Horseshoe,
Your experiences mirror my own in that for my first few months with the MXT I was pretty much limited in my finds to clad. Over time, I've found that I'm having a bit more success with the older coins. One reason for this is simply the MXT's learning curve. Yes, it's a turn-on-and-go machine, but this belies the experience it takes to make the most of it. Some two years later, I'm still learning and experimenting with the MXT.
I agree with the others about a lot of these old sites. Much of the easy finds have been found. Case in point, my absolute favorite park is just around the corner. I feel like I've hunted every square inch of that place several times over, but my son and I have both managed to score a number of rosies, a couple mercs, and a bunch of wheaties. The other day, I hit on a couple rosies that were only 3-4 inches deep. How had I missed these before? The lesson--you need to go back over areas.
Another thing I'm learning is about target masking. When the coins lie next to iron or junk, the VDI is often thrown off, meaning we're probably all walking over great stuff we think is junk on occasion. Case in point, at my favorite park yesterday, I had an iffy signal--I had to dig out a piece of junk first to find a more solid signal which was a 1928 wheatie. My son the other day at same park had a signal in the 50s with occasional peaks at 80. He dug out a piece of trash and then came upon two rosies.
So, my advice, don't give up--keep learning the machine, begin to listen for the quieter, weaker signals, and don't be afraid to go back over areas you think have been covered. Even hunted out parks are not really hunted out--you just have to work slow and persevere.
One last thing, if you haven't already gotten a DD coil, you might benefit from this addition. In my area, where the minerals are high, the 950 coil just can't compete with 6x10 DD coil performance.
HH,
Dan
