Practice looking for Gold Nuggets :thumbup:

[Sunny Jim]

Most gold is small. Size can be compared to a match head or a rice crispy.
A Nickle acts and reports like a 1/4 oz Gold nugget. A nickle weighs 5 grams.
Those are big nuggets in most locations so small gold is the game.

Get some lead sinkers and lop off a few rice crispy sized 'nuggets'.
Lead will act like gold and the signals will range up into the 20's in ID: size and distance are the variables. Practice with a nickle at a distance and observe the results when you get closer. A nugget will act in a similar way. Detect in modes starting with no discrimination. Figure out where the lowest reading for the lead is and discriminate below or at that value. 6 is a popular number.
Iron that is rusty can act the same so watch the FeO meter. Rusty iron will not be consistent when sweeped from different directions. A nickle should be more faithful.
Experiment with manual ground balance a few numbers higher than fastgrab. Distance should improve.
Try the tests in all modes to help you sort out the iffys from a good target. You might use these different modes to investigate a target before you dig.
Listen to the sounds of good targets from bad.

Have Fun!
Sunny Jim

 

[bottlebum]

Great idea Jim. Thanks for posting!!

 

[Sunny Jim]

Today I was on a beach and while navigating past some driftwood I got some good signals from an Alder log 18 inches in diameter and seven feet long.
They were lead bullets. Three different calibers and the last indicated they were in the living tree. Here is the best part, after detecting in a trash laden environment and only a few coins, these targets had NO indication on the FeO meter on the right side of the screen! Iron free, low teens to upper 30's repeatable ID's= acts like a gold nugget. Ground Balance was fast-grab mid 80's to 90.

I have been watching that FeO meter since some of the fellows on this forum schooled me more and the results have been a vast improvement in identifying the targets before they are dug. I even went back to two notches in iron in discrimination and confirming iffy signals in all metal. (all metal tells me the full range of hits with rusty iron all over the scale,... I look for a few hits in the low numbers{iron} and watch the FeO meter always)

I guess the significance of a Nickle for most is the successful identification of it. Not only the Nickles ID well but then also the Gold rings that fall near the pop-top- pull tab. To be able to stretch the range of nickles and narrow the success rate of Nickles VS. Pulls/pop's makes me find way more nickles than any machine I have used to date. Not really fair in comparison without the machines with me to test, but the results say more nickles. They are good repeatable targets.

Now that I have some more nuggets to test (and a few were high velocity mushrooms) I am going high grading for lead in some better spots. After numerous visits to the trashy park, I am confident on knowing how to call most iron trash. Bobby pins still fool me and melted bits of beer cans do too, but they will be scarce in the gold fields.

Sunny Jim

 

[vlad]

n/t

 

[Sunny Jim]

Don't know myself
Saw a youtube a year ago where this guy had recovered some shot at 13".
My suggestion would be to flatten a shot of the same size being tested to see how it responds, compared to the round.

looky here what I found:
"I just got my new Fisher F75 in yesterday In fact I was The The first one to purchase one from Kelly Co The Machine Performed well in trash ! I dug A few Flat butons Percussion Caps & some Big Brass I also dug # 4 Buckshot at 13" Deep They are the size of BB's A tad Bigger The Campsite I Was hunting was loaded with Horse shoes So Iron nails & horse shoes Were No problem for this Machine ! I had my sensitivity set on 90 next to powerline & no Interference ! I rate this machine A 10 Hands Down ! "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAwVJR9TSgg


Cannot say I had the same results because I have not tried.

Sunny Jim

 

[vlad]

I've tried it on steel BB's [.17 caliber]in all metal, and it was extremely difficult to hit, and detectors will always find
iron deeper than anything else.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Sorry Vlad,

This is not a study in looking for iron. That is not the purpose and I do not wish to change the topic or entertain looking for Iron when another metal is favored.
Unless you have some nuggets lying around you have to get the lead out Vlad.

Go get some lead shot, not steel BB's and find out what you can. I do not have a sample of lead shot like you want tested and I am not about to go buy a bag of each or a box of shells to experiment. Surely there must be a gun club nearby where you can go down range and look for shot. This is a hands-on test and drill for those who want to PRACTICE LOOKING FOR GOLD NUGGETS.
Rice crispy sized or match head sized nuggets are good sized nuggets to find in any location as they begin the Gram size find. Grain sized nuggets are a horse of another color, but the F57 can hit those too. Old lead in the ground will have leached out some of the oxides into the soil and may have the 'halo' effect. Same for copper and silver alloyed native gold. Of course, moisture content will affect the results of the conductive salts just like at the beach. This is not a perfect test but it gets the lead out here HH.

Sunny Jim

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Actualy he is correct in part as # 4 buckshot is .240" the next size larger than a BB and he said a( tad bigger).BB is also a lead shot size ( .180") as well as a steel air rifle projectile ( .177").There is a BBB size(.190") shot but is a modern steel shot for waterfowl hunting for the most part.Also most air rifle BB,s are copper plated and would be a little different than a pure steel ball of the same size when testing I woud dare say.As for the depth he quoted I wonder ?

 

[vlad]

n/t

 

[Sunny Jim]

They are empties from the last riots and I was using DU shot.