My Thursday X-coil Iffy

[mn90403]

On Thursday I went out on my 3rd trip with my 15x10 X-Coil to well pounded patches in Southern California.  All of these places have been completely trashed.    I've only found gold in one of the areas but others have.  I did some thinking and testing at my first stop of the morning about dawn and decided to settle down the sensitivity.

Thursday I switched to difficult and something close to Lunk and Coiltek's settings but the sensitivity at 15.  This helped me maintain a smooth threshold even with our hotrocks and mineralizations.  I've been poking it under bushes I could never get under before and going very slow and finding tiny bits of wire and bullets missed by Monsters, 2300s and 14s but I can't show any gold for my efforts yet.  It was more fun on Thursday than the previous two trips where I felt anxious and frustrated.

About the middle of the day I noticed a tire on my 4Runner was low.  I couldn't trust going up higher into the mountains so I switched to a spot where a friend had Monstered and found some tiny surface nuggets so I thought I'd give it a try.  I was finding trash so that was a good sign.  Most of the bbs were long gone.  I just kept poking around.  I heard a deep signal (iffy) under a bush and was scrapping and digging and the signal brightened up a bit.  I was near a little road but I was going down into compressed rock and the signal is getting better.   After I'm down past the normal trash I decided to video this hole.

 

As you could tell I was hopeful.

 

I don't know how that cartridge got down that deep but it is only the 3 time I remember something like that happening.  One time was in Australia and the other time was in Gold Basin.

Better luck next time.

[Lunk]

You got an "A" for effort, amigo. Sooner or later you'll get that new coil over a piece of gold.

[matt]

Been there done that...It's never fun, but you have to dig those, ESPECIALLY in a known gold area that's been hammered and signals are tough to come by. Better luck next time.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Michel,  Those ones fool the best of us (right Lunk) and our heads are still scratching, as we try to figure out how it got down that deep.  Same thing happened to Lunk and I in MX a few weeks ago.  He was so far off the beaten path and was evening finding gold.  Then that unusual soft reverse signal.  He hikes over to me so I can video tape it as he was already over a feet deep.  We hike back and he's telling me how he found some nuggets on the backside of a ridge.  I get there and boy does this place look exciting.  I listen to the signal while viewing the natural undisturbed ground and whooper is going through my mind.  My video camera  is on and rolling as we're about to get this clunker on video.

Lunk is carefully digging, using more of the scoop than the pick so he does not damage the sold yellow metal.  5 minutes later and another 6" deeper... he checks it out and this thing is screaming bloody all the way down to Aussie land.  It is totally reversed and we're like kids seeing a playboy magazine for the 1st time...just eyes wide open waiting for the centerfold.

Then it happens and he has it out of the scoop.  A tilt of the coil for some pinpointing and it is such an overload, I am expecting to see it with me bare eyes.  Boy would I like to feel it... I can't wait any longer, so almost I jump in to help speed up the recover.  Just as I start to get in the hole, for some reason he gets it in the scoop.

We're both ready for a gold dance as he is separating the material and then...there it is.., the most disgusting  brass bullet casing we've ever video taped.    Holy crap, why is it there and how?

We both scratched our heads as we filled the hole and I heard him mumble something to the effect...about "next time I'll get you".

Sorry your nugget was not so golden, but that is what keeps us going.

[Jonathan Porter]

4 hours ago, kiwijw said:

..........Maybe it shows how thrashed the grounds have been that you have been going to.

Better luck next time.👍

JW 🤠

This sentence really did make me laugh and is typical of all prospectors and the way we enthuse ourselves to justify new gear or to keep returning to a favourite haunt. The whole point of the X coil is to improve your chances right? So the above comment doesn’t make sense unless the “thrashing’ of the grounds” has been performed by other people getting in there first with an X coil.🤔  Early Bird and all that!!

There is no perfect fit for every gold location and ground type, what works well in one area does not necessarily mean it will work well everywhere else. Going to a smaller coil reduces outright depth, increases X signal and surface mineral susceptibility, and in a given time frame less ground is covered per swing. Now I’m not saying that is the cause of the lack of gold in this instance just that there is no perfect bandaid treatment for all scenarios.   

The amount of times I’ve gone back to favourite old haunts and pulled gold using the exact same gear leaving myself wondering how I missed that is countless. A lot of times a new bit of kit is the placebo that triggers the justification to give it one more try and to be honest is probably just as powerful as any add on you care to invest in. You got to be in it to win it! With the right attitude anything is possible.

I’m not trying to burst anyone’s bubble about their faith in something that has brought others success, just that success has to be treated with the respect it deserves to avoid the clouding of reality if you want to maintain having an open mind. So we should target the areas where WE DO realistically have an advantage with what the new bit of kit offers, successful prospectors are always the guys who seem to be able to zero in on the highest probability locations to spend their time.

JP

PS this isn’t a flame post just an observation based on MANY years of making mistakes and experiencing failure.😬🙂

[Norvic]

52 minutes ago, Jonathan Porter said:

an observation based on MANY years of making mistakes and experiencing failure

I think I`m going to have to get you in tow again JP, there is no such thing as mistakes and failure in this game, obviously you haven`t been touched by the sun enough...……………..😉

[mn90403]

JP,

I'm posting real hunts here.  I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything just because it is new technology to me.  I found something under a bush that had been missed by all previous detectorists and detectors.  Was it missed or otherwise unseen?  I don't think we will ever know but this new combination let ME find it.  I didn't have to let everyone else know my disappointment but I did.  I think it was a teaching moment.

And now that you are on to the subject, what were the significant innovations in your mind that took each of the early detectors and made it necessary for the 'professional' detectorist to 'have to have' the best to go back to old patches to get more?

I recently renewed my friendship with a detectorist I hadn't seen for a year or so.  He showed me some really nice gold.  Several pieces were over an ounce.  He uses a modded 3000!  Did he need my 7000 and X-Coil to see that gold?  Obviously not.  He goes to areas where a quad is still king and certain basic detecting equipment is all you need to get those big nuggets.

Would he find more or deeper gold with a 7000 X-Coil?  Would he be searching in the same areas with a 7000 X-Coil?  Who knows.

So, my question to you would be this.  What coil and detector combination have you used that would find more gold than any other?  What I mean is, if you went over completely virgin ground where all of the nuggets and trash were still in place, is the 7000/14 the best that has ever been?  What are the next ones behind it?

[mn90403]

I'm going out for a couple of days to turn iffys and non iffys into nuggets!

[mn90403]

JW,

Of course.  I was writing my post when you posted.

I can't post what I haven't done.  I'll be out there in about 8 hours.  This is a 6 hour drive or so.

Mitchel

[Norvic]

 

OK, as one who normally doesn`t post photos, but in this thread to support my fellow early bird JW and to encourage MN in breaking his X coil virginity. The coil with the gold on was my first X coil (15) and that is its return in a short couple of weeks with that coil, photos were taken in July 2019. Initially I went to an isolated patch that was found with the Z 14 and flogged by two Z operators with both ML 14 & 19, that patch I named Bogenes as it is a very variable hot piece of ground and in clean up Bogenes scored extra pieces. Running the X15 on the Z over this ground on its first outing up high where the reef shed on very shallow ground the 15X scored no hits but moving down the slope into deeper ground on this first outing with the 15X I picked up numerous pieces all at depth that 2 very experienced Z 14 & 19 operators had missed and at even more amazing depths then the Z14 &19.

To add to this story when both the 10" & 12" X coils came I run them over that shallow bony piece of "Bogenes" working carefully both these coils scored. Further I run my modded SDC (named "The Placebo" after modding ) both the original 8" and Coilteks 11" on this machine scored. As you can see from the smelt of the 15X results, my initial X finds paid for my X coils and enough left over for good wages.

MN I cannot as yet comment on my 10x15 as in its first & only outing so far it did not score, but I can sure say without a doubt the 15, 10 & 12 Xs are producers. Like JW I have not since my first X coil seen any need for either the 14 or 19ML coils but I keep both as neither owe me anything and I have another coil cable chip end I can soon make into a patch lead should my current one fail.