Three Days with the Impact

Tom and I had some sites researched we've been waiting to check out, but when I knew my Impact was finally on the way, we sprung into action to research a few more to add to an Impact test trip, mostly remote stage stops.

Unfortunately someone already cleaned these sites out, and I mean clean. Some of them hardly even had iron, others still were laden with iron, but stingy on period conductors. We hunted a total of seven sites, including one we've been already working on (at least it's still producing). Not a single period coin was to be found, that was disappointing, you'd think one or two would've surfaced, but their tired sites.


This photo shows some of the relics from the stage stops. One is a little suspender(?) buckle dated 1855.

]

This Naval button and this other disc came from a stage stop. The Naval button across the top of the anchor appears to have I O U written, but it's challenging to see without a loupe:





Last is our Western Frontier camp, it's still producing:



Things of note were the lid to a gunpowder can, and a screw on lid to a black powder can. Also found a nice ornate suspender clip, eagle buttons including an Infantry I in shield button, still no shortage of lead and Spencer shells. I'm sure there's got to be a few more good finds to be made at this site, but it's definitely thinning out.



My thoughts on the Impact after three days of hardcore detecting.

I found that at all of these sites, 20Khz worked best. I ended up detecting in Di3 mode, iron audio F1, 1 disc, 98-99 gain as often as I could or as made sense. I exclusively used the small coil from the ProPack and my new Racer2 wireless headphones.

First I loved the wireless headphones, to be honest, it's one of my favorite things about the Impact. No wires on the coil to get tangled up and nothing on the headphones, makes for such a pleasant experience when hunting around bushes and other areas where wires get easily tangled up. Oh and the audio is every bit as good as the black widows I tried, zero lag, they work perfectly for me. Also the small coil is solid, so it's perfect for hunting ghost towns and around foundations, shrubs, etc.

OK, on to the Impact. I like the audio, even though the R1 and R2 both have a Di3 mode, the audio has evolved on each machine, and the Impact audio is top notch. They even redid the overload tone and it's now pleasant to listen to, yet very functional. They obviously believe that that better the audio intelligence, the higher the chances of picking out good targets from iron and trash increases.

Having the ability to change frequencies is a game changer. My old alkali soil site that handicapped my Racer2 and F75 LTD, with just the simple change of jumping to 20Khz, no longer crippled the machine. My period conductive target count for the camp site was one of the highest yet, and although no incredible finds were made, it was a pleasure to detect and not have to try to interpret contrived and crippled audio and TIDs. Another thing I found was that most of the time I was able to put the Impact into hyper gain mode, running at 98-99 gain with 0 or 1 disc. Once and a while I'd have to do a freq shift to fend off EMI, some sites more frequent then others, but at each site, 20Khz reigned supreme. I did experiment with gain levels at my alkali soil challenged site, and I think the higher gain settings still worked better overall. Now I did notice that I was digging more square nails then I'd like to. Don't get me wrong, almost every machine will dig some, especially when their bent or in other contorted shapes, but I felt like I was digging more then usual, of course, I was also grasping for signals at most of these sites, and I find that I tend to dig more iron in these scenarios trying to roll the dice and find that semi-masked hidden treasure.

My largest complaint is that, for me, the pistol grip is a mess. I find it very uncomfortable. I've used several other machines with pistol grip (F75, Tek Omega, CZ70 Pro, etc) and have found the pistol grip to be the best and most comfortable handle application. For me, this isn't the case on the Impact. After three days of Impact use, my right thumb was actually starting to tingle. It never felt heavy, felt lighter then my F75, albeit a bit heavier then my Racer2. The display is awesome in that it shows everything at once, but unfortunately that necessitates the need for tiny fonts. If there a way for the icon to have a magnification bubble blow up the current icon label when you cursor over it, that would be awesome, as they're currently awfully small to my eyes.

While I didn't make any amazing finds, neither did Tom. Actually IIRC at each site, I bested his period conductor count, this may be a first At any rate, that in itself is a testament to the Impact, or any machine that can keep up with Tom ><

Still lots to check out, but I feel like I'm equipped with the tools to detect almost any site/condition now.
Cal



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2017 08:32PM by Cal_cobra.

Nice write up!

Great report Cal I have also had my best results in old iron sites using DI3 and 20 Khz with gain as high as conditions allow. Even though you didn't find any coins, those nice button finds certainly make up for it.

Tom

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a democracy, it is difficult to win fellow citizens over to your own side, or to build public support to remedy injustices that remain all too real when you fundamentally misunderstand how they see the world.

Nice write up cal

Did you use Di99 at all?

That's where you'll see the magic with the Impact combined with 20 kHz in those type of sites

MichiganRelicHunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice write up cal
>
> Did you use Di99 at all?
>
> That's where you'll see the magic with the Impact
> combined with 20 kHz in those type of sites

I did try Di99 for a bit. It's one of those settings that'll take some mental training (for me) to plug into, so I have work to do if it's a better mode for sifting iron.

Lol

Yeah. It takes some getting used to. It speaks a language all its own and is very busy but it'll squeak things out of iron like nobody's business

Always check those smashed cartridge hulls--- a guy at Gold Basin,AZ found one that was full of gold flakes.

Great Report! Regards the Pistol Grip, I felt the same way about the Xterra pistal grips. There was something about them my hand didn't like.

Thanks for the picture of the finds. What is the sharp pointed pistal bullet looking thing in the picture will all the bullets? Never seen one like that one before.

HH
Mike

Mike Hillis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great Report! Regards the Pistol Grip, I felt t
> he same way about the Xterra pistal grips. There
> was something about them my hand didn't like.
>
> Thanks for the picture of the finds. What is th
> e sharp pointed pistal bullet looking thing in the
> picture will all the bullets? Never seen one like
> that one before.
>
> HH
> Mike

I think it's that the grip is too tall? Would be interesting if you could adjust the grip.

Mike do you mean the tear drop bullet more or less in the center:



Maybe Keith or one of the other bullet experts can ID it, as I'm not really sure. I do recall it being an odd one when I dug it. The tip is hollow too, like a hollow-point.

hh,
Cal

Brian, I have to agree with you on the grip. For me, it's angled too far forwards. I'd prefer it be a couple of degrees closer to 90 but that's one of those individual things. You can't please everyone. When everyone else was complaining about the original Racer grip, I was one of the folks that liked it the way it was. I like the grip on the Racer 2 but I think the diameter is too small. Fixed that with some of that medical wrap.

The point bullet is part of a three piece shaler ..

You have the bottom.



Nice digs

Keith

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

Hey gang, yes Brian was doing good against my Explorer II. In-so-far as target counts go. In the old days (F75, T2, etc...) before he got his Racer, I would routinely spank him on target counts. But the moment he got the Racer, the target counts evened out. And so-too was it this weekend with his Impact. Mind you it was just-out-of-the-box, and he was still learning it. So that's a good testament.

On one signal, at a stage stop full of iron (that someone apparently banged hard before us), he called me over to try a flagged signal. I had the 11" pro coil on an Explorer II. And I kid you not: I could not get a hint of ANYTHING conductive there. Lo & behold he pulled up that item to the left of his navy button in his top picture. It was flimsy, so it was a low conductor. Still though, I was impressed. To be fair though, he was using his little Impact coil. So not quite comparable to an Exp. with 11" coil.

And at our "old faithful" site, the final target count (when including nuisance new stuff) turned out to be something like 64 (me) and 75-ish (him). There is endless variables, of who's simply in the better zone, etc... But all-in-all, it turned out to be a good testament to the Impact.

And yes: I got to handle the Impact to get the feel. And I too was struck with how the wrist takes an un-natural bend to get around that pistol grip. Like it should have been 90*, and not leaned forward. Another thing I didn't care for, was that the arm cuff is rather wide. So that unless you're a guy with a very beefy big arm, there's going to be "slop" in the left/right motion. I suppose the next person's arm width might be wider. I watched and Brian swung, and could see the "play" in the space of the arm cuff even for him . And his arm's are bigger than mine.

A solution would be to use velcro on the top, to get the arm snug in there and remove play. But most guy's dislike having to thread your arm in and out of that each time. So what I did on my explorer, was to take sheet metal and form my own cuff. Then I can pinch/squeeze it tighter or looser at any time. That might be possible on the Impact too. I didn't get a chance to look at the hardware setup to see.

Here's a pix of my find. Notice the bugle hat pin.

Another tech. related hunt result analysis:

One of our stops was where a topo map from the 1880s showed 2 black dots next to a body of water. And studying the history books told us they had, at one time, been a fishing village. One source even said "Chinese" were living there at one time (ie.: a chinese fishing village). Note the opium tin fragments that substantiated that But the economics and climate of this area changed, and it was no longer a fishing site after the 1910s. So whatever was there (the 2 black dots) ceased to be there on any later topo. Hence it deserved a check. Could just be singular family concerns. Versus the better scenario of traveler stopping spots (eg.: stage stop, saloon, camp spot, etc...). But it beckoned for us to try it out.

We found the spots, as evidenced by some rock walls, and a spread of iron.

After bagging perhaps 7 or 8 conductive targets (purse clasp, bullet shells, etc....) I got sick and tired of the iron masking. So I fetched the Tesoro Bandido . Going to the EXACT same zones, got another immediate 7 or 8 more targets. From exactly where I'd been swinging before. Granted was not going to go as deep as the Exp. II, but it was an eye-opening testament to the ability of those old 2-filter tesoros to pass the "nail test".

Several of you here helped me on a thread about this a few months ago, which led me to eventually get this Bandido. Turned out to be from one of Monte's old sales/customers, and Monte gave the thumbs up credit check reference to send the $$ to the fellow. Thanx Monte !

Nice digs, I'm in the opposite camp on the grip angle I think they have it perfect on the impact but agree totally on the arm cuff is just to wide. With the arm strap on to tighten it up machine swings perfect but I hate having the cuff strap on so I think I'm gonna make some delrin spacers and bolt them on the slots to tighten it up some

Sweet saves Cal. Good report on the Impact It seems more and more people are really liking it now that its getting out there

HH
Corey
.

Just the kind of real word reports I love to read and learn from. Thanks for taking the time to share with the rest of us

Nice finds, good reads, enjoyed them. The Impact sounds like a worthy tool.

I get so busy at projects and chores for us and my kids homes, fill that in with having to work....what's left is an older man with depleted energy. I use to get out a lot...now, maybe once a month.....pitiful.

Good report. Neat finds. Good photos. Thanks.

Wayne

Pleasant Garden, NC
AT Max, Nokta Impact, MX Sport, Nokta FORS Relic, GPX 4800, Infinium, Racer, Deus, F75SE, Nautilus DMC II (order of acquisition, last to first)

Does an archeologist argue with a plow? A bureaucrat with a bulldozer?

What a cool bullet. Thinks for the ID, Keith.

Tom, My favorite in your pictures is the old pocket knife. Can you imagine how naked it would feel to loose your pocket knife back in the day?

HH
Mike

thanx for the bullet ID Keith .

Thanks Keith. I'll have to sort through all the lead I've dug from this site and see if I can make a complete one

Keith Southern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The point bullet is part of a three piece shaler .
> .
>
> You have the bottom.
> [URL=http://s957.photobucket.com/user/relics8/medi
> a/19C5028E8B314A1498F5600AAECB40F4Shaler%20Type%20
> C%203_zpsnxi9ypmb.jpg.html][IMG]http://i957.photob
> ucket.com/albums/ae54/relics8/19C5028E8B314A1498F5
> 600AAECB40F4Shaler%20Type%20C%203_zpsnxi9ypmb.jpg[
> /IMG][/URL]
> [URL=http://s957.photobucket.com/user/relics8/medi
> a/jp1_zpszsys7nkp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i957.photob
> ucket.com/albums/ae54/relics8/jp1_zpszsys7nkp.jpg[
> /IMG][/URL]
>
> Nice digs
>
> Keith