Whites DFX but I must say the MXT is a very good coin and gold hunting machine. This is a good bet for some just starting out. The main thing is pick one and use it until you learn it! Root

Chris it will be interesting to see if you get back your old coil,shaft and housing. With new electronics stuffed inside. Glad to hear you are getting some answers finally out of them. If it was me I would of sent Bruno and Guido over to check on it!HaHa

Everytime my detectors went in for issues they came back with the boards replaced. I think this is just the way they do it. The less people that know what makes them tic the less chance of secrets getting out.

Am I getting this right Steve? You did your 30 years of political activism and now your signing off! I sure hope that this is not the case!

In my opinion this should not be allowed. It does happen and I know someone that has been doing it for over a year on two claims. He has 10 claims filed with BLM so he does it this way to still fall under the small miners waiver. I also know people that have claims in there kids and grandkids names.they have over 80 claims so by doing this they are still using the small miners waviers. This family was scrambling when BLM split the placer claims up. Im sure we will see the rules change again in the hands of BLM. They will more than likely lower the claim number to still fall under the small miners wavier. It is all about the money!!!

With the current overreach the government has there is no telling what could happen. Your gold is safer in the ground one way or another.

You can bet the small miners waiver will be changed in the near future. To tell you the truth I would love to see it go below 5 claims. There are just so many claims being tied up and not being mined because of the 10 claim limit. Back before my time If you had a claim you had to do your assessment work of at least 10 feet of digging on a load or placer claim. My father said the old timers that couldn't get it done would hire the local teen age boys to do the work for them. It was guaranteed the government man was going to be out checking. If the work wasn't done he was going to invalidate your claim. Now I think it is just about the money. Clay Diggings I would love to see a graph on how much money the BLM receives every year.

Chris why the fragile sticker? That is cool thanks for posting. I wish I would of took a picture of my old 2100 that thing was a mess the paint was missing from rubbing me and everything else. It had a big dint in the case from being buried during a push. Most of the plastic on the front and back was broken off. It once ended up at the bottom of the river for about a minute. I gave it to a kid not long ago that showed some promise nugget hunting. As far as I know it is still going. I don't think my 5000 would make it thought that and still be working. Again thanks for posting that brings back some memories. Root

I have seen that Steve thanks for posting. I ordered up a 13x17 NF evolution. I'll give a report after I have enough hours on it. I had a 18" green trash can lid minelab coil that came with my 2100 or 2200 that thing was heavy. Are the newer minelab commanders lighter? Fred I have hip sticks.Yes i have more than one. Sometimes I can use one and sometimes I can't. Sometimes I'm brush diving and sometimes I'm brush surfing and sometimes I'm using one. Usually gold is like quail in my neck of the woods. Hiding in the thick of it all! Root

I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me why Nugget Finder doesn't make any DD coils. Seems to me they are missing out on some sells. I was once a die hard Coiltek fan but after the Gold Stalker series they lost my business. I went to Nugget Finders after that and I have not looked back. I would love to have a large DD coil of the same quality. Any suggestions? Root

Oh sorry I thought you were talking about the time I had to do it to fit them in the crucibles becuse the buyer wanted gold bars.Headed out today to where the mastodon and neanderthal bones were found. Maybe we will come home heavy.

338!!! no wonder there are only four quarters in your truck. You can't bug Minelab they are doing surgery on your beloved detector.

Norm have you tried to see if the nuggets that you found with the GPZ that were up to 5DWT make a signal on any GPX. Like Steve has said the organics are not blocking out a signal they are just keeping the coil from getting closer. There are just so many different scenarios as to why nuggets are missed you could write a book on it. Those of us that have been in the game long enough have seen it all and we have learned from it. Things like not checking your hole after recovering your target or missing part of your grid pattern becuse you were on it while recovering a target at the end of a row or a EMI spike right over a target ect.ect. Most targets are missed becuse of poor ground balance and coil control. The point being every once in awhile you figure out why you missed it and that helps you be better at detecting from then on. Root

With the amount of organic matter that can build up on the ground in the Sierras it can be and is impossible to get a perfect ground balance. I know this is true with a GPX or a VLF. I have no idea about a GPZ I don't own one. Without a perfect ground balance targets are missed. As for the dampness of the ground I'm on the fence I like it bone dry with a large DD coil and the detector in the Sharp timings or damp with a mono in the Fine Gold or Enhanced timings. The ground I hunt in just seems to spit out more gold if I hunt it like this. Not sure if it really matters. With a VLF I can tell you the ground is a lot quieter when the ground is dry. No where near as many false signals or hot rocks in dry ground with my GMT. To tell you the truth I like the ground frozen I believe the nuggets become denser and can be detected at a greater depth. Normmcq I know what you mean about the 4000 I to had the same thing happen. I would go over the same ground later with the 4500 and just shake my head when a loud booming signal would come from under my coil. I know that I had gridded over this ground more times than I can count with a 4000 but there it was. This didn't happen a lot but it did happen. Not sure if the 4000 had holes in its detection field or it was because of soil creep making the gold lay at a different angle after time. I can also say I dug a few larger nuggets with the 4000 that I could only get a signal off of in one direction. I have not had this happen with the 4500 or 5000 on gold bigger than 1 DWT. I'm not knocking the 4000 I dug some wonderful stuff back in the 4000 days at depth with the S/S timings. Those timings help quiet down the hot ground I was working in and the gold really started coming out. Root