Metal Detecting discussions and finds

Thanks for your input! I am interested in the Equinox for us, but sadly that is the machine my wife will mostly be using too if we get it. I get the cute little blue one

But as for her work, the Equinox should be awesome! Sounds like she will have to turn of the discrimination as they should dig everything. I was also going to suggest using all plastic pin flags to mark her hits, as they will excavate them later on after they map out their dig unit grids and the metal shafts on the pin flags will make detecting a lot harder. I learned that trick while working with a UXO crew at my old job- I wasn’t doing the actual UXO disposal, just using plastic pin flags to mark environmentally sensitive sites for them to cover with a long plastic trailer mounted detection array they pulled around with a quad later on. It was a cleanup job at a ordinance test site. Fun job too, got to see a few things go bang!

 

On eq 800 yes. You push the horse shoe button and it turns off most iron. It will still beep as metal but it cuts down iron

 

I have not touched the All Metal mode yet. I have only played with the Sensitivity and Tone Pitch. In either Park or Field the detector is set up to reject the majority of ferrous targets. I have to believe that this was happening the other day, I just didn't recognize what the machine was trying to tell me.
I am keeping to the preset Park and Field detect modes while I put hours on the machine. It goes without saying that I adjust Noise Cancel, Ground Balance, and Threshold (when needed) every time I go out.
It rained yesterday, so no detecting. This morning is bright and sunny, so today I will get out!

 

When the two of you go after gold, your cute little blue one will prolly have the advantage.

That is a different, more professional approach to recovering artifacts. It would be interesting to be involved in a formal dig. What kind of sites is your wife involved with discovering?
I have a Garrett ATX gold machine that is also used to find anti-personnel mines. I hope I never find one!!

I believe you are/were involved with a dig (?) at Manzanar a while back. Did you see this in the news?
http://www.kibskbov.com/2019/04/man-arrested-looking-for-treasure-at-manazar/

 

yeah I've been using that mostly. But the Horse shoe button clearly turns on/off iron.

 

I will try All Metal next time I go out, just for kicks. I have a feeling it's gonna be noisy!

 

yeah I usually turn it off, but even with it off the EQ does blip even in non ferrous mode, I just havent dug enough.

 

Back to your anti-personnel mine comment. That’s why it takes so long. You literally dig up EVERY hit you find, collect it and remove to it sterilize the area before you can move forward. All because a foot path or road, “might” be mined. Pretty deliberate work. I doubt you’ll find a mine (realize you were joking) but depending where you dig, just remember a UXO (old mortar shell, etc) can be a very real possibility. Use caution in any old test sights, former military posts or even flyover spots!

Also recommend not hitting them with a hammer.

 

ah yeah, what trips me out is people that find something like that and then bring it in to "authorities" or fire dept! its like you idiots leave it there and report it! who knows how stable or unstable it is!

 

Why wouldn’t civilians do it if military guys do down range? Had an infantry LT try to hand me a vs50 ain’t-personnel mine. We told him to put it down. They are known to have any number of trigger sources to include mercury type switches.

 

Wow...

 

you should see what happens when people leave a backpack or something "suspicious" by jet....I couldnt imagine someone bringing in a mine...

 

People tend to respond in odd ways with potential explosives. Also had a CSM shut down a FOB entrance because he swore there was a landmine. Went though all the drills and nonsense. Turned out to be a hubcap.

 

That sounds like tedious, exacting work. I hope it pays well.

I often detect and watch military aircraft fly right overhead. Last weekend eight Hornet/Super Hornets flew over with one of them cruising lower than the transmission towers nearby.
I'm pretty sure that they don't drop ordinance, though.

@wilcam47
The following vid is quite good and shows results of left over mines. BUT, it's way longer than it needs to be. Watch the first 30 sec's then forward to 5:20. Good stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/39FDkZr7xdA

 

lol!

 

Eh, about $19 an hour if you do the math. That’s as a supervisor level position (e8) with 150-200 subordinates. lol so not great.


lol nice. I was about to say please don’t use a pick, or anything metallic, or even touch it. Also tilt rods only need about 20° deflection (3.75lbs) to detonate.

 

While walking long transects looking for desert tortoises, We found ordinance on BLM land quite often left over in Patton’s training area- mostly 50 caliber stuff but occasional tank rounds and a big smoke pot the size of a oil drum. The sheriff’s UXO crew had fun with that!

 

Digger tool

 

what an idiot! That and pot hunters who dig holes and loot prehistoric stuff from National Parks. We were just at Manzanar last memorial day doing a volunteer dig at the orphanage site, they had pin flags up all over the place around the area to mark old barrack locations. We were probably near where the guy was doing it, but nobody said anything about it to us back then. Hope they gave him some time.

My wife does work like historic archaeology at the Santa Barbara Presidio, prechecking out areas ahead of construction for anything. They often use a back hoe to do test trenches, but being able to detect the spoils and layers they are cutting would be helpful. Lots of pottery and glass too, so they also have to screen a lot.

 

Beautiful! Mean looking and definitely functional.