Help me please cz-5

[Ayeti65]

I have a cz-5 I just bought, then sent off to fisher to have recalibrated and gone throughout the electronics. It works like crazy on coins and silver rings, but today I was out with another my dad, he found 3 gold rings on the same beach that I have been hunting for a week, so I thought I would check the rings to see where my cz-5 was hitting them with zero disc. and to my surprise it was blocking them out as iron. No matter what changes I made they stayed iron except on ring finally went to beaver tab. I had a good ground balance and have been digging nickels, pull tabs, beaver tabs and can slaw that reads as foil, I haven't found a single piece of gold with this machine... I have a bounty hunter land star and it will find gold no problem, tell me that I am doing some thing wrong, or do I need to send it back to Felix at fisher, I bought this machine because it is hot and goes deep and it does, but if it won't find gold, on the fresh water swimming beaches of our lake I might as well toss it in the water and get something else..

Mike

 

[therover]

Hate to say it, but your CZ5 will find gold...it will just ID some as iron. There have been times when I have dug weak, deep iron signals that turned out to be gold targets on my CZ6a. Just the way it goes with a CZ. They will ID deep targets, lots of them good, as iron.

When you stated your Dads unit hit on the rings, what did his unit ID them as ( does his unit have target ID ?). If it is a unit that does not have target ID, then where was the discrimination set at ?

Also, was the CZ5 in Normal mode or Salt mode ?

Lastly...you obviously tested the rings after they were dug, which can make a difference as opposed to when they were in the ground. What are the make up of the rings...are they 10K, 14K , etc. ?

 

[Ayeti65]

My cz-5 was in normal mode
Vol on 4.5
Ground at 5.5
Sensitivity at 4

I know it will find gold.., but I have so much iron on these beaches I can't dig all the iron tones, I would never get off the ground.., my dads unit is a 1265 he has first disc on 4 4-1/2 and the second disk just shuts out gold/ pull tabs...he has had that machine for 20 years or so and is great with it... No joke he has found up to 5 gold rings a week lately, he found 3 just today.., I bought the cz-5 because i had always been a fan of it, I have had it for 1 1/2 months on in that time I have put in 3-4 hrs up to 4 days every week on a beach, our water level is down 4-5 feet right now so you can hunt in what would have been chest deep water, which has made for awesome hunting..., if this machine wants to hit gold as iron it is no use to me... I dig 50-70 pull tabs and beaver tabs per trip... I should be in the gold... The machine is incredible with coins and silver.., in the week that I hunted the beach in question I found around 200 modern clad and 12 rings 9 of which were sterling silver... I have read almost every post in this forum for info before I got the machine back from fisher, also bought and read...advanced treasure hunting with the fisher quicksilver series metal detectors by Andy sabisch...and in it they have tested 161 gold rings and have them laid out as how they fell on the Id...none of which hit iron

Felix at fisher had replaced 7 components on the machine and recalabrated it to factory specs I just wonder if something could be wrong in the gold department.., I can hit a dime at 10 inches in good soil...

 

[therover]

You may be correct in that it is not calibrated correctly. One thing that you mention is Dad is great with the 1265....nothing is gonna trump that knowledge ! He got his coil over those rings and may just know when a gold ring is on the fringe of being iron and can hear that distinction. I have read where hunters with years of experience on those 1200 series units are deadly with them.

Andy Sabichs test is always a good reference point as to where gold rings 'should' ID at. I believe that was an air test, and if you are hunting beaches loaded with iron, just like I do, there are going to be times when old gold rings that have laid amongst that iron for years, will not ID what you think they will. Obviously you can't dig all the iron tones, and I would think a properly calibrated CZ would ID most gold targets as mid tones, but deeper gold in those conditions WILL id as iron on occasion. One of the negative things about a CZ...along with the fact that the discrimination setting is linear and cannot be 'tweaked'. Since you are freshwater hunting, it may be that a different unit is needed if your CZ is not up to par. Bet it will do a heck of a lot better than Dad's 1265 on a salt beach ( assuming it is working properly).

One other thing...I think the 1265 is designed more to be a relic hunting unit, which would hit brass and lead ( which would have similar conductive properties as gold jewelry) hard, where as the CZ is designed more for coin hunting. I can attest to the fact that a CZ is a deadly silver hunter. I have found more silver with my CZ's than all my other detectors ( and I have a lot of them) combined. It would not be my first choice for gold jewelry hunting on land or in a fresh water environment. For salt water beaches, it is a great unit.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Ayeti65]

What would your suggestions for gold on fresh water beaches.., but I don't want to miss my coins either...crap I thought the cz-5 was gonna be it for our beaches coins and gold, but I can't miss the gold it will pay for a machine in time flat...

 

[joe dirt_1]

Mike, email me a phone number to reach you. tried sending a pm but you don't have enough posts yet to receive them. my email is roger@irtc.net.

Roger

 

[therover]

I am just a bit concerned that your CZ5 can't id those rings as mid-tone, especially since you are finding that foil and tabs are hitting that way. Are those rings marked 10K -18K ? Are any of them plated ?

Have you ever tested any other gold rings with it, and see what the rings ID as ( in both normal and salt mode) ? I am wondering if the iron range of your CZ5, since it has been re-calibrated, is off.

There are several fresh water beach units that may/will be better at finding gold jewelry, and can find coins as well, but they will not go as deep on the old, silver coins like a CZ.

It's a trade off. That is why most of us have several units. But a properly working CZ, for me, is one of the best overall units ever made.

 

[bluewing]

I have found a number of gold rings with my CZ6A. The type of gold, 10k, 14k, 18k, 24k etc. will all signal a little differently because of the nickle content mixed with the gold. The more gold content will probable signal more to foil and iron. The more nickle content will signal more to nickle and pull tab. If you have different carat rings, air test them and see what happens with each one. I think the size of the ring will also play into the mix. The CZ detectors are dual frequency with 15K and 5K. The 15K will favor gold while the 5 K will favor silver. So the detector has you covered for gold and silver and everything in between.. Hope you get it figured out.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Personally I would disc out iron and accept all the rest....Volume at 10.....heck the only thing you will find in iron is perhaps a gold earring or perhaps a small gold chain or bracelet..
Heck I dug a babies 10 kt ring and came in as foil....Gold rings on a CZ5 come in foil...thin gold ring(10-14-18 kt. to Zinc..large mans 10kt. college ring...I think its time to do some air testing on the wifes ring along with families and friends rings and go from there...did you try the rings your dad found?....CZ's are excellent on gold rings and have a 16 diamond 14kt to prove it along with many others..rule of thumb on a beach dig all but to dig iron is insanity and would never get off my knees...If the testing doesn't pick up all the gold rings between foil and zinc on the meter time for a trip back to Fisher its malfunctioning...if it does perhaps you are not going over them or your inexperience with the unit is responsible when beach hunting...As far as your Dad goes tough to beat an experienced operator that knows his unit well...

 

[Ayeti65]

Yes you are right I am going to check all the rings that I can get my hands on in the week or so and I will let everyone know how it comes out... If things don't go well it will be going to fisher agian for more tuning... Yes my dad experience on that machine couldn't be parrelled but when I took the rings from him today and they were shut out at disc 1 and read in at iron with disc at zero.., I have to think something is wrong.., even with little experience on this machine.., when I dig 50-60 pull tabs a trip and no gold for a month and a half...something is wrong.., weither it is me or the machine I need to know.., the gold is there the lake we hunt hasnt been this low in 6-7 years so the gold is just there for the pickings..,

 

[Dan-Pa.]

If it didn't read your Dads gold rings time for a trip to the shop as its not you but the machine.....I do hope your Dads rings are true gold rings. Having water hunted years ago probably found 6 junk rings to every gold one so the thought comes to mind and junker rings usually have a high iron content...

 

[Ayeti65]

Well the rings were all marked 10k and 2 14k they should be just fine as they read fine on the 1265.., further testing is necessary before I pay for another trip to fisher... They are not real cheap or too fast... The machine works great in every other way.., it's a coin monster.., and loves silver

 

[Ayeti65]

I went by the place were I sell my gold and silver.., they were nice enuff to get out a hand full of rings for me to air test

10k class ring...ID nickel, pull tab bounce
10k woman ring ID nickel, pull tab bounce
14k woman ring ID nickel, zinc penny
14k ear ring small loop ID foil until 6 inches then went to iron, foil

The only thing I did to my machine was clean to sand off of my coil...I wonder if it is possible that I picked up some mineralization that messed with my ground balance that day..

 

[therover]

More on the line of what a CZ should ID those type of rings as.

So I would think the conditions of the day and possibly iron leaching may have caused your CZ to ID the rings your father found as iron. I would test them again...maybe you are correct in that the coil may have been screwy due to mineralized sand on it.

Did you have a coil cover on ? I never use one....too many times sand and salt water got in there and caused my CZ to act funny.

 

[Ayeti65]

Why yes I do have a cover on it and I will check that because I have noticed if it gets some said in the edges it doesn't want to ground balance just right... I will take it off when I get home and test it some more and keep everyone posted to what I find..,

 

[tvr]

extracted from two different posts:
The only thing I did to my machine was clean to sand off of my coil...I wonder if it is possible that I picked up some mineralization that messed with my ground balance that day.. AND ... Why yes I do have a cover on it ...

I think you may have solved the mystery. I no longer hunt the beach with a coil cover on the coil. About 1.5 years ago I was not hitting mid-tones well. Here is what I found and posted at the time:
Black sand in the coil cover

Cheers,
tvr

 

[Ayeti65]

Disc. 0

I tested rings of varying sizes and carrot today

10k baby ring.........foil
10k woman ring ....foil
14k woman ring......foil
14k mens ring........foil
18k mens ring........nickel

Gold bracelet 14k won't read at all it's a rope chain.... Which is in line with the other posts on the forum

Also hunted at a beach for a couple of hours found 50-60 pull tabs and 2 nickels machine seems to be on trac without the coil cover and the extra wet sand that was in it.., so hopefully back to normal.,, thank you all for your help
Mike

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Heres a thought if you have a digital CZ notch out the coins and go for the gold as one gold ring could make up for day -weeks-months etc. while gathering coins...Might include the nickle segment also as some nice gold rings will come in as nickle and tested my wifes 14kt mothers ring and it dead on nickle and has some nice stones...remember dig all and notch the iron out lest you break your back trying for a gold earring or small gold bracelet or necklace...