New to the Forum

[olfart]

By way of introduction, I'm a retired deputy sheriff living in the boondocks of northeast Texas. There are a couple of old wells on our property, and we've been told that one of them was at the site of an old one-room school building. The oldest topo map I've found of the area is from 1910, and it does not show any structures on our property. That leads me to believe the school building (and probably a house at the other well site) disappeared before 1910. This area was primarily cotton farms in the 1800s, now covered in pine, sweetgum, oak and briars.

After 44 years of using a D-Tex Tiny Tex sporadically, I finally broke down and bought a Bounty Hunter Time Ranger. Now that I've committed my finances and time to BH, I find that almost nobody uses a Time Ranger. Is it that outdated/outmoded, or is there something inherently bad about it that has turned people away? After the Tiny Tex, I'm thrilled to have something that discriminates iron and at least semi-identifies coins (except when it thinks old shotgun shells are nickels).

 

[olfart]

Is it that outdated/outmoded, or is there something inherently bad about it that has turned people away? After the Tiny Tex, I'm thrilled to have something that discriminates iron and at least semi-identifies coins (except when it thinks old shotgun shells are nickels).

Wow! 57 views and not one response to my question.

 

[straker]

Welcome to the Bounty Hunter users forum! Personally,I like using a Bounty Hunter myself. You can't go wrong with the features offered for the price. The Time Ranger is a good metal detector. Read the owners manual thoroughly and you should do alright. Yes,shotgun shells will read around nickel and slightly above. I would run low discrimination to knock out nails and small iron. Let the tones do the talking. If you want to tell the size of the target...lift the coil up a foot and if it still detects...it's a Biggun,meaning the size of a soda can or bigger.
I really like using BH. I own a big bud pro se and a rare BH variant made after the First Texas takeover in 1990. You can see than below this post. Good luck with the BH. It'll git er done!

 

[olfart]

Thanks for the reply!

So far all I've found on our place is trash and some old pieces of a cast iron cook stove that probably occupied the old schoolhouse. I think somebody must've dynamited the old stove, because I've found small fragments of it scattered over a 100' radius.

 

[straker]

How far away are you from Gilmer? If you're ever in the area...visit Keith Wills of 'East Texas Metal Detectors'. He is a wealth of information and he could give you some pointers. He's found Gold coins and a few caches. I wish I could boast of such things...but,I'm working on it. LOL

 

[olfart]

I'm about 50 miles north of Gilmer and don't go that way very often. When I do, it's usually on a mission (shopping) with my wife. I'll have to make a special effort to get down there and meet Keith.

 

[Mike Hillis]

Hi Olfart,
The Time Ranger was Bounty Hunter's top of the line metal detector before they produced the T2, so it is a good unit. I've known several people that have used them with great sucess. On the old Bounty Hunter website forum (now gone away) there was guy that went by the name of Pineapple, out of Georgia, that used a Time Ranger pretty exclusively and he did very well even with deep coins, so you have a good unit for the soils of north Texas.

Just get out and use it and dig it up and see whats what.

Good luck,
HH
Mike

 

[dirt jockey]

Time Ranger is a great machine. I started with the Pioneer 202 (Quick Draw II) nearly 15 years ago and I still swing it from time to time. Mike mentioned Pineapple, after reading his posts for a couple of years I purchased the Time Ranger. There is a bit of a learning curve with the TR but reading the manual and lots of practice and you will love it. Actually the Titan 9000 is an updated upgraded version of the old Time Ranger. I gave my TR to my 11 year old grandson and we go tectin every opportunity that comes along. Experiment with the settings and practice, practice, practice. It's a great machine, light, and dead on for pin pointing. You have some great finds and a lot fun ahead of you. Enjoy it, happy hunting.