Calling Steve H. nugget Meister!

[BarnacleBill]

Hello Steve,

Many here, are inquiring about how the X50 & X70 might respond to a gold nugget with the HF coil, though they don't live in gold bearing areas. I know you have used many machines and really have found more nuggets than most reading this ever will. I was trying to relate a common target to the average gold nuggets you have found.

The best, most identifiable object I could come up with is the .22 cal short slug.

So in the gold fields, how would a slug equate in nugget size and target response as you see it? If a guy in KY wants to try out a machine before travelling to AK, is a .22 cal short the best bet besides real gold specimens?

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Bill,

For all practical purposes gold and lead read the same. The smaller the piece of lead the better. I'd consider a .22 short to be a pretty big nugget. Any detector can pick up something that big.

I have been doing some nugget tests with the X-Terras and will report soon. Looks very good and the X-Terra 70 is holding it's own with my MXT, which has always set my standard for a machine that can find gold nuggets and yet do well on coin, relics, jewelry, etc.

Get a lead fishing sinker and tear off a chunk of clean lead about the size of a grain of rice or a paper matchhead and tape to a business card for doing "small nugget" testing.

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal

 

[richetts]

That's exactly what I was looking for, a way to know.. Maybe one of you folks with both machines will do some air/ground testing for me using the lead trick. More than likely, I will just pony up and buy the XT70 because I see some potential use of the LF coil around here for some seriously deep old stuff in cleaner areas. Perhaps you got Bills curiosity flowing and he is attaching a piece of lead to a card as we speak.. Thanks for the info..

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

I don't know about Bill, But I have dug a lot of little Lead shot. I thought I was at a target range for birds. All those little pellets.

Only problem are all those little pieces. Spent alot ot time trash digging instead of treasure, but that is what testing is all about.

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Joe,

I like bullets when nugget detecting. Bullets are more common than nuggets, and so I tell novices to really pay attention to the bullets. The deeper the bullets (or pieces of bullets), and the smaller the shot, the better job you are doing as a nugget hunter. Anybody good at finding really deep or really small lead will do just fine finding gold nuggets. The only real trick is to get over the nugget!

But there is such a thing as too much sensitivity. When coin hunting I think it is a benefit to not have a unit that hits all that tiny stuff. I can't wait to try the 3 kHz coils!

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal

 

[Hastings]

Would you say the X-Terra 70 is better at detecting tiny gold nuggets in particular in lots of iron than say the Lobo/Goldmaxx & would the 18.75kHZ 10"x5" dd coil be the best for this?Thanks.

 

[BarnacleBill]

n/t

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Hastings,

I do not know about the Goldmaxx. The Lobo I would give the edge to at this time based strictly on the fact that it has the 3" x 7" elliptical coil which will give you better target separation than a larger coil. The 5" x 10" DD will help the X-Terra 70 in this regard but I'd sure like to see something smaller yet. And one thing Minelab has never done much of is build the really small coils. Hopefully this will change with the X-Terra series.

I expect the X-Terra 70 to be a good gold machine but I also think it is probably expecting a bit much to believe it will outperform dedicated gold machines. My biggest concern is not how well it hits gold, but how well it handles tough variable ground conditions. Nugget detecting is far more demanding than most types of detecting in that you are due to the nature of the activity seeking out highly mineralized areas. I can test nuggets all I want but until I can get the X-Terra into some really bad ground conditions I'll be withholding judgement on it as a nugget machine versus other units I have used.

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal

 

[Hastings]

Thanks Steve,
I thought the Lobo & MXT were multi-purpose detectors?
I've used a Lobo in UK succesfully for finding small hammered coins in lots of iron.
I,m hoping that the X-Terra 70 using the small 18.75kHz coils will be at least as good for this if not better.
I,m just enquiring if you think the 10"x5" DD 18.75kHz coil which is available now in the UK would be very good for this type of detecing or should i wait for a smaller coil which may never be made for the X-Terra 70?

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Hastings,

Well, the MXT and Lobo certainly are multi-use units. I did not mean to imply they were not.

I hate to say it but only you can answer your question. I simply do not know. If you want me to guess, I'd say the X-Terra 70 should be good for what you are doing. But will it outperform the Lobo on your targets in your soil? maybe the 5" x 10" DD coil for the X-Terra 70 will pick between targets in thick iron than the 3" x 7" concentric on the Lobo, but it is going to be darn close. If I were a betting man I'd be betting on the Lobo. but I could be wrong!

IF Minelab comes out with a truly small coil, it would be another matter.

Personally, I think people expect too much out of new units. VLF single frequency technology is pretty much tapped out, and so I do not expect the X-Terra detectors will blow the doors off existing units in areas like depth of detection or target separation. If anything they simply are to me a very nice total package of features that I have been wanting to see in a single light-weight unit. But if you have a machine like the Lobo that has been doing well on a certain task I do not think there is any need to toss it in the dust bin just yet. Do not get me wrong, I do very much like the X-Terra detectors. But they did not make all the other VLF machines obsolete if it is pure performance issues you are talking about.

Have you ever tried a Fisher Gold Bug 2 with small coil? Maybe it would be too sensitive for your task but I've always been very impressed with its Iron ID circuit.

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal