Impact Hunt Observations/Thoughts

[dbado1]

I took the Impact and my buddy took his CTX3030 to one of the toughest spots I know of yesterday for a hunt. We were blessed with perfect Northern Arizona weather up in the mixed conifers and well enough off of the beaten path that there were no holiday weekend "intruders".

The place is an old army fort that was established in the 1870s and then evolved in to a small town. You wouldn't know the place was ever there unless you had researched the old maps and then put boots on the ground and found the indicators like the old glass and square nails. The site is so trashy that the CTX in disc mode is silent on full arc swings due to the extended "null" on much of the ground. Mostly square nails of all sizes. The targets are not deep here... 4" being average. This site is a challenge for any machine or operator.

I put the small coil on the Impact, set it up in DI3, no disc, Iron Vol 3, TB to 26, gain 82, 20kHz, no tracking. The soil read three bars on the mineral scale and GBed at 81. Sounded like a machine gun of iron grunts. Yet, the Impact performed extremely well...the best of any machine I've had on this site. It's extremely fast and has laser like separation. Depth was not an issue out here as the targets had not sunk below about 4" due to a hard pack layer.

I recovered a couple of Spencer cases and a intact fired three ringer, .36 cal. pistol ball, fragments of lead, and some brass rivets. My buddy recovered just about the same. Nothing earth shattering. No bucket listers but a fun day nonetheless.

Observations about the Impact... Super fast recovery that lulled me in to thinking that I could swing faster than I should. When it hits on a good target in the sea of iron it hits hard, especially, mid tone targets. I never dug a good target that gave just a "one way" good tone. Most times, a good boot scrape changed that one way good tone helping the machine to "see it" better. It doesn't always hold true, but on this hunt, if the target couldn't be confirmed in at least two directions it was junk. DI3 is the bomb in thick iron! No disc, iron volume on 2 or 3 and just listen for the higher tones to break through.

I have never recovered a coin here. The usual relic stuff but never a coin. It's a total mystery as to why. Anyway, I'll quit rambling. HH

Dean

 

[doc holiday232]

Excellent report--can smell those pines. Them ole boys probably didn't have many coins to lose.

 

[iskirkra]

Dean,
Very good report. Did you experiment with any of the other modes on the impact? Was the ID stable once you zeroed in on a target?

Thanks, Randy

 

[dbado1]

Yes, Randy, I have. Not on this hunt though. Iv'e hunted with the Impact enough now, on sites like this, to know what modes will work better than others. Here's my take thus far...

OLD (little modern trash) iron laden sites, DI3 or DI2 with no disc. With no disc the machine IDs that flat rusty tin much better and doesn't call it "good" as often...it calls it iron. Keep the FE volume low and listen for the mid and high tones. Setting the tone break from 15 to 26 and the machine will call those large square nails..."nails". The TID #s in these modes are pretty reliable. Tonal IDs are even better.

Gen(D) is really cool. I like hunting in threshold based All Metal mode. I cut my teeth in the Arizona gold fields on AM only machines.
After hunting in Gen(D) for a few hours I believe it is best applied to sites that are moderately or mildly trashy. It tends to give me "audio overload" if there is too much trash.

The VLX modes seem to exhibit the most consistently accurate TIDs. Both of these modes are my park/yard/coin shooting modes where accurate IDs are important so I'm not digging the heck out of someone's yard. They are also the most EMI stable/quiet modes, IMO.

Iv'e given DI99 a run a time or two. I like it and would utilize it in the same situations as Gen(D).

It is also easy and interesting to cross check targets with the different modes. My favorite combo, although not mine as somebody else posted this, is cross checking with Gen(D) on iffy targets. Works great! Thanks to whom ever posted that tip.

Hope this helps some. Please post up what you find as well. HH

Dean

 

[iskirkra]

Thanks Dean, that is some very good information. I am just getting over back surgery and have just played with it a bit in my test garden, but can't wait to get out. I have the minelab pro swing 45 harness that works great on this machine as well. Thanks again for the tips, very helpful.

Randy

 

[Pedlar mills]

What mode do you like best for old sites with a lot of modern trash? Haven't had a chance to hunt much with it yet so still in the learning stage

 

[Pedlar mills]

What mode do you like best for old sites with a lot of modern trash? Haven't had a chance to hunt much with it yet so still in the learning stage. But really like it the little bit I've been able to go

 

[dbado1]

You're welcome, Randy. Get well soon. There's stuff waiting to be found!

Pedlar mills,
I recently hunted a place like that... An old homestead that had been continuously lived on to the present day. I found that the VLX modes served well there . The best find of the day was an old aluminum token that was was as large as a silver dollar. Nearly stopped my heart when I saw it in the hole! If the place is littered with iron, I prefer the three tone VLX1 mode as it doesn't overwhelm me tonally. Usually, I don't use any disc as I like to hear everything happening under the coil and, if there is too much happening, I prefer less tones. Three seems to suit me well most of the time. If not so trashy VLX2 would give more info. It gives nice blended tones as well. Also, the little coil is awesome in a site with a lot of trash! Good luck!

Dean

 

[Beyonder]

"It is also easy and interesting to cross check targets with the different modes. My favorite combo, although not mine as somebody else posted this, is cross checking with Gen(D) on iffy targets. Works great! Thanks to whom ever posted that tip."

You are welcome! I got a few other tips brewing, you can check out my first vid on the Impact here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJtyaJ2YHm8

 

[Pedlar mills]

Thank you! Found a house built in 1788 but people have lived in it the whole time so it's a mix of everything

 

[dbado1]

Thanks, Bey! Looking forward to hearing more of your experiences with the Impact.

Dean