Pete in MI
New member
My buddy Ken said his co-worker knew of a place with some old foundations. He wanted to check it out but had no detector. Ken loaned his buddy Rob his Garrett GTAx-1250. I loaned Ken my Tesoro Stingray (water detector) and I used the Explorer II.
I was not expecting to find much. My main thoughts was to bring Rob up to speed on using the detector...good thing it used to be mine so that made it easier for me to show him how to use it.
Here is one of the 3 foundations we detected around:
[attachment 127423 P5150005.JPG]
Here is another - this is a round foundation (maybe from a grain silo):
[attachment 127424 P5150012.JPG]
Ken got a couple FIRSTs (and a second on the same day):
[attachment 127425 P5150015.JPG]
It was Ken's first jackknife find and his first belt buckle (he chuckled and said it was Civil War hahaha) then later he found his 2nd belt buckle. In front of the grain silo foundation was a rise...maybe where a barn had set at one time. That's where Ken found the jackknife.
Ken wondered why there was 2 belt buckles. I had my theory...the 'old man' used the belts on the kids and the kids hid the belts. Sounded reasonable to Ken. Both buckles were identical in shape. Ken's also holding one of many smashed leads from bullets we found.
Rob was getting a lot of finds but they were mostly spent ammo casings and smashed bullet heads. Lots of people come out to do 'gun practice' shooting paint cans, bottles, beer cans, etc.
Here is a shot of Rob and Ken swinging and digging: (Rob is in the foreground, Ken further back)
[attachment 127426 P5150007.JPG]
We didn't find a lot of goodies...Ken did best of all. I found 2 Lincoln pennies and several old screw on quart jar lids, Rob saved the shell cartridges as he is a gun buff...one shell casing I found I gave to him as he had never heard of it before. I could tell others had detected there before us...gaping holes left unfilled. There was lots of trash as many people go camping there, and to do other things...like toss their trash all over.
Ken loved using the Tesoro once he got the discrimination down to stop hitting on all the nails. Rob is also a diver and on the Sheriff's diving team. I recommended the ACE 250 to Rob as he seemed real interested in having his own detector. I later mentioned to Ken that he could probably get more use out of the water detector than I could so would sell it to him if he is interested but thought maybe he should start with the 250 before jumping into water detecting. Will have to wait and see what he decides. Looks like there will be another 'detectorist' in our ranks very soon.
Guess I should tell both Ken and Rob that they are now members of the Iron Brigade.
[attachment 127429 P5150019.JPG] (Rob)
[attachment 127430 P5150014.JPG] (Ken)
Welcome Rob to the wonderful world of metal detecting!
Rob even brought along his 9mm handgun to add to the rest of the lead buried in the ground. His gun is one the Sheriff's department will be issuing soon so he let Ken get some practice with it as well. I turned down the offer to fire it. Didn't figure with my eyesight I would hit anything anyway.
We had a great time. My best finds were introducing Rob to detecting and seeing the smile on both his and Ken's faces as they made their finds.
I was not expecting to find much. My main thoughts was to bring Rob up to speed on using the detector...good thing it used to be mine so that made it easier for me to show him how to use it.
Here is one of the 3 foundations we detected around:
[attachment 127423 P5150005.JPG]
Here is another - this is a round foundation (maybe from a grain silo):
[attachment 127424 P5150012.JPG]
Ken got a couple FIRSTs (and a second on the same day):
[attachment 127425 P5150015.JPG]
It was Ken's first jackknife find and his first belt buckle (he chuckled and said it was Civil War hahaha) then later he found his 2nd belt buckle. In front of the grain silo foundation was a rise...maybe where a barn had set at one time. That's where Ken found the jackknife.
Ken wondered why there was 2 belt buckles. I had my theory...the 'old man' used the belts on the kids and the kids hid the belts. Sounded reasonable to Ken. Both buckles were identical in shape. Ken's also holding one of many smashed leads from bullets we found.
Rob was getting a lot of finds but they were mostly spent ammo casings and smashed bullet heads. Lots of people come out to do 'gun practice' shooting paint cans, bottles, beer cans, etc.
Here is a shot of Rob and Ken swinging and digging: (Rob is in the foreground, Ken further back)
[attachment 127426 P5150007.JPG]
We didn't find a lot of goodies...Ken did best of all. I found 2 Lincoln pennies and several old screw on quart jar lids, Rob saved the shell cartridges as he is a gun buff...one shell casing I found I gave to him as he had never heard of it before. I could tell others had detected there before us...gaping holes left unfilled. There was lots of trash as many people go camping there, and to do other things...like toss their trash all over.
Ken loved using the Tesoro once he got the discrimination down to stop hitting on all the nails. Rob is also a diver and on the Sheriff's diving team. I recommended the ACE 250 to Rob as he seemed real interested in having his own detector. I later mentioned to Ken that he could probably get more use out of the water detector than I could so would sell it to him if he is interested but thought maybe he should start with the 250 before jumping into water detecting. Will have to wait and see what he decides. Looks like there will be another 'detectorist' in our ranks very soon.
Guess I should tell both Ken and Rob that they are now members of the Iron Brigade.
[attachment 127429 P5150019.JPG] (Rob)
[attachment 127430 P5150014.JPG] (Ken)
Welcome Rob to the wonderful world of metal detecting!
Rob even brought along his 9mm handgun to add to the rest of the lead buried in the ground. His gun is one the Sheriff's department will be issuing soon so he let Ken get some practice with it as well. I turned down the offer to fire it. Didn't figure with my eyesight I would hit anything anyway.
We had a great time. My best finds were introducing Rob to detecting and seeing the smile on both his and Ken's faces as they made their finds.
God Bless! Betty
