The Bounty Hunter brand and its abilities to find gold....

[rumme]

Well Ive been doing some research with my new Time Ranger detector. It seems to be very reliable in identifying silver, clad,etc but when it comes to gold, its a bit tricky.

I tested several gold items..including a gold ring, a gold necklace and a gold bracelet. All gold items register to the left { low conductivity} of the I.D target LCD readout. The Time ranger has 4 different levels of detection for IRON and it seems that it is not a good idea to discriminate out all of the iron. On the 3 gold itmes I checked, they all would jump around in the 1st and 2nd iron I.D or the foil or nickel I.D areas. I then tested some nails/bolts and they came in under the IRON settings of 3rd and 4th.

This unscientific test would seem to indicate that it may be possible to discriminate out the 3rd and 4th IRON settings which may keep one from digging to much iron junk but it seems that its important to keep the 1st and 2nd IRON settings accepted if one wants to find gold...

I have no idea if these findings would be the same if I wasnt using new gold and where trying to I.D gold that may have been under the ground for years. Maybe that gold would I.D under the 3rd and 4th IRON I.D .

For now, im gonna accept the 1st and 2nd IRON settings along with foil/tabs/nickels/etc and the onyl thing I plan to discriminate out is the 3rd and 4th IRON I.D....since it seems that , from my tests, gold doesnt register under those catgories but nails and screws do.

 

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[Night Stalker]

Forget all that technical jargon Rumme - get that coil dirty and start swinging......

Figure it out as you go, things will make start to make sense after you dig your 100th pulltab and twist cap.

 

[Montana Jim]

The BHs find gold.

I've never used a Time Ranger... so the whole settings thing you wrote gave me a headache... Digging the lower signals is a requirement for gold on almost every make and model unless your using a "machine made for gold" which the Time Ranger is not.

The first gold ring I found caused me to dig zillions of pulltabs and nickles and bottletops. I don't hunt for gold I am into relics right now... but I know...

The BHs find gold.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

i have bh 3300. i haven't found gold because i don't like digging pulltabs and screwcaps. i scanned all my wife's gold rings. some 10k, 14k, and 18k. different shapes and thicknesses. my wedding ring comes up about the same reading as hers. her rings fall under the SC, PT, and .5/PT settings with the airtest. i have been told that minerals in the soil will only cause the reading to down....never up. in the end. digging every target will be the only way to get the gold with my machine. i don't care for that much digging. i have one more audio tone than yours and 13 target ids. learn the readout. it will fail you less than looking at the target indicator. a small watch will ring as a quarter with 113-115. a quarter is a quarter with 123-125..........i want a DFX!!! I hunt with people who use them. I want the programmable features......GL with your new machine.

 

[treasurejack]

Your BH will find gold, don't worry about that. When starting out dig everything until you're use to the machine, try not to use anything above the iron eliminator feature. Sure, you're going to dig lots of trash, but it's some good schooling to endure for a while.

 

[The Standard]

i have the BH pioneer 202, probably the absolute bottom of the line detector there is, and it registers gold w/ the air test, but i don't screw w/ the discrimination at all, i have it read everything, and almost exclusivley dig junk.

 

[Montana Jim]

i have the BH pioneer 202, probably the absolute bottom of the line detector there is, and it registers gold w/ the air test, but i don't screw w/ the discrimination at all, i have it read everything, and almost exclusivley dig junk.

LOL... It's not the bottom of the line BH...

If the gold is there... you'll find it, if your NOT discriminating out nickles... I've found a nice gold men's wedding band with a 202. Remember: It'll find the gold. It'll find the rings, It'll find all of it! The trash to treasure ratio really depends on where you dig and what discrimination levels you use.

Or... discriminate out the trash, iron, foil, etc... and the gold, and increase you treasure ratio! You'll still find gold coins and large gold rings...

 

[Monty]

Digging trash is almost synonamous with digging gold. Gold can also come in at the foil range. It's probabaly the hardest metal to hunt unless you are hunting an area known for gold such as tailings at an old gold mine. Your BH detector will do just fine, as good as most and better than some. Monty

 

[wesfrye53]

I have a BH Pioneer 202 and, being a newbie to this art, it takes some getting used to. Since I live in an old house, it's a great training ground. Just spent an hour in the yard, playing with settings, etc. As was said above, the more trash I dig the better I'm getting at learning the beeps, etc. I feel like mine's pretty good but isn't too hot with pin-pointing and I ususally end up digging a hole bigger than expected. Guess I won't know any better until I try out a Cadillac model! By the way, I'm learning there's an art to leaving your hole "un-noticeable" and besides learning about my BH, I'm getting better at restoring the spots where I dig.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

If the gold is there... you'll find it, if your NOT discriminating out nickles...

Who would do such a thing? Serves 'em right.

If you want gold rings notch FOR tabs plus half a step in either direction. Gold chain? Throw "Foil" in there, too.

As far as I know. There is nothing you can discriminate out or notch around that will not cost you some desireable finds. As R.A. Heinlein said: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch notch."

 

[bmanofnbc]

I've found a few gold rings and other gold jewelry items with my BH over the last 3 years or so. usually a nickel or pulltab signal, ya gotta dig it all!!!

 

[Pulltab Parson]

Bottom line, you have to know your detector and dig, dig, dig!! I can't begin to tell you how may pull tabs I dug before I found myt first silver ring let alone Gold. You got to dig it all!!

Thats my 2 cents

 

[Functional]

I had to flip through this a second time, its so seldom I see anything mentioned about the Bounty Hunters that doesn't include a "For Sale" and a price (usually under $100.00). Its actually nice to see that they have a use and can detect gold.

I doubt they would be very good at nugget hunting though. At least not in my area, where theres black sand almost everywhere and iron deposits of varying degree's, (not to mention the hotrocks/ironstone), all over the mountains of B.C. If they ever make a BH MD that can be successfully used for nugget hunting here at a reasonable price, I'd consider it an option.

F.

 

[Monty]

What makes you think the better quality BHs wouldn't be any good for nugget hunting in mineralized soil or black sand? They have all the features of more expensive detectors including a manual ground balance that would be needed under the conditions you describe. Granted they might not be tuned to the best frequency for finding nuggets, but they are not intended as such, rather an all around or all purpose detector. To expect the very best results for finding nuggets you would fare better to go with a detector specifically designed for that type of hunting, and there are several of them on the market. I wouldn't be afraid to tack on the small coil to get into tight spots, ground balance frequently and find a nugget or two with my Land Ranger from BH........if I really was into nugget hunting. The chances of me going nugget hunting are so slim I wouldn't rush out and buy another detector just for nuggets. Monty

 

[Ant]

My dedicated gold machind doesn't discriminate out iron, it identifies common iron. Another words, it has an Iron Identification mode. I think most of the other VLF gold machines work that way too.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

The bottom line and a minor/major drawback to find gold is. You have to dig the Iron/Foil to dig the gold unless your like the Professor and can turn over gold the first time out.

Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Peeps, A reminder that We are NOT talking about pure Gold, particularly in items that are manufactured of gold. There are many many different alloys, and many items are not solid gold alloys, but merely a coating of one type or another, which may be partially worn off or chemically dissolved in some areas. So Gold items are of necessity very variable in their reactions, this is besides the shape / size factor.

So, end point, DIG EVERYTHING, if you want maximum success.

This applies to any detector presently manufactured. While the technology "is" there, would you be willing to pay $ 40 - 50,000 for it?

Mine lab is a big step in the right direction with the ability to use multi frequencies which are selectable either mechanically or automatically to utilize the best one for what you are looking for, however -----. .

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Functional]

What makes you think the better quality BHs wouldn't be any good for nugget hunting in mineralized soil or black sand? They have all the features of more expensive detectors including a manual ground balance that would be needed under the conditions you describe.

I just never heard of anyone here in B.C. that used a BH for nugget hunting. I wish I could get my hands on a BH MD for testing here. We have, what many refer to as extremely mineralized soil and of course, the areas where the nuggets are located, clearly show the black sand in high quantities. If I were to "dig everything", I'd have to get a permit for an open pit mining operation. From what I've seen, the normal nugget hunting MD's used here are late 80's and early 90's vintage. They don't have much for graphical displays, but they seem to do the job.

Granted they might not be tuned to the best frequency for finding nuggets, but they are not intended as such, rather an all around or all purpose detector. To expect the very best results for finding nuggets you would fare better to go with a detector specifically designed for that type of hunting, and there are several of them on the market.

With my budget, I'm looking at getting a slightly older nugget hunting machine as the newer ones like Minelab and Tesoro are way out of my price range. Until I strike it rich, I'll have to keep watching eBay for a suitable machine in my price range, (which seems to fluctuate due to other financial considerations ).

I wouldn't be afraid to tack on the small coil to get into tight spots, ground balance frequently and find a nugget or two with my Land Ranger from BH........if I really was into nugget hunting. The chances of me going nugget hunting are so slim I wouldn't rush out and buy another detector just for nuggets. Monty

Actually I prefer a small coil if I can still have reasonable depth, (say 8 inches or so). Unfortunately, there just aren't enough historical sites around here to justify buying a "coin locator" type of MD, other than the old ones I already have. Too many of the "old" sites that aren't protected by some historical standing, have been taken out and new buildings and landscaping have pretty much buried what was there. Thats what they call progress in tourist type destinations. I guess theres more tourist interest in "Sun and Sand" than in "old buildings and rusty artifacts".

It would be nice if BH, or some other company put out a nugget hunter MD for under $200, so I could get something with a warrantee, and maybe some newer features. I'd like to get a machine that could "learn", so that I can have it identify the hotrocks. I'm told that there are at least 3 different types of ironstone here, with slightly different alloys. Thankfully, the gold nuggets here tend to be reasonably pure, (20 to 22 Karat, so far), although they seem to be smaller in the southern part of the province where I am. The manual ground balancing you mentioned is a great thing to have around here and is an essential item for me.

I think I'll have to make up a "wish list" of the features I'd like to have. I've been watching eBay for something that has as many of those features as possible, can do the job and is within my budget. We had record levels of snow pack on the mountains this winter and theres still some flooding expected in some areas within the coming weeks, so hopefully I'll find something by the time the rivers have gone back down to normal levels.

F.

 

[usair727]

I dig(have my Son and Grandson) with me lol....I look and they dig, I dig it all if it is 6" or less they just hate to dig deeper the 6" inches.But here in my little town, dig it all or get nothing. I hate pull tabs....! the inventer should be made to pick up every tab that was ever used...!
phil

 

[Monty]

Functional,(for some reason I want to call you funky! We agree on more points thand we disagree on. Virtually any detector will find coins providing you have the horsepower to get deep enough to find the "good stuff". My old BH will get down about 9,sometimes 10 inches and that is as deep as I am willing to dig most of the time. Also just about any detector will find gold, but it is up to the operator to determine when to dig it. It has the same or similar return as a lot of junk, and is therefore more difficult to find.. Realde, I think they were talking about pure gold, nuggets to be precise. I think a lot of people who put down BH detectors aren't familiar with their top of the line units, rather see the really cheap models they put out for different retailers. And I'd have to agree with their assessment of the really cheap units, but what can you expect for a hundred bucks? I'm not trying to champion BH detectors, but if you have one of their better units you are not going unarmed and will probably do quite well once you master it. Monty