Meteorite Hunting

[CZconnoisseur]

Hello all,

I've been invited to search for a strewn field of meteorites where a rancher found the "discovery stone" about a year ago. This location is in a canyon, and very little is known about the original meteorite. This rancher found the space rock WITHOUT a metal detector but didn't divulge any more details - only thing I know about it is that it weighed 10-20lbs and obviously there's metal content...He took it to the UCCS Geology Dept. and confirmed that it was indeed what he suspected - now the hunt is on for more!

I have about 100 hours behind the Equinox 800 and it continues to be a winner with deep and/or co-located coins...however I've only hunted for meteorites one other time in my life - and found a small one in Tennessee with a Fisher CZ-6 10 years ago...pure dumb luck

So my question is: Which mode would work best for this type of hunting? My gut is telling me to use one of the GOLD modes, but anyone with experience with meteorite hunting with the Nox please let me know...I'm very excited to get out there and hopefully dig some heavy stones come Saturday! And, of course; I'll post the results here....

Thanks in advance!

 

[laplander]

Sounds like an epic adventure for sure! Maybe the rancher would let you have a swing over his, but it sounds rather large. My thought would be field 1 or 2 in all metal.

Good luck,

Laplander

 

[coin-star]

From the web


I would think depending on shape, size, depth meteorites could ring up as ANYTHING. I would definitely bring a strong-ish magnet attached to the end of a digging pick, no matter what mode you use. It would be the easiest way to check small-ish pieces.

DetectorProspector has dedicated a meteorite forum. That should have some good information also. Overall, it sounds really fun and what a great opportunity!

CS

 

[Jason in Enid]

My first instinct would be to go for a gold mode with no disc, but then that mode is sooo sensitive that you may be wasting your time on stuff the size of pencil tips. I think any of the modes would work as long as you hunt with no disc.

 

[dewcon4414]

Ive done it, but its been years and was using an Explorer. Had a older guy from Doc detectors in Vegas who did it regularly. We were looking for them in HOT ROCK range i like 31 31 on the explorer. What id recommend is to see if you can find out what the one found was made of the you will have some idea as to the type of metal you should be looking for and run the proper disc. Best place to find meteors is like gold....... where they have been found before. But you can be walking over them all day if you dont know what you are looking for no matter what your mode. My best guess would be field 2 AM.

 

[wltdwiz]

i would use prospecting 1/auto track off / all metals

 

[WaterWalker]

Only about 80% of the meteorites are magnetic. I searched for a platinum wedding band with a ring of meteorite around the outside. The ring was in a sectional couch, no luck with ATPro, pinpointers and the like. About to give up and I felt a crevice that I could not get a finger into. I asked to have the Canadian Metal Detector passed to me, slid it into the crevice and heard a clunk and then told the owner of the ring I have your ring...

Lucky that the ring was in the 80% or it still would be in the couch.
Ring hanging from the Canadian Metal Detector...

 

[Des D]

It's Friday nite so you hunting 'Saturday!'

Try 15khz and the 20, 40 too.
You'll probably hear 'low iron sounds with target Id of 2...

 

[UtahRich]

I have never tried Meteorite hunting - looking forward to reading about your results.


Rich -

 

[CZconnoisseur]

Well - I spent several hours there and found small bits of iron like remains of barbed-wire fencing, a couple rusted cans - everything iron IDed correctly. Found a couple non-ferrous targets and a couple small boulders with metal content, so I kept those. The pinpointer even registered on these samples so it will be interesting to see WHAT metal(s) may be inside....

No meteorites that day but I believe someone in the group found an unrelated stony-iron specimen...it had the appearance, specific gravity, and magnetic properties of a meteorite but not 100% sure. I told him his chances were good, but I'm no expert by any means!

I played around with the different modes and found that the Gold 2 program picks up the smallest little bits and shards of rusted iron quite well. It got to where I just switched to Field 1 or Field 2 and dug much less iron, however even while in the Gold 2 mode the machine ran very quiet and stable...Jason you were right about the pencil-tip sized pieces of rust in Gold 2...the area was more trashy than I thought but not too terrible....

Maybe next time but still a lot of fun!

 

[Des D]

Good stuff CZ...good report!

Am pleased you updated your thread and concluded the issue.

Single freq machines can be useful in this job e.g. Musketeer...