? about gold nugget settings for XLT

[Grady]

Has any one ever played with the Whites XLT enought to come up with a good setting to save in pro settings to use for nugget hunting? Can you get a gold coil to use on one. My oweners manuel mentions one but I don't see any listed by the company. I think they called it a gold foot. Thanks for your time.

Grady

[wonderer]

Grady,

I own a Whites XLT & went to hunts at Apache Junction, AZ. in February's (thereabouts) to a coin and nugget shoot for years ..... only found one nugget in the nugget only hunt the first year (stock coil), and that was a more a fluke (and a weard shaped nugget) ....................didn't do any of the nugget only shoots again till I got a better machine, a Super Lobo....which I got used.....As Grubstake and others have said there a lot of good used machines out there.........

When I got the XLT I searched the web for Clubs & sites deticated to the machine................found alot of programs online................also there are some books with programs for the XLT..written by its fans -------I think Finder's has a XLT section on there site - - - - ask and you will receive answers from the experts - - (From a non XLT expert) - - wonderer

[Grady]

Thank You Wonder, I am a barber by trade and I am spoiled I guess. I am use to haveing profesional advice at hand. I have always known that there are people smarter than me on every subject. Iam a do it your selfer and if I have a plumbing problem I am not sure about I ask the next plumber in the chair. Same thing with electric,mechanic,banking or what ever. It is real easy for me to get any info. I need. BUT I don't have any that metal detec much. I know I need a gold machine and I have wanted to go paning and detecing for gold since I was a little kid. My problem is there is no were around here to practise but I only work 4 days a week now. So I could go to Colorado ( one day there one day to play and one day back ) and that would be the closest. Except for S.W. Okla. they say there is a little out there but not much. I have been trying to figure out the best way for me to go with my machine. I like good tools to work with. I live close to an old oil field gost town and want to work it for old gold and silver coins allso and don't know if a gold nugget machine would work for that best or an XLT. But I think I am going to have to go with two machines for sure. I still am not going to know witch one is going to be best for the oil patch though. I have taken my XLT out there though and there is sooooooooo much iron trash left out there that my XLT just overloads on the ground a lot. I know there is a way around that but I am going to have to do a lot of reading to figure that one out too. I have another problem though that out way all the other ones. When I am out working with the detector. Once it is on and running I can't put it down to read how to fix a problem. It is like an adiction. I just go dig,go dig stoping is like takeing your hook out of the water while you are getting a nibble. I tell my wife I will be back in a little bit and I don't stop till it gets dark. Did it in the park last night and would have to get it just right so I could see the screen with the street light. I did come home and get the book out and read how to turn the back light on. Do I need help? Do they have a detector anonamice? ( : The thing that stops me if I start in the morning is my back and legs get to hurting bad enough I just can't do it any more. BUT THIS IS A GREAT HOBBIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for your help.

Grady

[wonderer]

Grady,

Metal detecting is a great way to unwind - - - - - - People think the machine is a magic wand ------ You can put preprogramed programs (XLT) in but to get the most out of the machine you need to learn what the different adjustments do...................what works in one area, might not work in another------------------------I bet you becoming a good barber took alot time and effort - - - - - - - -Metal detecting is like that, at first you use the recommended settings, then you start experimenting to get more out of the machine.............The newest machines are more user friendly for nubies automatic this automatic that. Doesn't mean its the best settings.

As has been said before on many forums give a nubie a top of the line detector & a pro an older machine see who comes out ahead.................

Almost all old areas have alot of trash....................... alot of people working these areas switch to smaller coils at first & switch to bigger ones as they clean out the trash & go deeper..

I'm still new to the prospecting side of this hobby- - - - - - - and will always be learning something new from the great people in this hobby - - you hone your skills by talking to like minded poeple, watching others detect, poor over the forums achives, posts, ask questions & print out interesting things for your own files.

Sorry to ramble on, don't mean to overwhelm you with info. Listen to the old pro's - - - - - -wonderer (still a nubie)

[Grady]

Thanks Wanderer, that is the same thing with search dogs. I don't know how many times I have had to tell students that the dog is just a tool and if you don't use the wind, terrian and climate to your advantage you wont find much. I think you are right. I need to study and come up with good programs for this detector. I will learn a lot in the progress and when I get smart enough to start ajusting programs to fit the situation I will be ready for a manual.

Grady

[seeker]

Heres some info

http://66.51.97.78/coinist/vtipspage1.html

http://66.51.97.78/coinist/pgmpage1.html

Good Hunting Geo

[Reno Chris]

Grady:

First I want to say welcome. We do welcome new guys and try to help as much as possible. While I don’t disagree with anything Grubstake or Dutch John have told you, I think that there are some other things you need to know. I am going to give you the flip side of the coin – the down side. Please don’t consider me a party-pooper, just someone who is realistic and honest.

There have been some really amazing finds made with metal detectors - large multi-ounce nuggets - small patches of ground with dozens of ounces of gold, quartz veins laced with gold and other spectacular finds. However there is a lot of skill and a bit of luck involved in making some of the spectacular finds. I do think a lot of new guys sometimes look at the forums, see other guys posting photos of gold and get the wrong idea. Too many new guys expect that somehow you can just walk out anyplace near an historical old gold district and start digging bean-sized nuggets every hour or so with the occasional walnut sized nugget thrown in for good measure. Some even figure they can make a good living or even get rich doing it. Unfortunately it's just not that easy, and the prospect for getting rich quick is extremely remote. If you are willing to spend the money to get quality equipment, to put in the time it takes to learn to operate that equipment and then do the work to research potential areas and put in the time to explore around in places where detectable nuggets are found, then you'll be able to find some gold too, but its never easy. If finding gold were easy, it wouldn’t be worth $700 per ounce. Buying a great detector is a fine start, but owning a powerful detector no more makes one an experienced nugget shooter than owning a pipe wrench makes one a plumbing contractor. With both, there are lots of skills to learn, and it takes time to gain the needed knowledge and experience. Dogged determination is a necessary asset for the new electronic prospector!

In my mind, nugget detecting is the toughest form of individual prospecting to consistently succeed at, so new electronic prospectors can really use as much additional information and training as they can get. It is certainly very possible for the average guy to be successful at nugget shooting, but it is not easy – you have to be willing to make the effort. Learning the actual techniques needed to operate your detector such as which settings to use, etc. may only take a few hours but learning to find gold is a much more difficult proposition. Consider it like a trade – it is a skill that takes time to learn – you don’t buy a wrench or a voltmeter and become a journeyman plumber or an electrician overnight. If I went to the pound and got myself a puppy, I would not instantly become an expert on “cadaver dogsâ€, simply because I owned a dog (that’s your trade, right?).

There is no dispute that it is much more difficult for novice prospectors to consistently get nuggets with a metal detector than it is to consistently get a little “color†with a dry washer, sluice box or dredge. With a metal detector, it’s easy to spend a whole day looking very hard and still get skunked. It is normal that it often takes a new detector owner many months to even more than a year to find his or her first nugget – even if you are out detecting for nuggets regularly. The attraction of the metal detector is the fact that the yields can be very much higher - when you are successful, you can find a significant amount of gold very quickly. It takes time, however to learn those skills and gain the experience needed to be successful.

It's important to learn what you can about how gold occurs - its geology and how it forms in the districts you will be prospecting in. Each district has its own special features and geology, and what works in one location to find gold may not be a good idea in another. All this means that taking up the hobby of electronic prospecting can be very exciting and productive but it also means there's a lot of work to learn about how to use a metal detector in finding gold.

In general, metal detectors specifically designed for use as coin and jewelry shooting machines make very poor gold detectors, they are just not sensitive enough to detect small or deep nuggets, nor can they handle the intense mineralization found in most gold fields. Gold nugget detecting really is quite a bit different from coin or jewelry hunting in local parks. After hunting coins in OK, you will be shocked at the amount of iron and mineralization in the soils at Gold Basin. Your XLT will chatter unbelievably and it will be necessary to turn the gain way down to keep it stable and re-ground balance often. Get hold of a small piece of lead, say around 1/8 inch or 3/16 – no larger than that. When you get to the claims at gold basin, bury the lead at a depth of 3 inches. Adjust your XLT to handle the ground away from the target, then swing over to see what signal you get from the lead target. If you get a decent signal, great – you have at least a chance. If you cant hear it, (and you may not be able to in that highly mineralized soil), you might as well put the XLT away. I’ve spent some time detecting at Gold Basin, and realistically, I’d say that the chance of a new inexperienced prospector working for a day finding a nugget with the XLT at gold basin on the GPAA claims is less than 1 in 1000. This may seem harsh, but my honest opinion is that nugget detecting with a detector like the XLT which was designed and made to hunt coins is almost a waste of time.

I know a lot of guys say things like – “I’ll learn to prospect with my inexpensive coin detector, and then, when I’ve learned the ropes, and I’m successful finding gold, I’ll get a more expensive detector.†I don’t want to discourage you, but its been said 100 times before, and all those guys end up either: 1) quitting the hobby because they never find anything; or: 2) buying a better detector before they actually find any gold.

If you head out to Gold Basin, enjoy your time camping – it’s a beautiful area. Consider as a plan B to also bring along a gold pan and a tub (and some jugs to carry the water). If you pan out some of the dry washer tailings in the tub, your chances of finding some gold colors is excellent. They wont be large nuggets, but they will be genuine, natural Arizona gold.

If you want to learn more about prospecting, I have a free website that’s a “Prospecting Encyclopedia†with info about finding gold using all types of equipment, including detecting. You can take a look at:

My Prospecting Encyclopedia

Chris

Photo: Quarter ounce of AZ gold - partly found with a detector, partly found with a sluice box

[fredm]

Grady; there is always a wealth of information available from these forums....the right tool for the job is wisdom in all endeavors...yes, you make do but is the pain worth the gain?

anyway, if you run search dogs you may appreciate this little tale...when I was young I went to visit my buddy near L.A. in the town of Sierra Madre. Ken's father trained blood hounds for the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team. Mr. Anderson wanted to do some dog training using me as bait. So, while preparing to head out Mr Anderson handed Ken a roll of toilet paper and told Ken to explain to me how to use it...I looked at them and assured them I knew what and how to use toilet paper, in a very hot tone as you may imagine....when he quit laughing they explained that I was to mark my trail for them so they knew the dog was doing the right thing....some things have more than one use but not all.

hope I didn't bore you.

Good Luck

Fred

[Grady]

Thank You very much for your honesty Chris. I like plain spoken people. I do have a gold pan and will try that. I allso took notes about the gain and reground ballance. I do have a question though. Out in an old oilfield sight were there is a lot of iron buried would you use a gold machine to find old silver and gold coins? Or would you use a coin machine?

Grady

[Reno Chris]

Thank You very much for your honesty Chris. I like plain spoken people. I do have a gold pan and will try that. I allso took notes about the gain and reground ballance. I do have a question though. Out in an old oilfield sight were there is a lot of iron buried would you use a gold machine to find old silver and gold coins? Or would you use a coin machine?

Grady

I would use a coin machine because of its much better discrimination. Actually the XLT would be OK for that, but I would use a DD coil rather than the concentric coplanar coil that the XLT comes with to allow better separation of targets when picking between the trash.

However, you will find that high mineralization is much different than a trashy area.

Give the XLT a good run if you get out there to Gold Basin. But try the pan also, and test different drywash piles - if your find one that has good gold in the fines, focus your work there. With the pan you will be almost guarenteed of getting some gold.

I dont know your schedule, but a bunch of expereinced prospectors are going to have an outing there at Gold Basin Oct. 19-21. Many are guys I know and they are good people.

Chris

[Grady]

Go I would love to make it out while they were there but my son is leaveing for Ft. Bliss on the 19th. and from there he goes to Iraq.

I have the Blue max 1500 (15' ), the shooter D series (witch is a small one) and the spectrum E series that comes with them. The ground out there is still white with salt in a lot of places and junk too. I will go play with the little shooter DD this weak end. If they have any gatherings latter in the year at gold basin though I would appreciate it if you let me know. Thanks again..

Grady