Little San Domingo Wash Hunt GPX 6000

[Jeff McClendon]

I got to spend a day and a half on some claims in the Little San Domingo Wash area north of Phoenix Arizona this week. I also got to meet up with Bill Southern (Nugget Shooter) for a few hours too. Thanks Bill!

I mostly wanted to see how the GPX 6000 with Coiltek Goldhawk 10X5" coil and the audio mod would behave. Finding some gold was secondary.

The GPX 6000 was super quiet running at sensitivity 7 or 8 with a stable threshold tone and only sounded off on some of the metamorphic magnetite filled schist and gneiss which also tended toward ironstone. Those hot rocks were easy to recognize and kick out of the way. The threshold only got a bit wobbly when aircraft were in the area.

I did manage to find a 0.11 gram rough looking LSD nugget. The photo is of the targets that made it into my nugget containers which are 35mm film canisters.

The GPX 6000 with the Coiltek 10X5" was super easy to swing for two 6 hour sessions, easy to pack and hit some incredibly small targets. Those are .22 long rifle shell casings which give a good size comparison.

I really enjoyed using the GPX 6000.

[phrunt]

Great to hear Jeff, the audio fix was a game changer for me, went from not liking the detector to now finding it quite good.

Glad to see you found a nuggie too and happy your injury is at a point where you are out and about detecting again.

[beatup]

well done , the trash to gold ratio looks right for the area

[MSC]

Glad you're out and about Jeff, nice little nugget. 

[GotAU?]

Jeff- what do you think about the stock 11-inch mono vs the 10x5 in terms of performance?

[Jeff McClendon]

For me, the stock 11" Mono coil is hyper-sensitive to EMI. The Coiltek 10X5" is not as sensitive to EMI and from that plate of trash, it is very sensitive to really small sub 0.1 gram targets even without using maxed out sensitivity levels. It also is very easy to swing.

If I wanted maximum small to mid sized coil depth and more coverage I would definitely use the 11" coil. If EMI is a problem and the terrain is crying for a smaller coil, the 10X5" is definitely an improvement. 

I have not been able to use any of the Nugget Finder coils yet.

[geof_junk]

11 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Well Jeff this Geof with one F not 2 like you.  It looks like you need me to rescue your single nugget from all that junk attacking it. ? 

[Gold Catcher]

Nice job! That's a lot of trash for the San Domingo placers. It's always fun to hang out with Bill. I did the audio fix and have the Coiltek 9 round mounted on the 6k as my default coil. It is a great coil for tight areas and fairly stable. For more coverage I use the Z/12 NF (it's also my to go detector combo).

GC

[Jeff McClendon]

5 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

Nice job! That's a lot of trash for the San Domingo placers. It's always fun to hang out with Bill. I did the audio fix and have the Coiltek 9 round mounted on the 6k as my default coil. It is a great coil for tight areas and fairly stable. For more coverage I use the Z/12 NF (it's also my to go detector combo).

GC

This was the first time I was able to use my audio modded 6000 with the 10X5 Coiltek so I was digging absolutely anything that remotely whimpered just to see what that combination could do.

It certainly cleaned up a lot of trash.