How would you hunt this site?

What settings, disc pattern etc. would you try with the CTX. This place used to be a WW1 training camp with up to 30,000 men stationed there between 1917-1918. The camp covered over 2000 acres and the nails are everywhere. The tents had platforms plus the other buildings where wood. When they shut the camp down they took everything except the nails. I tried open screen, combined tones, fast and high trash, but when I tested a non-ferrous target on the ground all I got was an iron tone. There are as many under the dirt as above and to top it off the dirt is loaded with black sand, what your thoughts and advise? I'm still in the learning phase.

Well Patience will be key here. Open screen fast on and get a small coil for the CTX. But honestly, build yourself a screen and dig and screen that dirt a little at a time to really get everything. All those nails and the CTX just won't play well, really any detector is not going to do well in those conditions. Dig and screen and use a magnet like you have in the photo if you really want to get at what's there. Sorry, not an "easy" answer but it's my honest opinion and I bet if you screen that dirt you will get tons of buttons, coins and other things. Good luck and please keep us posted whatever way you decide to hunt it.

Bootyhunter Wrote:
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> Well Patience will be key here. Open screen fast o
> n and get a small coil for the CTX. But honestly,
> build yourself a screen and dig and screen that di
> rt a little at a time to really get everything. Al
> l those nails and the CTX just won't play well, re
> ally any detector is not going to do well in those
> conditions. Dig and screen and use a magnet like y
> ou have in the photo if you really want to get at
> what's there. Sorry, not an "easy" answer but it's
> my honest opinion and I bet if you screen that dir
> t you will get tons of buttons, coins and other th
> ings. Good luck and please keep us posted whatever
> way you decide to hunt it.


I just got off the phone with my buddy, we're going to do the rake and magnet gig in a test area just to see if it's going to be worthwhile. The biggest drawback for me is the 4.5 hour round trip, his is a 2 hour roundtrip. The second pic was taken after I randomly picked a spot free of surface nails, did a 2 scrapes about a foot long. After I saw what was on the magnet, I shut the CTX off and decided it was time to leave

If you put the CTX-3030 into Edit mode (the discrimination pattern) and use Auto Reject, when sweeping the coil over the nails the targets will be automatically rejected. After sweeping a fair sample of the ground you can save that new Disc pattern. Nails are now Disc'd. It may Disc some desired targets - but it would silence the majority of nail reports.

-Johnnyanglo

Get a Compass 77B Professional. The TR would work good there. Long gone technology.

Rick

Quote
Rick
Get a Compass 77B Professional. The TR would work good there. Long gone technology.

The Compass 77B Automatic is a good choice too.
Also the Compass 77 Auto Legend.
And the Compass Judge 2

Truth be known, that place really needs some pre-cleaning.

Johnnyanglo Wrote:
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> If you put the CTX-3030 into Edit mode (the discri
> mination pattern) and use Auto Reject, when sweepi
> ng the coil over the nails the targets will be aut
> omatically rejected. After sweeping a fair sample
> of the ground you can save that new Disc pattern.
> Nails are now Disc'd. It may Disc some desired ta
> rgets - but it would silence the majority of nail
> reports.
>
> -Johnnyanglo

Well, sure, ANY discriminator will "silence the nails". The problem is, you'll loose what's underneath or close to them. Power-house machines like the CTX 3030 will have the downside of not-very-good ability to "average" targets. Other machines, although lacking depth and lacking bells and whistles, will give you a fighting chance to get the hint of conductive beneath the nail(s).

I agree with those who suggest the various incarnations of Compass 77b. They are a dinosaur in every way. Yet could get a coin under up to 3 nails (depending on size of nails and placement). They're difficult to keep balanced, and don't work well in minerals. But were great ghost-town machines. Depth on a coin that is sitting solo: about 5" max. When you start adding nails, that drops to 2 or 3" . But for terrains like shown in the pix, depth is often not an issue.

I'd have to say I'd hunt it with a Teknetics T2 classic with a 5" coil attached or a Tesoro Mojave with 7" coil. The recovery speed of a Minelab FBS machine is way to slow to hunt a nail infested site like that.

I would also use a T2 with the 5'' coil on or surprisingly enough a Tesoro with the 4'' coil on,in some situations on a good site and only in a small area i have actually used my SunRay DX-1 inline 1'' probe which of course offers the full discrimination and also any decent targets can be heard through the headphones as well.In the couple of times that i have used the SunRay pinpointer method on my DFX i removed the coil and mounted on the bottom rod with cable ties and then swung it like a normal DFX but with a 1'' coil on the bottom,looks totally stupid but it does actually work for hunting for last rings etc.So sometimes one has to think of other non standard methods to do the job

Obviously 2000 acres is going to be a nightmare,the pinpointing method would not work but for small areas looking for a item of lost jewellery in among nails then it works extremely well.

But i would have thought a small coil would be your only option,also is the CTX the best machine for the job ??? i have never used one so cannot say for certain,but a T2 with the 5'' coil would be my preferred weapon of choice.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2017 07:42AM by Junk and Disorderly.

I would definatel be using a good Tesoro with a 5.75 concentric coil at a place like that. Mojave, BM2, Vaquero Tejon etc

2000 acres of nails, roughly 120 x 3" nails per kilo, £115 per ton scrap value.
I'd buy a BIG magnet!

With that many nails remaining on the surface and not sinking, my sense tells me not too many underneath. Rent a 2' wide magnet on wheels. Clean up a small area and see what you dig. Use the unit you have with a small coil. Or, this can be a good excuse to get a good unmasker. That many acres is a couple lifetimes of detecting, good luck!

ozzie Wrote:
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> With that many nails remaining on the surface and
> not sinking, my sense tells me not too many undern
> eath. Rent a 2' wide magnet on wheels. Clean up a
> small area and see what you dig. Use the unit you
> have with a small coil. Or, this can be a good exc
> use to get a good unmasker. That many acres is a c
> ouple lifetimes of detecting, good luck!

I did a test scrape of a spot with no surface nails, scraped a foot long twice and came up with what's on the magnet. We've got our hands full here, mesquite, scrub brush desert grass, there's not much wide open spots. I'm going to try some magnets attached to a rake then go back with the small coil in a test spot.

As has been mentioned before, T2 and 5" coil or any of the fast recovery machines with a small coil if possible. If not, I would try to maximize my hunting, try to find a map of the property when it was in use and concentrate on the PX and paymaster areas. Anywhere money was changing hands...

I would rig a strong electromagnet with wheels(Like on a feed spreader). Go over an area, and then rake about two inches then hit it again with the magnet.

You look at the nails and think thats the problem, but it really is the fine iron particles you need to worry about.

btw those iron pieces are on the surface for a reason. I am assuming that they are not sinking too deep because of a tough clay layer. I would guess the 5-7 inches max for targets.

I wouldn't use too much gain/sensitivity. Until you clean the site, it will be worthless to hunt, IMO.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2017 01:00PM by Beyonder-Pa.

WOW!!
I would grab theF75 with the 5" coil
Good luck
HH

Call your local roofing supply store, buy a big rolling magnet. Runs about $100. Itwill at least get the surface iron.

deathray Wrote:
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> Call your local roofing supply store, buy a big ro
> lling magnet. Runs about $100. Itwill at least get
> the surface iron.


we're talking 3 square miles , 2000 acres, mesquite, scrub brush, cactus etc.

Do have any old maps of the compound? Maybe focus on areas between nail concentrations. Yeah, I wouldn't even bother in the nails without a magnet and a lot of time. I'd probably use small concentric on a tesoro vaquero or tejon if I was forced to hunt those nails.

>
> we're talking 3 square miles , 2000 acres, me
> squite, scrub brush, cactus etc.
>

then you need a gas powered weed wacker too

PUNT??

Small coil, fast machine and a lot of patience come to mind..actually feel I would move on myself....

This is a dream site for me. I love when i have to engineer.

The map, diagram, idea of the post if available would be a vast help. Work the parade grounds, housing and as mentioned, PX area's. Hit the spots first that had the most traffic. I hunted a military housing site and it was fantastic for silver and jewelry. Didn't have a carpet of nails to contend with, though. Good luck! HH jim tn

I'd like to hunt it for the challenge!!!


Heres what I use on exposed nail sites...[www.northerntool.com]


What worries me more than the nails is those iron hairs all over your magnet..

if it's like y say it is throw a coin on the ground and its iron tone...there's a ton of goodies in there...and you have your work cut out to get it..

I have a feeling from the site you have shown that stuff is not deep ...Looks hard packed desert??separation will be Key..fast response and shut down..

Your CTX does have a Ferrous coin setting and also a High Trash option too...

your best bet is going to be to bury a target say 4 inches deep? and play with machine till you get it to sound different than the iron...you say its iron tone for non ferrous but is it say the same iron tone or even Visual ID??....maybe open screen 50 tone and learn the background radiation reports of the iron and dig anything that's out of the usual sound..

This will also be a good reason to use open patterns...as you want to know HOW MUCH IRON IS UNDER COIL AT ALL TIMES...if you cant find anything in abundance iron move to the open hole areas and maybe there's a few keepers there..Sort of reverse logic more thrash more treasure but if sites fresh the open hole areas will have stuff too at first..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

They do make roofing magnets you hang off the front of your truck!

I talked my buddy into taking rakes and magnets next time. I'm getting a 6" coil and will try various patterns and settings, targets are 5" max, sometimes laying right on the ground. The easy stuff has picked over, We are both convinced that many a WW1relic is there to be found.

Man that is one fantastic site. I'd bet my bottom dollar that once you get it figured out you're going to have a ball digging there for a long time.

I don't get to hunt nearly as much as most of the guys here but when I do it's mostly in iron/nail infested sites and I mainly use my CTX along with my GMP or Deus. Having said that I've never seen anything even remotely similar to the pic you posted but I'm in agreement with Keith especially about those iron hairs/filings.

The rolling magnet Keith mentioned will go a long way toward clearing off the surface iron in a short amount of time. I'm not sure about the one he linked to but some of them have a release lever that pulls the iron away from the magnet making it easier to get off. After you use the rolling magnet dragging a long rare earth magnet on a rope perpendicular to your path will pull a lot of those filings and really small bits of ferrous material out of the dirt that the rolling magnet isn't strong enough to pick up.

Also in agreement with Keith I'd use an open screen and ferrous coin. I'd also use target trace, target trace pinpoint, fast on, deep off, response "smooth", combined audio and make adjustments from there.

If all the nails are too much of an ear bashing you might try just enough disc to knock them out and toggle from ferrous coin to high trash until you find the one that suits you. I tend to prefer ferrous coin with an open screen and high trash when using a disc pattern but nothing is etched in stone.

I'd start out in auto sensitivity and increase/decrease it using the auto +/- feature (before going to manual) until you find the sweet spot.

The 6" CTX coil is a necessity for a site like this. It's pretty amazing especially when combined with the target trace options.

Dan, if you try these settings at this site or one similar to it please me know what you think.

Again, these are just some of the settings/methods I use. If any of you guys have any positive or negative comments or suggestions regarding these settings PLEASE let me know. I too can use all the help I can get!


Chris



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2017 11:18PM by Neugene.

I'd probably take the money spent on optional coils for the CTX and use it towards the purchase of a Notka or Makro detector for that site. It's very easy to spend tons of money trying to make one detector perform great everywhere. Multiple detectors is the ticket.

Hi Dan
Enjoying that CZ coil btw. I've struggled to get the CTX to perform in black sand but am finding open screen setting s to be best. The P2 in Andy's beach seems to get decent depth. Andy's Relic P2 is also good. For nails and iron the Tadpole P1 is great althoug h the audio takes some getting used to. Sounds like a great site--good luck.e
rgrdz clive