Ray in CA

Grubby, I'll keep him in my prayers too. I'm so sorry to hear about this. Just like the docs to try and cover it up too. Our politicians are so concerned about handguns and yet docs kill more people exponentially every year than guns. Oh well, no use complaining...better to pray. Ray

Hi Bob, Sorry to hear about your back problems. I'll keep you in my prayers for a speedier than August recovery!! In the meantime, relax and take it easy and just dream of big nuggets flowing through your dredge nozzle. Ray in CA

Man, I need to get out to Arizona sometime. Nice nuggets! Hope you find more. Ray

but at least I finally got to get out near Randsburg and use my 2100v2. I threw on the 14" mono (and then the 10" NF later on) because I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything behind in some of my old spots. Nope. Nothing. I guess I did pretty good with the vlfs previously in those areas. Being a small guy (150 lbs.) I sure began to feel the weight of the 14" mono after about 35 minutes of use! Gonna have to bulk up my arms to contend with that coil, hehe. I can see why this coil would be great for patch hunting though...one can cover quite a bit of ground with it fast. Neverthless, the 2100 ran smooth as silk in the Mojave ground. Only one type of volcanic rock on an elevated ancient river bench sounded off on me slightly, but it wasn't a problem as I could tell what it was. There was one signal that gave me a nice, smooth, even tone...thought I had gold for a moment! It turned out to be a washer down about 10". Oh well. At least I learned I could easily distinguish different tones with the 2100. All in all it was a great day to be out in the desert. Sunshine all day at 57º tops made it perfect weather for detecting. Here's a pic as I was rolling down the 395 just past Randsburg to show you just what a marvelous day it was for nuggethunting. p.s. I forgot to mention that I ran my detector for about 5 hours on one Pocket Rocket battery, and I probably could have gone quite a bit longer. I had been having trouble with it juicing out on me before after about an hour of use, but I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Now the charge is holding steady! Makes me happy I don't have to lug that Minelab battery around,lol. Ray

whoops, double post.

Thanks Lizardchaser! I looked up the house where I found the 1911 barber and apparently the house itself was built in 1910. I've got the owners address through public records and am gonna write a letter to see if I can get permission to hunt the yard! Ray

Nice little nuggies there, goldstudmuffin! I'm finally heading out tomorrow to give my 2100v2 a real test drive in the Mojave desert, so I'm hoping to come away with a few just like yours! Ray

I've only had a handful of times to get out and detect for coins in town, but it looks like Banning is starting to give up its silver with my new detector. The 1911 Barber is in beautiful condition, and its my first! In fact, there is such good detail on the back that one can see the kernels of corn on the back. Found it on the sidewalk easement in front of an old house that is abandoned. It was about 2" deep in very compact, hard dirt. I need to find the owner to get permission to hunt the front, back, and large side yard to see if I can coax anymore coins from that spot. The Merc and Rosies were found at another old house that was turned into apartments. I found the owner and got permission to hunt the yards before they put in new sod. Found a few wheats too, but no coins older than '36. I noticed that at least 3-4" of newer dirt lay on top of the old, compacted dirt that must have been the original lawn, so I wasn't finding anything deeper than six inches. Next on my list is to find a walking liberty quarter and a seated dime. That would make me really happy. Ray

Hi Jim, Sorry for the late reply, but I always forget to look at this particular portion of the website. I think we may have met, if indeed the event you are describing was held in or near Jurupa. Jim Straight invited me and I had actually thought he was inviting me to go nuggethunting. I got to thinking that I'd never heard of gold found in Jurupa, but thought I would go anyway because Jim invited me and he's a great guy to tag along with. Turned out to be a detectorist gathering of some kind in a very large park over there. I met a lot of people there and it was quite some time ago, so I would be hard pressed to say for sure that we met. But we could have. Anyhow, thanks for the comments. The Silver uMax is working well for me. Will post another pic of some more silver finds in a few minutes. Take care, Ray

Welcome to the hobby, Glenn. At least you've been able to get your 2200 out. Don't worry, you'll go over gold soon. I'm hoping I'll get to take my new 2100v2 out next week for a real tryout, the Lord permitting weatherwise. Keep on swinging, and don't forget to post pics if you happen to run over any gold. Ray

Congrats Moses! That's one nice little chunk of gold. Hope we can get together sometime soon and give the Dale a good working. Ray

In only 10 minutes of its first use in my front yard. The ring is made by Avon, .925 silver with what appears to be 12 small peridot stones. But they could also be synthetic stones as well. Now all I need is to strike a gold nugget with my 2100 in the first ten minutes! lol Ray

Those are some interesting looking nuggets, Rob, particularly that first one. I'm glad you gave a bit of an explanation for it. And 1.25 ounces. Whew, that's enough to keep a smile on the face for a couple of weeks or more. I'm heading out to the Mojave desert this Friday, can't wait to get the 2100 out there and use the 14" mono myself. Like I said to Grubby, keep 'em coming! Ray

Those are some nice finds, Grubstake! You are giving us plent of motivation! Keep 'em coming. Ray

Thanks, Rob. I wish I could have bought brand new from you like I had planned, but it probably would have taken me another year, lol! But to be honest, the setup I have is just perfect for me. Yes, I did run it at 7.3v. I found out the hard way, though, that the detector needs to be turned on first, then the battery system. Was left wondering why the battery wouldn't turn back on after using it for a while and turning it off. Fortuntely, though, I found an old nuggethunting post that helped me figure it out. Ray