Any of you Old Timers remember one of these??

[NWMP]

It is true. I used to find fist fulls of old silver with my Red Baron. Capped, Walking, Standing, silver was almost as common as clad in many areas.

If I said that I wasn"t envious, it would be a lie. I have a good day with one silver, a really good day with three, and an exceptional day with five silver. I don"t get five silver days very often.

 

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[fistfulladirt]

I was swinging a coinmaster II around '78-'79, I had better luck eyeballing surface finds! That detector had the 'new' descrim circuit and also used a boatload of AA's. As a 15 y.o. I could not master it sad to say. I had better luck coin roll hunting in '79-'80 right about the time the Hunts took over.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I want to say 1977-'78 on the Red Baron. The best Silver day I ever had was 1979, in Yonkers, New York. 33-silver coins at Tibbits Brook park.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbetts_Brook_Park

Thanx Terry ! Then you must've had the Red Baron with "SPD" (Synchronized Phase Discrimination). That was their brand's way of what Whites went on to call "GEB" aka VLF motion discrimination. That Red Baron came out in 1977, because there's a product review article in a 1977 Treasure mag. that I've seen.

But back in those days of pre-internet, word travelled slowly. So new gadgets like this were slower to catch on that a "new mousetrap" today does. So it still took a few years for machines like that and the 6000D to be seen in great #'s. I think that Red Baron predated the 6000D, hence being the first motion discrimination machine to hit the market. The Whites 6DB was very similar to that Red Baron.

They probably masked horribly (with the long annoying "tail" to the target). And by today's standards, were not that deep. HOWEVER, they were the first machines to combat minerals WHILE discriminating . And since you had to annoyingly whip the coil very fast to get any depth, it had the effect of being able to "cover ground fast". So that even if your actual depth was no more than what you could *possibly* get with tricky fancy TR disc. methods, yet the those early machines did it at very fast pace (on account of the swing speed required).

In ground that had minerals, those machines far and away out-did TR disc, thus opening up several new inches in some states! Turning worked out parks into virgin parks all over again.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

And on a humorous note: I remember the time, in about 1978, when one of us in our town's md'ing circle of friends ever saw someone swinging one of those new-fangled motion discrinators. While viewing him from afar, we laughed at him for "swinging his coil wrong". Because most certainly you have to creep slow to hear the whispers, right? (that's how you operate vlf/tr's that we had) . So we'd smuggly call his technique like "golfing". And assumed he didn't know what the heck he was doing.

Yet lo & behold, at each month's show & tell at our club meetings, guess who was coming in with the goodies ? Those golfers. So we swallowed our pride, and rushed out to get these machines also. Doh !

 

[Terry Soloman]

Yes, the Red Baron was a VLF discriminator, I think the first. I know Jack Gifford had a hand in the design with at least two other engineers. I remember it having an elongated recovery time - annoying by today's standards, but it ate up silver at 8"-9".

 

[Dave N Japan]

I remember my first was Whites 5000-D I bought it used, had the old push button re-tune on it. I also bought one for my wife and it was I think a C&G Bobcat....Does anyone remember those? It was really a off brand,but worked pretty well for the time.

 

[Dave N Japan]

Thanks for the list Terry, I always wanted to see something like that

 

[fyrffytr1]

My first detector was a hand me down White's 4900. The coil was held together with duct tape but I still managed to find stuff with it. I thought I was something else when I got my 5000. I gave the 4900 back to my brother and he schooled me on how to find the good stuff with it! He would find 5 relics for every 1 I recovered. I wish he was still here to teach me more.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I remember my first was Whites 5000-D I bought it used, had the old push button re-tune on it. I also bought one for my wife and it was I think a C&G Bobcat....Does anyone remember those? It was really a off brand,but worked pretty well for the time.

Yes! That was Ray Crum and Jack Gifford in Phoenix. I had a Wildcat and used it to hunt gold nuggets out past Wickenburg.

 

[Sandman]

I used to float my ADS 7 on a float while lake hunting an only scoop pulltab and nickel readings to get the gold.

 

[SandomingoJim]

View attachment 1365250
Just thought I would post a picture of one my old detectors. Still works well. It also takes a box full of batteries to fire it up.
Sorry for the upsidedown picture. Doesn't look like that on my iPad.

That was my first detector I bought in 1981 or 2 ??. It came with a cassette tape on how to work it. Lots of fun. The box was bigger than a loaf of bread. lol

 

[Dave N Japan]

You know I kind of miss those meters, analog I guess you call it. Seems you could get a better feel of what it was after going over it a few times.

I still have the box and I need to throw it away and make room, but I just can't

 

[BARKER]

Hi; YUP, Then they came out with the Grand Master Hunter about the same time. I'm a White's guy myself but I used the Grand Master Hunter as well. I miss those suckers. Fond memories. To NWSP, If you did not find silver back then there was something wrong with YOU not the detector. I'd fill 5 gallon paint pails every 2 months or so with just silver. REMEMBER: That when I started we got silver in our pocket change as the US had just gone to Clad in 1965. Finding silver was easy back then and very few folks had detectors. You were considered a wierdo back then. That never stopped me at all. I don't give a damned about peoples opinions. When you put the bread on my Family table then I'll listen ok. PEACE:RONB

 

[devldog]

I used a Garrett Deepseeker back in the early 80's. I found some of my best relics with this detector. A great metal detector. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.