A
Anonymous
Guest
I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday using the new GT. At first I thought this would be a cake walk, after all, I've been using Sovereigns for over 13 years now. I was wrong. Although I didn't have a GT manual, I was quite familiar with the operational modes, but had never used them in the field at the same time, same detector. I did not detect just for my own pleasure, instead I took my time evaluating most targets. Digging many that were "trash" just to verify the GT's discrimination abilities, and this it did extremely well. Day one: In a Confederate campsite that I have pounded for many years, I dug three pieces of square nails that had to be the deepest bits of iron nails I've ever dug. The GT said no, but my thoughts were "prove it." The GT won. Three broken nail heads (approx 3/4 to 1" in length) at average depths of 12-16 inches. That was the last of the nail tests..too much digging through tough ground and roots for this ole boy. Very few relics were dug the first day, hard to go behind a Sovereign and find much. Found six assorted bullets, very small melted lead pieces (can you say "gold detector") and one tiny brass washer from a belt rig rivet. Day Two: Went to a construction site downtown that a number of us have been hunting for about a year now. The dirt had been moved again but was hard packed red clay and so dry it had cracks in it. Trash all over the place. However, most of it is from the 1860's. First target was melted lead, then another. Then pocket watch parts. Thank goodness they weren't more than four inches deep! The ground was like chiseling through concrete. My next target was a pleasant surprise. The GT sang out indicating multiple targets were present. Turned out to be a full package of Colt Army .44 caliber pistol bullets (10). Two bullets still had the glue present around the groove/ring. Very rare to find, and not my first but a nice surprise indeed. All were in excellent condition. Again, depth wasn't a factor, but the GT ran smooth as silk, even in a large Metro area, and the mixed soil (red clay, black topsoil, charcoal and cinders) posed no problem. Had to knock off after a few hours as my elbow and shoulder began to hurt from the hard digging. Day Three: Called a friend who lives on the Nashville battlefield and asked permission to hunt his yard. No problem was his reply so I headed into town. I knew people had hunted his yard before but maybe I could find what others had missed. As soon as I turned the GT on, I knew I had terrible interference. I switched Bands (Noise Cancel) but to no avail. My friend lives next door to a famous singer/songwriter and evidently they have security equipment that gave me a hard time whenever I came near to their property lines. Although the incessant chatter was annoying, I still searched all day in All Metal, only changing to Disc when I wanted to check conductivity. My take was three Hotchkiss Artillery shell bases (cup) six Hotchkiss fragments (percussion and timed examples) one large 12 pounder case shot/shell fragment, small piece of Hotchkiss sabot, several fired bullets, pennies, a dime and Kennedy half dollar. My best find was two Confederate grape shot, which are very uncommon in the later stages of the war. Very few of these have ever been found in Nashville, and to make this a rather unique find, this Grape was fired by Union forces into the retreating Confederate lines after Redoubt #1 and #2 fell into Union hands. That's a fact folks, the Yanks turned the Confederates own field pieces towards them and fired. You can see the mold seam around both pieces of Grape, very typical of CS grape shot in the Nashville battle. One big "heart breaker" for the day. I heard a large halo signal that sounded deep. I switched to Disc mode and swept the area. What I heard was a high tone "ping-ping-ping" and this continued after I turned the Disc to maximum. I carefully cut an ample size plug but the target was still deep in the ground. After getting to the 9-10" level I saw something dark green...and large. Could this be the CSA belt plate I've spent years looking for? I moved a little more dirt with my Lesche knife (thank the Lord for George and his outstanding tools) and now I see a round, dark green object...Ohio State Seal breast plate? Eagle breast plate..."It don't matter! I'll take it!" I grab target, dirt and all; can't wait to see...what is it? Turns out to be a US (cool) Geological Survey Elevation Marker. Solid, heavy, dark, green....funky find Skeert the jeebies outta me. Oh well. I won't jump to conclusions, but as of the last three days I'll say Minelab has done very well. Sensitivity to small objects: very good. Detection depth: very good. Ease of operation: very good. New changes I like: Iron Mask on/off; Silent search/threshold search (now you can double check targets aside from Disc. If you question a target in Silent search, switch to Threshold. If it's iron the GT will go silent or "Null"); rechargeable battery (NiMH with wall charger); Auto or manual Ground tracking (Accu-Trak). I'll be using the GT in VA next week. Will update everyone upon my return on the 15th. Bottom line is; Would I buy this detector? I already have. A lot of our long time Sovereign customers are already selling their current detector or extra's just to get this one. And I don't blame them. If you like the Sov, I believe you love the GT. For those thinking of joining our hobby, the GT is excellent for Relic, Coin, Beach and now even manages as a decent Gold Nugget detector. Won't replace the dedicated Gold machines, but the way the GT likes small targets (brass, lead) I can see what the Gold guys are saying. Good hunting, David @ Dixie
<center><a href="http://www.dixie-metal-detectors.com"><img src="/metal/html/d-m.jpg"></center>
<center><a href="http://www.dixie-metal-detectors.com"><img src="/metal/html/d-m.jpg"></center>