So The Beach Hunts Start Again

[CPT_GhostLight]

Wow, sohN, you and that GPX = Beast Mode evey time! You are a digging machine! Congrats on the silver and amethyst, now go put some IcyHot on that back and get ready to do it again. My back hurts just thinking about digging all those holes! ?

[schoolofhardNox]

On 3/2/2023 at 11:23 PM, F350Platinum said:

Glad you're getting enough decent weather to get out, I think you've done more this year than last. Are you getting less precious metals this year than last?

I am getting about the same gold. I don't get a lot of that anyways. Silver is definitely down mostly because the beaches are hit hard and technology is catching up with the GPX ?

On 3/3/2023 at 1:21 AM, Sirius said:

How deep would you say these targets were? I want to know if these more valuable targets were buried deep or if they were kinda in the usual depths of 0 to 10 in down.

This beach the coins were rather shallow, most above 6", many at 4". Other beaches I have found many coins from 12" all the way to my deepest silver quarter that was near 20". At the maximum depth, there must be very little EMI or black sand present and even then it sounds like just a hint of ground noise. Many times I dig 8" of sand out just to find nothing and it was only ground noise that I heard.

On 3/3/2023 at 11:06 AM, GB_Amateur said:

Great report as always.  Just a few random questions&comments for you:

1) Do you wash your finds (including the trash) before photographing?  Not being  a beach detectorist I don't know the conditions of freshly recovered items.

2) If my wife had been around when you got back home there might have been a wrestling match for that amethyst.  (No jokes, please...)  ?

3) Are you able to make time estimates on how long a target has been lost based upon its condition?  For example, the amethyst has a loop/clasp that appears a bit tarnished.  The stainless chain doesn't show corrosion.  (I realize it was a surface find but maybe that has more to do with the shifting sand than the length of time since lost?)

I wash my finds if they are covered in wet sand. It takes too long for them to dry out and photograph. I have a set of classification strainers that I use that makes it easy to wash them and trap the sand for disposal. I'm guessing the amethyst was probably a recent drop or was far from the wave action, never getting repeated saturation. The coins have probably been there a while. Anytime you see that red or green corrosion that does not wipe of easily when rubbed, usually means they were there in the wet environment for a long time. How long is hard to tell, but generally many years, not months.  When your wife's eye light up with one of your finds, it's better to hand it over than have cold cereal for breakfast ?

[F350Platinum]

8 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Silver is definitely down mostly because the beaches are hit hard and technology is catching up with the GPX ?

Aaaaaaaand it's also the easiest to find. ? BTW that spoon bowl from my last post is silver. ?

[schoolofhardNox]

14 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Aaaaaaaand it's also the easiest to find. ? BTW that spoon bowl from my last post is silver. ?

It looked silver. Usually they are very thin, and yours looked like a good candidate for silver. That makes that hunt even sweeter ?

[schoolofhardNox]

Beach hunt # 28 was at one of my favorite beaches and the place I wanted to try the Manticore to see if it ground balanced differently than the last beach. It did and I posted that on the thread in the Manticore forum, so I won’t repeat it here again. I had originally wanted to hunt the dry sand at the beach down the road for old silver, but I stopped at the beach that has bathrooms first and saw a lot of exposed rocks, so out comes the Manticore for the next 2 ½ hours. Sparse pickings even though it looked like the beach was trashed from the waves some time ago. I’m sure it was hit hard, and I only managed a little bling jewelry. I then hit the dry sand and quickly found out that the Manticore really does not like that purple/ black sand. It struggles a lot. Barely a good hit on a 4” quarter, but enough for me to know that the dry area would produce. So, I swapped detectors and let the GPX do its thing. If I lived closer, I would investigate the single frequencies on the Manticore more, but honestly I have a pulse to counteract that type of sand, so it would just be a waste of time for me to try and find a better setting, if one even exists. Swap machines and be happy.  ? For me, the Manticore is for damp/saturated sands, and any water hunting I may try, and deep coins/silver in parks. It is not for black sand, disturbed ground or gold hunting in parks, since the pull tab range is huge and crosses over so well with the gold range. The GPX kept me busy digging, but as you can tell, the layer I was in was mostly clad from the 80’s. A couple of silvers and many copper cents was all I could muster up. I hunted 6 ½ hours with the GPX. Long hunt but I got my fix. Next week I may try that other beach down the road.

[Gold Seeker]

Take that broken Snap-On opened end wrench to a Snap-On dealer and they may give you new one, I think they have a lifetime warranty on most hand tools!! LOL

[F350Platinum]

Great hunt again! The difference is staggering.

We had the Axiom up here a couple days ago, heck of a machine. ? It didn't find anything the Deus wasn't finding, but we only used it for a short time. I followed with the D2 and identified what most of the stuff was, it hit bullets well. I selected a spot where iron and aluminum trash wasn't too heavy and there was potential for good targets.

Personally I don't know how you do it, if I had to dig 2' holes for every target and have most of it be crap, I'd go nuts. ? You're awe-inspiring. ?I could see it more on a beach than clay or wet ground.

After that experience I appreciate a discriminating VLF even more. ?

[schoolofhardNox]

34 minutes ago, Gold Seeker said:

Take that broken Snap-On opened end wrench to a Snap-On dealer and they may give you new one, I think they have a lifetime warranty on most hand tools!! LOL

I'm not sure if that wrench piece is real ? It's extremely lightweight.

5 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Great hunt again! The difference is staggering.

We had the Axiom up here a couple days ago, heck of a machine. ? It didn't find anything the Deus wasn't finding, but we only used it for a short time. I followed with the D2 and identified what most of the stuff was, it hit bullets well. I selected a spot where iron and aluminum trash wasn't too heavy and there was potential for good targets.

Personally I don't know how you do it, if I had to dig 2' holes for every target and have most of it be crap, I'd go nuts. ? You're awe-inspiring. ?I could see it more on a beach than clay or wet ground.

After that experience I appreciate a discriminating VLF even more. ?

Yep pulse vs multi in my area shows the major differences between the 2 in both depth and discrimination. I'm surprised the Deus kept up with the Axiom. ? As far as digging goes, if you just put your head down and don't count how many holes you make.... all is well until the next day ?. I am here to make sure you never get a pulse machine or dump your Deus ?

[F350Platinum]

20 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

I'm surprised the Deus kept up with the Axiom. ? As far as digging goes, if you just put your head down and don't count how many holes you make.... all is well until the next day ?. I am here to make sure you never get a pulse machine or dump your Deus ?

It's not too surprising here, most stuff is in the first 4-8", there is a clay/sand/loam layer, then red clay for about 6" more, then beach sand ad infinitum. The topsoil is blue marl, kinda sticky when wet, very heavy, but when mixed with farm tailings it's not bad. Most stuff doesn't make it past the clay. There are few if any rocks. Silver and large cents/copper discs will sound off down to 12".

Sometimes we will find beer cans at 2', mostly big iron. Anything that sinks that deep is usually crap. Usually it was tilled in a long time ago.

I'm certainly not saying the Deus goes as deep as the Axiom, just that whatever Chase detected with it I could detect too, I did have the 13" and the deepest settings possible. We dug some of the stuff that was iffy but it was all nails. In nearly every case the Deus 2 called it right, and the Axiom iron check worked well. It was interesting, but the wind was really ripping and I don't blame Chase for switching to the Deus to find something cool. He did. ?