Sacramento and the X30

[tink]

Got back today from my trip down to Sacramento to visit the wives family. As much as I hate to say it, the X30 wasn't the best choice of detectors to take with me. The reasons for it was, the factory preset ground balance and large coil! The soil conditions down there just weren't the best for a preset GB. Between the hot rocks, mineralization and almost a 100 years of trash the preset Gb and 9" coil didn't cut it.

But the good news is, I did manage to dig up a few Wheaties, modern clad and some old relics. The Wheaties were surprisingly shallow from 1/4" to 3". I snagged a 1955,1946s,1951s and 1945s. All were in pretty nice condition with a couple having a beautiful green patina. I also found a watch fob with the letter C-Z on it, a heavy charm with the letters G-L, a key and a perfume bottle.

The perfume bottle was about 6-7" down and the X30 pounded it out. The top is brass, pulls off and it has a black screw cap under it. The watch fob was also about 5" down and is in really nice shape. I will get picture of the stuff on here when I get them off the camera. I also got some clad, about 10 pennies and a couple dimes.

I also dug up quit a few nails, large pieces of iron and other metals pieces that rang out between 8-24. Two of the wheaties were very unstable and jumped from 12 to 36. After digging them out I decided to check out about anything that gave a tone and a ID number. I managed to find the other wheat, the fob and key under this technique.

I really think the X50/X70 would with manual GB would have had no trouble locating and locking on to more good targets. With the two front yards being about 10' x 10' each a 4-5" coil would have been more desirable with the trash in it. I ran the machine in all metal a few times just discing out the lowest number (-4) and the targets were just close. I disc out everything from 16 down to try it and I think between the balancing and iron content the machine just couldn't handle it.

I think in better ground conditions or even a smaller coil the machine would have preformed great. Unfortunately I didn't take another machine with me to try out. But I am planning on trying another one on it next spring when we go back down. I know there's silver in there and I plan one getting some of it.

 

[Dick from IA]

Glad to hear you're back safe and sound from Sacramento, Tink. In spite of the trash and ground conditions, the X-30 appears to have done well.

I hunt a lot in All Metal mode, and think it really helps overall with the accuracy of the good coin signals. Maybe that's just my imagination; dunno Unlike a lot of other detectors, the X-Terra's tones from top to bottom are not harsh or annoying to listen to. Plus, being the curious type, I like to dig some of the iron signals just to see what's there.

 

[tink]

I agree with you about digging all good signals Dick. But for one, the ground was pretty hard in most spots and I didn't want to mess up what was left of his yard. No way of driving a probe down more then a inch or too. The other reason is, her father worked on old car and boats ij the back yard and it was really trashy. I also found a couple of engine main bearings halves out there. After that I decided not to dig any more iron signals.

I think when I go down next year I will set up a sprinkler the night before I hunt. Its not that the grass wasn't already half dead, but the little digging I did do wasn't going to grow back. I did water the areas I dug that were stone dry, but don't think one watering will help. her father said that it didn't matter as they were going to do some landscaping this fall and the place was going to get dug up anyway.