First post - Fisher 1265X

[Arthur-Canada]

I bought my 1265 over a year ago and used it most times last year over several other detectors I have. I have a wooded area that I hunt often where I find musket balls from the War of 1812 era. I have found a different setting for my 1265 that works best for me in hunting these deep musket balls. The 1265 has a bad habit of sounding off on deep iron that would disc out if it were shallower. To remedy this I hunt for musket balls with Disc 1 set at about 4 and Disc 2 set at about 2....opposite of what you would think! When I get a faint signal I check it in Disc 2. If the signal gets better it is usually a deep conductive target like a musket ball. If the signal stays the same it most times has been a deep rusty nail or piece of fence, so I ignore those now.

 

[Andy Nunez]

Late to the conversation,


Shooter, I got a 1265-X at an auction with 5", stock 8" and I guess 11", all white solid "box" round coils, plus a set of Depthmaster Superphones. Could you email those tips to me at editor@atomagazine.com? I had to get new battery holders, but otherwise, it seems like its in fair shape, though it collected dust for a few years. At the auction, we stuck 2 9V batters on the clips and the machine came on and read my wedding ring, so I am assuming it works. I am on Maryland's Eastern Shore and we hunt a lot of colonial houses and fields, so the main targets are flat buttons, musket balls and coins. I have dug Civil War bullets, but they are rare since there was no action here, some some occupation forces. Now, we have some beaches, too, but mainly I am hitting fields. Any tips on Atlantic Ocean beach hunting or colonial hunting with the Fisher would help. Have been using an Ace-350 for two years and just feel I am missing some things. Thanks for any help, advice, etc. Was an avid hunter in the late 80s, early 90s, but took about ten years off to raise a family, now trying to gear up to get what others leave behind.

 

[shooter]

It's a great machine it will go real deep, and the large coil will pull up deep goodies. at the beach set the SEN as High as it will go the max setting is with the knob pulled out, then slowly drop the SEN down till she quiets down with no Rice Krispy noise (Snap,Crackle Pop) Then lower your DISC 1 to about 0-1 this will be like A/M's and u will get MAX depth also set DISC 2 till about 4.5 or enough Disc. to keep a nickle tone alive. Hunt in 1 and check each hit in to, But remember some of those target you check in Disc 2 might be good and just to deep for it to pic it up at DISC. setting. That YOUR chose to pick out what to dig, so important to learn to read tone sounds in DISC 1. When coin shooting and ring hunting this setup is so important cause now after you test the target in D2 and it's good at 4.5 you almost have to dig it, this procedure will get you more gold then higher DISC.setting, but you will have to take the good with the day, you will get more junk, but you will also clear 50% of the garbage for you next hunt of the same area and you will be going deeper and you have already gotten rid of alot of target MASKING junk. with my 1265 and 1270 I would grid out an area and set max SEN-DISC.and sweep cross direction of each grid vertical , horz. diag. each way dig everything that sounded then lowered the DISC 1 number and did the same thing till I did that area till I reached DISC-3 and then I would go to the next grid but I just confident I got just about everything in that grid and you will be surprised at what others have missed.I send you some info. and any questions ask away..

 

[shooter]

Sure thing.

 

[Andy Nunez]

OK, here's what happened on my test run with the 1265x.
I kept the stock coil on and went to a site we have been hunting nearly 30 years, with my club, and separately. I had another longtime 1265X user with me. He had the spider coil and regular headphones and I had a filled coil with Depthmaster Superphones. The superphones blew my eardrums off on loud targets so I backed stuff way off. Got the sensitivity until I didn't have background chatter or crosstalk and hunted 3 in Disc 1 and 5 in Disc 2. I loved it. Dug up some iron that sounded questionable. Two other hunters had been there two weeks earlier. Their holes were evident in the field, but I still managed to pull two dime-sized flat buttons out, along with some copper wire and a broken brass square nail. The pinpointing was dead on. I want to go back with the 11 inch coil next. This is going to be my relic and beach machine. The Ace 350 won out in our second site, a big yard, only because of the amount of crap in the yard. So glad I outbid the fellow on this 1265x. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Arthur-Canada]

I took the F75 LTD and the 1265X for a run yesterday at an older house site. I am struggling to get the settings on the F75 right for me, but it'll come with time I guess. I found lots of info online and tried a couple setups, but never really found anything spectacular. Did manage a button front and another small button with the F75. I was getting a good number in the readout, but jumped everywhere. As for the 1265x, it pulled a bunch of bottle caps from the back yard, couple nails, aluminum flashing shreds. Never got a solid hit that wasn't junk. I am hearing the difference though on the outer edge of the coils with the sounds of the iron. Kind of a fizzy edge, not a solid hot. Is that what I should be hearing? I set discrim around 4 and still heard a lot of signals. Tried running it really high too around 7-8 and that's where I found the bottle caps. The back should have some clad and silver as my buddy found some back there. If I put it on 3 and dig all the signals I'd never finish the yard! So, any other suggestions for me with hearing this? The F75 I like, but it's a whole different ball game from the AT pro. I tried BP mode, discrim 6, sensitivity around 50 and mono as was suggested online, but it too had a lot of iffy signals, not solid and chirpy. Should I dig any of those or just solid hits? Confusing.

It took me a while to get use to my 1265. Bottle caps were the worse thing to learn. I can identify them easily now. My trick is to just swing slower over them. They will almost completely disappear this way where as a coin will still ring out loud and clear.

 

[nge]

And there is also a 12" Hothead coil available for it.......nge

 

[Andy Nunez]

Not sure if I need a hotter head for it! I think it goes plenty deep but I need to learn the sounds and tweaks to avoid big deep iron. Dug way too much of that last time I took it out Got a little silver plated button, so I know the 11 inch coin is good for small stuff, just need to try to elimate the plow blades! Not giving up, but will keep working with it. I hope to try it at a beach when the weather warms a bit. Can't do yards right now because the ground is rock solid, but fields should still be huntable. Next item on my list is a Lesche shovel to drive through frozen ground. Thanks for the tip, though. If I was digging Civil War relics, I'd probably need that, but the amount of ACW activity around here was sparse, well known, and hunted heavily.