Soil condition and depth.

[halfstep]

For those who have the CTX and checked depth in a test garden, what was your results? Or your depth results out in the wild? How deep can you pick up a clad quarter?

Today, I tested my CTX with a buried clad quarter. I dug the hole and then went through the sidewall and buried the quarter so that it would be under undisturbed dirt. I am using the 17" coil. I buried the quarter at 10". I could not get a hit. I changed the settings and used different configuration, I tried open screen as well and different tone selections. I tested with the sensitivity between 25-30. I moved over and dug a new hole and buried it at 9" and still could not get a hit. I dug a new hole and buried at 7". I could get a hit but it was not solid. I dug a new hole at 6" and could get a pretty good hit. I grabbed my safari and it would hit the 6" but was weak. At 7" the safari would let out an occasional squeak.

In the wild, I rarely dig coins much over 6" to 7" deep. I have dug lots of coins with the CTX since getting it at the first of Feb. It is a solid stable machine that is great for coinshooting. I am well pleased with it. I have found 5 rings with it and 1 nice 24" silver necklace/chain I have found around 50 dollars in clad and a couple sliver dimes.

I just suspect that the soil conditions here in southeast Missouri are harsh and kills the depth. I see videos of guys pulling coins at 10" to 12" with the CTX but not me. I have a good understanding of the CTX and have been detecting for 7-8 years. The CTX is operating great and nails the coins. It is becoming second nature for me. I understand the settings pretty good and have experimented with them. Target separation works best on ground-coin around here for me giving me the best stability. I mainly hunt parks and yards.

The only thing I can conclude about the depth is that the ground is heavily mineralized around here for the most part. Anyone else have harsh ground and reduced depth?

 

[trojdor]

Anyone else have harsh ground and reduced depth?

Yes...lots of us.

 

[sprchng]

I always correlated soil conditions with sensitivity and would think your soil is pretty mild if you can run Sens. 25 to 30.
The recommended sen. in my soil rarely exceeds the mid teens and I dig 8" coins regularly if the ground is soft enough to permit that without a pick.
My soil is high in iron but the % of mineralization is not very high which I think has more to do with depth than anything else.

 

[ironman200081]

You are correct about the soil in Swampeast Missouri. When I come down to your neck of the woods, I experience the same lack of depth compared to my mild dirt up here in Mid-MO. I also notice that the soil down there reduces the amount of sensitivity that I can run. I have not fiddled around much with the Ground Coin setting on the CTX, but I would recommend that you give it a try and see if it counteracts some of the mineralization. Last time I went down to the St. Francois Mountains, I tried Ground Coin and the CTX seemed to run "different" - hard to explain.

If you are ever up my way and want to try out digging 10"-12" coins, give me a shout.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

I have found that I dig my deepest coins in moist loamy (think dark rich farm soil) soils. (except for beach finds)

 

[halfstep]

I always correlated soil conditions with sensitivity and would think your soil is pretty mild if you can run Sens. 25 to 30.
The recommended sen. in my soil rarely exceeds the mid teens and I dig 8" coins regularly if the ground is soft enough to permit that without a pick.
My soil is high in iron but the % of mineralization is not very high which I think has more to do with depth than anything else.

I was testing for depth and ran the sensitivity higher to get more depth. I usually keep it in manual and run it in the low 20's. If I ran in auto, it would take it down to 14 to 17 range. I can get acceptable stability in the low 20's without too much falsing and chattering assuming the EMI is not excessive. Some places, the ground is cursed and will drive you crazy. It is hard to get good depth here. I just assume the ground is highly mineralized. Something is causing reduced depth.

 

[halfstep]

You are correct about the soil in Swampeast Missouri. When I come down to your neck of the woods, I experience the same lack of depth compared to my mild dirt up here in Mid-MO. I also notice that the soil down there reduces the amount of sensitivity that I can run. I have not fiddled around much with the Ground Coin setting on the CTX, but I would recommend that you give it a try and see if it counteracts some of the mineralization. Last time I went down to the St. Francois Mountains, I tried Ground Coin and the CTX seemed to run "different" - hard to explain.

If you are ever up my way and want to try out digging 10"-12" coins, give me a shout.

I do run in ground-coin. I find it to be the best setting for getting stable repeatable hits. I am (dis)cribbed to your youtube channel and enjoy you vids. My internet is way too slow for me to upload vids so I never posted any. It' nice to have the confirmation form a fellow Missourian who has experience with the CTX and who has hunted here in semo.

I went out hunting yesterday at a house in Poplar Bluff that is scheduled to be torn down soon. It was built in the 40's. I pulled a 1943 merc at 5 inches and it wasn't a great signal. I also found a little clad, 4 quarters, 3 dimes, 4 nickels and 15 pennies. My wife found a 1900 silver dollar that 1/3 is missing. It looks like it was broken off. Plus she found 4 pennies. We both found a couple hot wheels. The ground was pretty bad and noisy making a little chatter and falsing. Plus power lines near by. We have permission to hit the house next to it this evening. It looks to be built in the 40's as well.

If I get up your way, I will definitely take you up on your offer.

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

I hunt west coast Florida beaches and black sand colored by iron is the death of many detectors, but not the CTX 3030. I was hunting a darkened beach from black sands this morning and noticed the layers of black sand among the lighter layers of sand as I dug deep to retrieve my coins, at 28/hr! They were everywhere on a heavily hunted beach and I was pulling them out up to 10" deep. The machine was running in ground-coin and at Manual 18 with suggested sensitivity of 14 - now that is low (for me). I usually run around 21-23 on most of the beaches and pull dimes and quarters from 12-15" with the 17" coil all day long on heavily hunted beaches. Most detectors with 8-11" coils go about 9" deep on most of these beaches and thus the reason I can pull coins from 9-15" all day long. But please be quiet and don't tell a soul.

 

[IDXMonster]

I too have noticed than when I hit sand,which is not often for me, I can find stuff deeper than usual. Perhaps the medium density has something to do with it,I dunno. 10” is pushing it hard other places with the 17”.