Gold Monster 2000 Sensitivity To Targets Other Than Gold

[Aureous]

In 'oh-so-many' ways, the GM2K reminds me of the Gold Bug 2 days when you could ping 50+ bits of gold in an afternoon and the junk was somewhat unique in the variance of types found. The pics below show typical ratios of junk with the pan being full of 2,500+ bits of junk (mostly lead shot) and the small blue coil cover displaying the almost un-hearable types of junk that the old Gold Bug 2 excelled at. You'll see copper cloth pins, champagne bottle wire, copper eyelets, clothes hooks, zipper teeth and blackpowder percussion caps. Most detectors never hear these targets. Flakes of zinc sheet and aluminium foil are also a damned nuisance. Im now sitting at 700 bits of gold for 35 grams with the GM2k. So the junk to gold ratio is sitting C.3:1. Who else is pinging odd junk targets that you havent seen for ages????

[Greenhorn]

Whomever comes up with a detector that can identify lead so one can block that crap out is gonna make some bank. Where I detect most of the time was also a popular shooting area for what it seems like the past hundred and thirty years by all of the types of bullets and shot I've found. Some from the late 1800's...

[EL NINO77]

It can be said that the Gold monster 2K is naturally above average sensitive to very small targets, let's say you see it on small 2-2.5mm lead bullets where you can really appreciate how big the target is by the fineness of the sound modulation and the VDI number... that's my first observation regarding this detector...
Another observation is that this detector naturally forces you to dig the targets you detect....
My colleague Mike used the Goldmonster2K for detecting relics...especially in a demanding setting since we were detecting on conductive terrain..

It is not surprising that the use of such high frequencies brings an improvement in sensitivity and even its discrimination for certain types of non-ferrous targets and also certain types of iron..

[Greenhorn]

15 hours ago, EL NINO77 said:

It can be said that the Gold monster 2K is naturally above average sensitive to very small targets, let's say you see it on small 2-2.5mm lead bullets where you can really appreciate how big the target is by the fineness of the sound modulation and the VDI number... that's my first observation regarding this detector...
Another observation is that this detector naturally forces you to dig the targets you detect....
My colleague Mike used the Goldmonster2K for detecting relics...especially in a demanding setting since we were detecting on conductive terrain..

It is not surprising that the use of such high frequencies brings an improvement in sensitivity and even its discrimination for certain types of non-ferrous targets and also certain types of iron..

Hmmm.. perhaps with enough regular use in the same conditions one could develop a feel for lead with it. Digging everything is painful when what was a rich placer area was used by target and skeet shooters in later decades.

[Aureous]

1 hour ago, Greenhorn said:

Hmmm.. perhaps with enough regular use in the same conditions one could develop a feel for lead with it. Digging everything is painful when what was a rich placer area was used by target and skeet shooters in later decades.

if there's a knack to ignoring lead shot with the GM2K, I have yet to find it. I have dug at least a hundred bits of gold I was sure to be lead shot. 

[Norvic]

Mostly I detect away from workings except a few old close in rich patches that were flogged by the VLFs of old thus non-gold signals are nearly always tiny lead shot that was used by the cattle musterers of old. No joy here accurately discriminating lead shot from gold either, plus I`m on 150-300 pieces so far to the oz varies a lot, most are from small eluvial patches as my backyard goldfield has little alluvials thus the gold is somewhat chunkier.

Certainly, is a lot like the WGM2 and GB2 days except is much quicker with the GM2Ks auto ground handling. Getting a wee toey as our wet season is here thus haven`t been out for a month.

[Roo]

On 1/24/2026 at 5:13 PM, Greenhorn said:

Whomever comes up with a detector that can identify lead so one can block that crap out is gonna make some bank. Where I detect most of the time was also a popular shooting area for what it seems like the past hundred and thirty years by all of the types of bullets and shot I've found. Some from the late 1800's...

Where I am there's shoty pellets everywhere too. One reason was the old time diggers would fire off their guns at night to let others know they were armed and also to make sure they were still working especially in wet weather. One journal from the diggers days said "each night just on sundown the bush rang out with a cacophony of gunshots all along the diggings". That and them shooting wildlife for food too. I think most of the musket balls have been accounted for today but the ever present shoty pellets seem to be hanging around like a bad smell the more sensitive our detectors become 😄

[Aureous]

20 hours ago, Roo said:

Where I am there's shoty pellets everywhere too. One reason was the old time diggers would fire off their guns at night to let others know they were armed and also to make sure they were still working especially in wet weather. One journal from the diggers days said "each night just on sundown the bush rang out with a cacophony of gunshots all along the diggings". That and them shooting wildlife for food too. I think most of the musket balls have been accounted for today but the ever present shoty pellets seem to be hanging around like a bad smell the more sensitive our detectors become 😄

Yes, on 'busy' diggings, where gold was aplenty and thieves skulked about in the dark, everyone was armed and the business of 'keeping your powder dry' required at least one shot being discharged every day....not only to show that your claim had protection, but your powder supply was functional. Since using the GM2K, Ive found a lot more black powder percussion caps as well as lead shot. Some are very tiny, meant for small 'pepperbox' type revolvers I suspect.

[Caliche]

Looks like my pan after a day in the desert with Manticore using ATLC & Prospecting audio.