White's Spectrum XLT and Bullets

[Kevinbgood]

Howdy All,
I inherited my dad's White's Spectrum XLT, model is first generation or so, and I am just learning how to use it. I have read the manual over repeatedly and still have questions.

Right now I am parked in NW Georgia and on a plot of family owned land with some intense Civil War activity nearby. I am trying to dial in the XLT to identify bullets and not all the trash I am hitting. Anyone have this model and can provide assistance? Also, if you happen to hunt SILVER, what reading are you getting on it?

Thanks!

 

[jim tn]

Never had a XLT, but simply throwing a dime and quarter down on the ground and noting what they read will put you close to what silver will read for each. Silver typically reads a little higher then clad coins. It sounds like you might be new to detecting and if so, you really need to dig a lot of different targets to get familiar with what each generally read and how they sound. Learning tones on a detector is really first and foremost, but does take some time. Good luck! HH jim tn

 

[Kevinbgood]

Thanks Jim. I have a number of items I am going to use as benchmarks. There is an area in the yard with a spot I can dig up and bury these things and learn the signals. I think I need to adjust my tone sound to make it a little more identifiable for me. Still reading on that. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Fredneck]

Howdy All,
I inherited my dad's White's Spectrum XLT, model is first generation or so, and I am just learning how to use it. I have read the manual over repeatedly and still have questions.

Right now I am parked in NW Georgia and on a plot of family owned land with some intense Civil War activity nearby. I am trying to dial in the XLT to identify bullets and not all the trash I am hitting. Anyone have this model and can provide assistance? Also, if you happen to hunt SILVER, what reading are you getting on it?

Thanks!

Relic program, turn on "Mixed mode" for the depth your going to need. Bullets will come in high tone and VDI #'s will roughly fall around the caliber of the bullet, Example ; a standard 58cal 3 ring will register 57-59, and a 44 Colt usually comes in at 44 -45. Though the deep bullets (12" or deeper) the vdi # will rise. HH

 

[Kevinbgood]

Now that is the kind of information I really need right now. That will help me to understand what I am looking at. This groups is helping me out greatly, thanks Fredneck!

 

[Confetrit]

Best of luck to you and the XLT. My name is also Kevin, I'm a fellow Georgian, and a relic hunter. Watch Utube videos on the XLT. It is a worthy relic hunter. Go Dig some History.

 

[Kevinbgood]

Will do Kev!

 

[Kevinbgood]

Will do Kev!

I also wanted to mention that I have found a chunk of melted metal that rings as a 93 and carries the same graph $1 sign and same bar reading. I tested this again with a pure silver $1 coin i have and they both come back exactly the same. Can I assume I have found a chunk of Silver? Does anything else register the same way that you all are aware of? I will get some images of what I have found up here later today. Thanks

 

[bootyhoundpa]

I also wanted to mention that I have found a chunk of melted metal that rings as a 93 and carries the same graph $1 sign and same bar reading. I tested this again with a pure silver $1 coin i have and they both come back exactly the same. Can I assume I have found a chunk of Silver? Does anything else register the same way that you all are aware of? I will get some images of what I have found up here later today. Thanks

No,not necessarily, there are many scenarios where other metallic items will have similar numbers,it’s only a guide..an acid test might give a better idea if it is ...if you are looking for civil war bullets I believe they would ring up somewhere down near nickel range as they are made from lead...

 

[Fredneck]

I also wanted to mention that I have found a chunk of melted metal that rings as a 93 and carries the same graph $1 sign and same bar reading. I tested this again with a pure silver $1 coin i have and they both come back exactly the same. Can I assume I have found a chunk of Silver? Does anything else register the same way that you all are aware of? I will get some images of what I have found up here later today. Thanks

Aluminum will and very likely might be what it is.

 

[Fredneck]

No,not necessarily, there are many scenarios where other metallic items will have similar numbers,it’s only a guide..an acid test might give a better idea if it is ...if you are looking for civil war bullets I believe they would ring up somewhere down near nickel range as they are made from lead...

The only bullet that would come in the nickel range would be a 22cal.

 

[Kevinbgood]

So here you go. I dug this stuff up over the last few days. The first image is of the melted material that reads 93 and shows as a $1.00 coin. Notice the chunk on the top has a green tinge to it. Both way as much as a $1 coin and are roughly bout 2.5" in length. I ordered a precious metal kit to test it all with. The kit has Gold and Silver test acid. We shall see.

The second photo is of the coins. Top row is in so bad a shape they can't be read, but are pennies. Single one next down is a 1942 penny. Next row of three are 60's pennies and they get newer. Th far left two items are dimes, the oldest one is 68.

The last image shows some items of interest including a belt buckle and a button with thread still in it. No identifiers on either.

I also pulled up a lot of aluminum scraps including cans, basically cleaned up the front side yard. I'm very happy with what I found so far!

 

[PDH]

Kevin it looks like your on your way to finding lots of treasure. Since your new to the sport, my recommendation for you is to did all targets the first couple times out. Listen to the grunts and beeps and over time you will learn what your XLT is telling you. TIDs are a helpful tool but don't count solely on the numbers. Good luck.

 

[Kevinbgood]

Thanks PDH, you are right, the ear is the best tool. The visual display helps a bit, but now I am understanding wat people are talking about when they say a signal is "scratchy". Definitely need to tune my ears in. I'll keep digging like a dog. (Big Smile)

 

[Kevinbgood]

Thanks PDH, you are right, the ear is the best tool. The visual display helps a bit, but now I am understanding wat people are talking about when they say a signal is "scratchy". Definitely need to tune my ears in. I'll keep digging like a dog. (Big Smile)

I just got back in the house from messing around in the yard and need to relate this experience. We had rain yesterday that softened up the ground, it was like concrete days before. We had an old Maple cut down a month ago and I thought I would just scan around it to see what was there. About 7 feet out form the tree I hit a strong signal i had not noticed before, about six inches down. I started digging and hit something solid and larger than a coin. Once I got to it and started moving dirt away, it was about 3.5" across and round. I thought "Man, I just found a civil war artillery shell". Digging faster around it, my shovel blew threw the dirt like there was a void. After about 5 minutes, I finally could see it wasn't a shell, but a pipe sticking straight up. It was also surrounded by old block or stone. Turns out it is either the old well head or an old oil tank. I betting on the well head since the diameter is about right and this thing is very deep and won't even wiggle.

I did find a dime and a toaster oven metal rack. Interesting morning.

 

[PDH]

Like Forrest Gump said "life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your gonna get" Metal detecting is the same way. You just never know what your gonna dig up. Good luck out there.

 

[Fredneck]

Thanks PDH, you are right, the ear is the best tool. The visual display helps a bit, but now I am understanding wat people are talking about when they say a signal is "scratchy". Definitely need to tune my ears in. I'll keep digging like a dog. (Big Smile)

Yeah that thing between your ears is the best tool on whether to dig or not, but the xlt offers more tools than any detector I've ever used. The tone options alone are plenty, from being able to go 1 tone, 2 tone (Mixed Mode) or up to 190 tones (Tone ID). With Tone, VDI #, and the Signagraph bar, when I use this detector I always know what I'm about to dig. Used to tease my buddies I'd even know the date of a coin before I dug one, though I can tell if it's on old or more modern penny. Don't overlook that Signagraph bar it's pretty darn accurate up to 12' or so. 1 solid bar is a good indicator your on a worthy target and the more the bars spread across the graph the more likely its junk. Keep practicing and good luck.