My "AT Pro" Has Reached its Limit on These 5 Silvers, Im Ready for a PI

[SoCalBeachScanner]

My "AT Pro" Has Reached it's Limit on These 5 Silvers, I'm Ready for a PI

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Went back to an area in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, CA, that has old sand and has produced a couple of wheat's. The area of dry sand I worked is basically the size of a football field that has 6"-7" of soft top sand with very hard packed sand underneath. Based on the location, I just knew there was silver in the hard sand under the soft sand if I could hear that deep soft whisper of a high tone.

It was very early morning, so there was absolutely no outside noise, wind, or distractions. The area is virtually trash free, had the headphones cranked all the way up, I worked the machine wide open and slower then I have ever worked it (about a 3-second short slow swing) while skimming the sand with the coil. And with my self proclaimed ADD, scanning this slow was very trying and challenging, to say the least.
I dug lots of what I believed were deep whispers that disappeared after the first scoop. I heard my first true high tone whisper (in between shallow bottle tops that about took my head off with the volume so loud) after about twenty minutes and it showed a 92 on the display. I scooped and scanned three times through the soft sand as the tone got louder, then I chopped with the scoop at the hard sand for several more inches.

And there it was! A 1961 Franklin Silver Half. Then about every fifteen minutes or so I dug down in the hard packed sand for four more silver. FIVE SILVER TOTAL!!

It takes a lot of patience and concentration to work the machine that slow to hear the whispers of a good deep target, and I was ready to pick up the pace after an hour plus of that. I didn't cover much ground today, but the ground was good, and there is a lot more ground to cover. In areas that have quality targets that are deep, it difficult to constantly work a machine to it's limits, and then, you still wonder what your missing a few inches further down.

I believe if I had a Good PI Machine in that same area, along with other old sand areas I know of, I just may have a jar full of silver, and jewelry from the same era as the coins.

So now you guys know what I want for Christmas Just in time for the Winter Storms in January.

I really love my AT Pro, it has served me well, and still will, but it has it's limits, and I believe I'm ready for a Good PI Machine for areas just like I was at today, maybe an ATX? Still waiting for beach user reviews before I pull that trigger.


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Beautiful Morning .. About 58 Degrees when I Started .. These pictures are not the exact area that I worked ... Gotta have some secrets
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Thanks For Looking ... Keep on Swinging

 

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[Lefty]

Wow, 5 silvers! Excellent day.

 

[cudamark]

Great finds! Keep in mind that the PI machines out there right now don't have any discrimination or an I.D. screen. In an area with no junk, that would probably work out ok but add some iron targets to the mix and you'll get tired of that in a hurry.

 

[christo000]

Great job with the silvers & good luck If u get ur Pi

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

Great finds! Keep in mind that the PI machines out there right now don't have any discrimination or an I.D. screen. In an area with no junk, that would probably work out ok but add some iron targets to the mix and you'll get tired of that in a hurry.

Hi cudamark,

Yeah, I am aware of the lack of complete discrimination on a PI Machine and I rarely look at the I.D. screen on my AT Pro. The only time I do look at the I.D. Screen is usually when I first start in the morning to see the difference between a 40-something for foil or a 52 for a nickel. But once the coffee and the brain cells kicks in, I'm good to go, and don't look at the I.D. Screen.

My main purpose for a Deep Seeking PI Machine is for areas like I was at today with virtually no trash and in the surf line. My AT Pro does work in the surf, but you hear a constant faint iron sound that get higher and lower as you scan across the riffles of black sand. And, if I'm spending a couple hours in the cool CA surf, it would be nice to have a quieter deeper experience, and I'm willing to pay for that.

Thank You for your comment

 

[RustyGold]

Awesome day SoCal! I myself will possibly buy a PI machine one day just to have one. I like the Garrett Sea Hunter unless an ATX has got your name on it!
With the ATX you can show it to me as it will be the closest I can afford to get to one! Lol!

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

Awesome day SoCal! I myself will possibly buy a PI machine one day just to have one. With the ATX you can show it to me as it will be the closest I can afford to get to one! Lol!

Hi RG ... Thank you for your comment

Sure! If I get an ATX, I'll will show it to you. I will even let you touch it, if you pay half

 

[therelichunter]

Ive been detecting for about a year with and AT pro. and I just picked up a Garrett Infinium
I think the combination of the AT pro with the disc and a PI with all metal mode, will just about cover you on any hunt.
Good Hunting!
Danny

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

Ive been detecting for about a year with and AT pro. and I just picked up a Garrett Infinium
I think the combination of the AT pro with the disc and a PI with all metal mode, will just about cover you on any hunt.
Good Hunting!
Danny

Hi Danny,

You are absolutely right! If I was going to use a detector occasionally at a park, lake, or beach, the AT Pro would be all that you would ever need. I've been detecting for five months total (4-mo with AT Pro) and I'm starting to get hard core with this hobby. The more I find, the more I want to find. I know of some great inland spots to detect, but I can't drag my butt off the beach with what I keep finding. I find that detecting has more to do with knowing your equipment along with where to detect and why. I can't believe that I have out grown the AT Pro in four months and I know of some potential high treasure areas I have yet to explore. My thinking is to find the old silver and gold, you have to go deep or be lucky.

And if I'm going to get a All Metal PI, I'm willing to pay for a good one as so I don't leave anything behind and wonder 'if' I had a better machine.

The two machines that I have been interested in is the CTX3030 and ATX. I've watched many UTube videos on the Minelab, and the sound it makes along with that WoooOOoo!! Flute noise would drive me friggin nuts. I can't even watch the videos with sound anymore But I guess you can get use to anything, including the sound the Minelab makes. And I really don't need GPS or want a display, especially on a PI Machine.

I just want a super high performance waterproof machine that emits a sound that I can tolerate.

My current Garrett has served me well on recently lost gold, silver & clad. Now the ATX has peaked my interest ... so I will wait for Saltwater Beach Hunting Reviews and decide what I will do.

Thank you for your comment.

 

[cudamark]

The CTX is an awfully good machine. You can change the sounds it makes to one you can tolerate. Frankly, if it will find me more gold, it can sing like Tiny Tim for all I care!

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

The CTX is an awfully good machine. You can change the sounds it makes to one you can tolerate. Frankly, if it will find me more gold, it can sing like Tiny Tim for all I care!

Thanks God that you can change the sound of the CTX3030!! That's good to know.

But! Can you change the sound to some Clapton guitar riffs like the ones below??

 

[cudamark]

Maybe in the next version! The slowhand model.....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

So Ca beach-scanner: Good post. I suspect you have a zone of beach down there that escaped past high water storm events (like the 1982-83 phenomenom). It stayed higher than those past events, hence the "dry" sand there was not simply dry sand dunes and flats created after mother nature fills back in, following past erosion events. Because ordinarilly, silver coins would be beyond reach of ANY machine, in dry sand. Since a) it's a soft-shifting endless sink soil -type, or b) it's simply sand that was eroded out, then filled back in, in past (20, 30, or 40 yrs. ago) episodes. So quite often, silver coins are simply beyond reach in most dry sand. It takes new storms to get back down to old levels, via erosion. But you apparently have a zone which was always higher and dryer than that. And also has a bed-level of hard/firm pack, which hasn't let old coins sink deeper (albeit only 40s/50s losses?)

There's a particular section of beach near me that's like that: Because it's high enough in the dunes that it's historically above the past big storms reaches (at least for the last 100 + yrs.). And "bedrock" (or firm-pack or whatever you want to call it), is within reach .... IF a person can get down to a foot deep. I've pulled about 100 silver coins (just 1 or 2 at a time) in an area the size of a basket-ball court. Sounds like your zone is bigger, with more potential.

However, I'd have to agree with cudamark on this: While it's true that a beach pulse will go deeper than your AT-pro, yet it's going to come at the cost of having lost out on iron ID. You know: bobby pins, bread-tie twisties, nails, etc.... Perhaps that's not an issue there. Perhaps it is. I dunno.

In the old days, when beach pulse machines first started gaining popularity (mid to late 1980s), it was certainly true that their depth spanked any discriminating coin/beach machine. However, that's no longer true these days. Some standard machines being used on the beach these days, have pretty much closed that depth gap. For example: With an explorer or Excal, 11 or 12" is attainable WHILE retaining a semblance of iron ID. Or ... heck, you could get a Sov/Wot combo, and .... once you get used to the warbly crazy sounds..... guys can routinely easily reach 14" on coins, while retaining iron ID. So when you think of it, 11 to 14" is really about the same as most beach pulse machines get anyways on coins.

Now if you also have as objective to get tinsel thin chains, earing studs, etc... then sure, go with the pulse. Or if the sands are nasty minerals, then sure, go with the pulse. But if it's just standard sand, and you encounter punishing amounts of iron, then .... you will find that you can get nearly the same depth (IMHO) with an explorer. JMHO.

Keep us informed, and post more pix of your upcoming silver from there. Sounds like fun.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

So Ca beach-scanner: Good post. I suspect you have a zone of beach down there that escaped past high water storm events (like the 1982-83 phenomenom). It stayed higher than those past events, hence the "dry" sand there was not simply dry sand dunes and flats created after mother nature fills back in, following past erosion events. Because ordinarilly, silver coins would be beyond reach of ANY machine, in dry sand. Since a) it's a soft-shifting endless sink soil -type, or b) it's simply sand that was eroded out, then filled back in, in past (20, 30, or 40 yrs. ago) episodes. So quite often, silver coins are simply beyond reach in most dry sand. It takes new storms to get back down to old levels, via erosion.

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your comments ... The whole six miles or so of Long Beach escapes all storm events. Back in the 40's the feds built a breakwater that extends from Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro all the way to the edge of Seal Beach three miles out. Pretty much all of Long Beach is old sand and the only area they need to replenish is 72nd Place which is about where the breakwater ends at the San Gabriel river. Zoom in on Google map at Long Beach and you will see the breakwater about three miles off shore. Seal Beach has great surf and Long Beach has none.
Long Beach is an old town for Southern Cal and in the early 1900's the Red Trolley Cars use to run from LA to Long Beach to take people to the beach. I don't know if you have seen a couple of my other threads, But last month I found a 1862 seated dime, and a 1943 Walker half in the dry sand in Long Beach. And all of these finds were in different parts and areas of the beach.
The sand is virtually trash free (unlike around the fire pits of Huntington Beach) everywhere (except maybe in the towel line) at Long Beach. I'm looking for a detector that is a pure super high performance deep seeking machine. On Youtube, some guy posted two videos two weeks ago with an air test on the ATX with very small gold nuggets laid on bedrock. Those two videos alone sold me on the ATX, unbelievable. His thoughts were it rivaled the six grand Minelab GPX5000 sensitivity and depth.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your comments ... The whole six miles or so of Long Beach escapes all storm events. Back in the 40's the feds built a breakwater that extends from Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro all the way to the edge of Seal Beach three miles out. Pretty much all of Long Beach is old sand and the only area they need to replenish is 72nd Place which is about where the breakwater ends at the San Gabriel river. Zoom in on Google map at Long Beach and you will see the breakwater about three miles off shore. Seal Beach has great surf and Long Beach has none.
Long Beach is an old town for Southern Cal and in the early 1900's the Red Trolley Cars use to run from LA to Long Beach to take people to the beach. I don't know if you have seen a couple of my other threads, But last month I found a 1862 seated dime, and a 1943 Walker half in the dry sand in Long Beach. And all of these finds were in different parts and areas of the beach.
The sand is virtually trash free (unlike around the fire pits of Huntington Beach) everywhere (except maybe in the towel line) at Long Beach. I'm looking for a detector that is a pure super high performance deep seeking machine. On Youtube, some guy posted two videos two weeks ago with an air test on the ATX with very small gold nuggets laid on bedrock. Those two videos alone sold me on the ATX, unbelievable. His thoughts were it rivaled the six grand Minelab GPX5000 sensitivity and depth.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted

Yes you're right: So CA had lots of army corps of engineers projects, making break-waters and jetties, back in the 1940s and '50s. Every mile or two. To trap sand in "groins" to slow beach erosion. Bless their little hearts, eh? Arrghhh So you're right: Some portions of So CA beaches (like manhattan beach, santa monica, santa Barbara, etc... had old coins (older than '40s/50s losses) show up during those '82-83 storms, yet other vast lengths of beach that you speak of, only had recent silver (whatever accumulated since the '40s/50s) that turned up. Incredible when you think of it, how much silver must be laying down there, never-to-be-found, because of the man-made impediments to erosion. And yes, those man-made beach protection measures had the effect of keeping some higher-up zones that .... to this day .... have never had salt-wet water reach them again. However, being soft sand, it still bodes for the older coins to sink out of reach on most of them, even though their higher than the annual in-out action. The exception would be if you have any zones where the loose sand bottoms out into un-disturbed harder-pack-firm sand. There's not too many zones that fit that description.

I've got some friends down there with both beach pulse, and power-house machines like Sov, Explorers, etc... If you're willing to PM me, I'm sure they'd be happy to go bench-test and compare, to see the pro's and con's of your choices. And they'd abide by the "finders site" code, and not go without your say-so, or without you, etc... If you want to work that out, PM me, and I'd love to see what other machines can do there, in the hands of those proficient already with the respective types.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

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However, being soft sand, it still bodes for the older coins to sink out of reach on most of them, even though their higher than the annual in-out action. The exception would be if you have any zones where the loose sand bottoms out into un-disturbed harder-pack-firm sand. There's not too many zones that fit that description.

Hi Tom,
Yes, the sand at Long Beach is nothing but hard packed sand under the soft sand. So I believe the coins will not travel any further into the hard packed sand then where they are now. The coins I found listed in this thread were in the upper most of the hard pack sand. Depending what area of the beach your at (remember the sand in LB is between 5-6 miles long and almost 1/8 mile wide at it's widest part), the soft sand is between 4-8 inches deep. What machines would you recommend that would hit a dime or ring the deepest that is also totally waterproof as part of my time will be in the surf and bays? I can tell what I don't want; a used machine or a Excal or E-Trac. I will also use it in the desert, washes, and Owens Valley for relics, coins, and possibly nuggets. I gotta find at least one nugget in my life, but I can't find one if I don't get my butt off the beach.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

SoCa-beach-scanner, the list of criteria you rattle off, is too vast. For starters, any machine you're going to go hunting nuggets with, will invariably not be a good coin hunter. And conversely any coin-hunter, will usually not be a good nugget hunter. Yes there are "cross-over" machines made, but they excell in neither arena. Because when you think of it, the goals of each venue are almost diametrically opposed. The nugget hunter *wants* a machine that excells in finding bird-shot pin-head sized objects. He wants "insanely sensitive". However, coin and relic hunters DON'T want to be bothered with every push-pin and staple, to blow their ears off. So ... yes, a few machines can switch back and forth between venues, but they don't excell in either. Because since machines are built from the "ground up" for their designed purpose (coils, etc...), I guess it's no easy task to make a machine that does both venues equally well. So they're always a compromise.

Thus get a second machine if you want to nugget hunt. Because as odd as it sounds, even though you *think* that "super sensitive" nugget machines should be able, therefore, to likewise get coins "super deep", it doesn't work out that way. So ironically, a super sensitive nugget machine might only get a coin to 10 or 12" deep. While a coin-machine can do the same, or more. An exception would be super powered machines like some of the Minelab nugget machines, which can go 1.5 ft. deep on coins. But trust me, you DON'T want to use that machine in any coin or relic environment!

As far as water-proof, did you plan to submerge it? If not, then a regular explorer will do. The coil can be dunked. But if you planned to submerge, and if you *don't* want an excal, then .... there's a few other water-proof coin-hunters out there. Like the 3030 for instance (but is very expensive, and you can't put an in-line probe on it). And the Fisher CZ21 (although I dislike the silent search).

 

[cudamark]

What have you got against an Excalibur or an E-trac? With a 15" WOT coil they're very impressive on both depth and sensitivity.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

SoCa-beach-scanner, the list of criteria you rattle off, is too vast. For starters, any machine you're going to go hunting nuggets with, will invariably not be a good coin hunter. And conversely any coin-hunter, will usually not be a good nugget hunter. Yes there are "cross-over" machines made, but they excell in neither arena. Because when you think of it, the goals of each venue are almost diametrically opposed. The nugget hunter *wants* a machine that excells in finding bird-shot pin-head sized objects. He wants "insanely sensitive". However, coin and relic hunters DON'T want to be bothered with every push-pin and staple, to blow their ears off. So ... yes, a few machines can switch back and forth between venues, but they don't excell in either. Because since machines are built from the "ground up" for their designed purpose (coils, etc...), I guess it's no easy task to make a machine that does both venues equally well. So they're always a compromise.

Thus get a second machine if you want to nugget hunt. Because as odd as it sounds, even though you *think* that "super sensitive" nugget machines should be able, therefore, to likewise get coins "super deep", it doesn't work out that way. So ironically, a super sensitive nugget machine might only get a coin to 10 or 12" deep. While a coin-machine can do the same, or more. An exception would be super powered machines like some of the Minelab nugget machines, which can go 1.5 ft. deep on coins. But trust me, you DON'T want to use that machine in any coin or relic environment!

As far as water-proof, did you plan to submerge it? If not, then a regular explorer will do. The coil can be dunked. But if you planned to submerge, and if you *don't* want an excal, then .... there's a few other water-proof coin-hunters out there. Like the 3030 for instance (but is very expensive, and you can't put an in-line probe on it). And the Fisher CZ21 (although I dislike the silent search).

Hi Again Tom...

With the ATX you can discriminate out the smaller stuff if you want to. Granted, you will also lose depth, so if your detecting in an area that has a lot of smaller deeper objects, you can just discriminate them out which would make it no better than my AT Pro.
My intentions with the ATX is to run it wide open with a good ground balance in non-trashy areas of the beach. And what I believe, with what I have seen so far, it will ground balance out all of the black iron sand in the water at Long Beach. Other than depth, not being able to detect quietly in Long Beach water is my main grip with the AT Pro. I have no problem detecting the water at Huntington Beach, but depth is still an issue with the At Pro.

I hear what your saying about machines being designed for specific purposes, but with Multi-Frequency, Iron Audio, Discrimination, and different Coil types and sizes, the ATX looks like it's a 'can do anything machine' From gold nuggets in the desert to gold rings in the surf, with some deep silver in the wet and dry sand mixed in.

So we'll see ... I'm this ( ) close to getting one.

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

Geez, I'm starting to sound like an Garrett ATX commercial with all my ranting on. Maybe Garrett should just give me one to shut me up. Or maybe not ... if the ATX pays for itself almost 3-time over in four months like my At Pro did, they will sell a ton of them with my future TNet rants