Bounty Hunter's and Gram and 1/2 Gram of Gold

[salmonriverhotrock]

Here is an interesting read from an Australian web site. Have not come across anything like this information here in the States or by First Texas/Bounty Hunter but maybe it will be helpful to others seeking gold nuggets. As best I understand, my Pioneer 505 is the equivalent of the Sharp Shooter II. Also understand, this company seems to be the only authorized BH dealer down under and they re-tune these imported machines for their coins and harsh mineralized Gold prospecting environment.

1 Gram is about 15.4323584 Grains. 1/2 Gram is about 7.716179 Grains. The average Long Rifle .22 caliber bullet is about 38-40 Grains. In other reading I've done, it is said that if you are finding .22 bullets or smaller pieces of lead, you should also be finding Gold at about the same sizes and around the same sound if it is there. A Gram is less than 1/2 the weight of a .22 bullet and if these Bounty Hunter machines can hit as small as a half Gram nugget, if nuggets are there where we are hunting, we should at least be bringing some of them home. I'm not going to go back through this weeks Posts and Replies but I seem to recall one of the fellows here mentioned he hit on a 1.05 Gram nugget. In my test pieces, I have a .22 bullet and made from soft lead like a fishing sinker, 1.5, 1.0. and 0.5 Gram lead test pieces. Keep in mind that Flour or Fine gold will require more of it in concentration to be able to begin to detect it.

http://www.treasureenterprises.com/Metal%20Detectors/Metal%20Detectors%20&%20Accessories/bounty_hunter.htm

Treasure Enterprises of Australia

FAST TRACKER:

If the detector is to be used for basic gold prospecting, the All Metal mode is the one to be used.

TRACKER IV:

If the detector is to be used for basic gold prospecting, the All Metal mode should be used. The detector has the ability to detect gold nuggets over 1 gram in size in most ground conditions, as well as through black sands using the standard 8

 

[nugget]

I'm the bloke that has found the 1.05 nugget with the T4. I might add it was flat, close to surface and the only nugget I've gotten with the unit. The standard 8" coil was used, the sens was at the extreme I could manage with just a little falsing. I wouldn't recommend these units for prospecting at all! They are great for parks and beach work, and that's it. I have found hundreds of 22 cal lead, 303, lead and the usual brass, all close to the surface, within a few inches with them. They are not a prospecting detector at all in my humble opinion. The 4" coil for me was next to useless, so detect the parks and beaches, both fresh and saltwater, save your cash and get an older higher freq VLF dedicated gold machine which can be brought second hand for around $500 to $650. A couple that come to mind are the ML XT17000, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Although outclassed for depth by the ML Pulse Induction machines, they find incredibly small nuggets. Hope this helps someone. regards Nugget.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Greetings Nugget

Your gold nugget find with a BH is the first I've read about and congratulate you. Up to then, all I could really gather on some of the BH models is that they are able or are capable of finding nuggets but from what I read, I don't think BH is strongly promoting them as prospecting machines. The Australian web site was the first I've seen in which there is any weight given for what you may expect to find with black sand considered and I thought it interesting in that your find was in that range. They also seem to look at prospecting with these BH's as general or basic. There are higher freq. VLF machines out there that would more easily go for much smaller nuggets, pickers, and maybe some flakes, but I think for a BH to be able or capable of hitting on a 1/2 or 1 Gram nugget is at least something to look forward to if in areas known to have gold nuggets that weight or greater.

It is my belief that most gold in the world is small, flake, or flour gold. The larger and most easily hand picked on the surface, panned, sluiced, dredged, or metal detected are but in rare instances, a thing of the past here in the United States. Unless a hill slides or washes away or a dry wash has a flash flood for instance, most accessible places open to the public are pretty well picked over. The shear numbers of Gold Seekers and the ground they have covered in all these hundreds of years, I think dictates for someone very serious, a need for Multi Freq. machines. I do believe a BH will detect gold nuggets but the size required to excite them are much fewer than for the higher freq. VLF detectors. In my location, I strongly suspect nuggets in or along the river are a small possibility but I know from sluicing and panning, I've had much greater luck finding very fine flour gold and it still would not pay wages or for a suction dredge or top of the line MD.

I'm one of those who keeps on trying and will push my 505 for all it has in it though I have my Garrett Groundhog. Just maybe after a good spring run off, I'll find one of them yellow rascals just below sand and gravel in a bedrock crack or crevice. One fellow I know missed a picker 2 years ago not far from me on bedrock way up above the river with his Gold Bug but got it with his back pac-vac. I know of another fellow who has one of them Big Dog ML units and is about to shoot it for how difficult it has been to try and learn.

Well, I'm off to the hay so I can do the early shift, Thanks for sharing.

 

[nugget]

Your welcome Robert, regards Nugget.

 

[aushunter]

A Victorian 31 gram Gold Nugget found with the 'Tracker IV' worth about $1300.00
Heres another one.

 

[nugget]

Nice nugget aushunter, how deep, if you don't mind me asking? regards Nugget

 

[capt.]

About all I can add to this thread is that I did dig a 22 bullet in the woods behind my house with my 505 using the standard coil. About 3 inches down if I remember correctly. I went to see what, if anything, I would find back there. Did not go long and it was the only thing I found.

capt.

 

[aushunter]

Hey Nugget,
That's not my find, I found this little article on the Net.
I thought I would be of interest to others.
Apparently the guy that found it was with others that had Minelab 4000's and he was the only one to walk away with gold.
Good on him.
I wish I had his luck, I think I'll just stick to sluicing, that way I know I will get gold every time.
Cheers and HH

aushunter - Brad..

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Watch the T4's meter. It is more sensitive than the audio portion. It will wiggle a bit and the speaker won't give a peep. Might be worth a try next time you're out. It'll make you hunt a little slower, if nothing else!

-Ed

 

[reltolbert]

My Bounty Hunter Platinum metal detector with the 8" coil will detect .3 gram of gold at 3", air test.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

I think that comes out to about a 4.63 grain piece of gold.

On ebay for example, there are gold test pieces you can buy glued to poker chips. The 1-2 grain gold is recommended for the Gold Bug 1&2 and the White's Goldmaster and GMT, and the Mine Lab Eureka. The 3-4 grain gold test pieces are recommended for Mine Lab PI's and White's MXT's with the smaller DD coil. Then the 4-5 grain gold test piece is recommended for the White's MXT and Mine Labs with larger coils.

What I have read elsewhere is the White's Gold Master and GMT with the smaller Shooter 4 X 6 coil will go after sub-grain gold. My standard elliptical coil will respond to a very small amount (< grain) of Flour Gold in air but I'm certain if placed on the ground here, I would not even hear it for all the mineralization we have and the gold is hundreds of micro pieces instead of one solid piece.

A test piece of gold is used on the ground you are searching which most likely in gold areas, will be mineralized at varying degrees or some places worse than others. From what I gather, It is suggested you bury the test piece about an inch deep or so in the location you are going to hunt to see if you can ground balance the unit and still detect the gold piece though you want it to be a bit challenging to the ear. I'm unfamiliar with the BH Platnum so have no idea what machines it could be compared to. I do know that my White's Gold Master V-SAT is night and day on small gold compared to two of my regular coin machines. Not that there are no more nuggets here on earth large enough for a coin machine to hit on but most gold nugget areas have been worked over a great many times and the most of the gold left unfound at normal depth are getting smaller and smaller which can make them more difficult to find in mineralized ground for the average machines. Seems there has been a big shift now by the hard core over to using the PI detectors for the deeper missed or unfound but larger nuggets. The draw back is you give up finding the smaller stuff which may still could be more abundant where you are searching.

If it's large enough and there, about any detector should find it.

 

[reltolbert]

As I mentioned above, my Bounty Hunter Platinum metal detector will detect a .3 gram (.01 ounce) of gold at 3" air test (all metal mode)
and 2 1/2" in the ground with discrimination mode using the 8" coil. The 4" coil, for some reason, is not as sensitive as the 8" coil.
I don't have the 10" coil yet. I will test this one in the future.
The penny, nickel tests at 10" (air and ground). Quarter at 11"-12" (air or ground). Dime at 9"-10" (air or ground) with the 8" coil.
I'm sure the depth will be greater with the 10" coil.
So, I believe it is possible to find small gold nuggets with this Detector in the field.
Not bad for $299.95 on sale at Cabelas. Regular price is $499.95.