QUESTION ON THE VAQUERO

[jerry-nebraska]

WOULD THE VAQUERO BE AN OK DETECTOR FOR AN OCCASIONAL NUGGET HUNT?

 

[dahut]

Occasional? Sure.

I recall that a few years ago Tesoro published a little test with their Bandido in a nugget scenario. They do this from time to time to make us feel good and make themselves look good. It worked as you might expect.
In a similar test, a gold prospecting club did the same with several detectors under the worst conditions possible and guess which one came out on top? The Tesoro Stingray!

Gold nuggets, in and of themselves, are not magically undetectable. The very small ones are difficult, but anything the size of a match head or bigger are little worry for something like the V. A good way to test this is using a lead .22 bullet. You should be able to detect it well enough - ditto similarly sized gold nuggets. Lead is very close to gold on the elemental scale, so reacts much the same way. Ask anyone who has chased split shot sinkers, as they sift through their sand scoop!
Once you've gotten a baseline on your bullet, begin cutting it into pieces, detecting each as you go. I will wager youll lose it at about a half-size piece, so you will fail to get nuggets of the same size or smaller.

The other side of the coin is WHERE gold is found. Normally this is where gold has been found BEFORE - meaning you wont be the first.
Usually this is also in mineralized soil and/or in the presence of much iron trash (reference "not being the first," above). Often, both are together in the same site.
Not to mention the millions of .22LR casings and sundry other junk items we find. You'll want to use discrimintation, but you don't dare.
All metal is the way to hunt nuggets, as you need it's sensitivity. Again, test like mad with lead bits.
It will be important to pick your site well. Luckily you have manual GB on the V to help with the minerals.

Can you use it for nuggetshooting? Yes, indeed. Is it the best tool for the job? Not really.

PS - Please turn off the caps lock. On cyberspace forums, it is the equivalent of yelling at your reader.