The Vaquero ....

[longcut]

So , I have given the Vaquero a hard test the last couple months ..... Started out hunting a freshwater swim beach here, that has been in use since the late 40s .... Not sure how much clad I dug , but somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 bucks.. 1 1952 quarter, 2 small silver rings and one junk ring , pair of sunglasses .... a few pull tabs off and on when I was trying for gold rings .......tons of bottle caps until I was able to notice a little difference in the sound vs a coin ,,,, still dug some , but not as bad as when I started off..... After several hrs. on the machine , I was able to completely pass over zincolns, I liked that a lot !!!!!!
I dug quite a few wheats and a lot of coppers , quarters and dimes ......
We hunted a football field ,( no longer in use) several times and I found quite a bit of clad there too ....No silver and no jewelry , but not many bottle caps either !!! LOL .....
Civil War relic hunting is kicking in here, now that the harvest is in full swing .... To me , this is where the Vaquero shines .........So far , I've found 4 or 5 Confederate Enfield bullets , a 2ring bullet made in the Marshall,Texas arsenal and a round ball made in the Augusta arsenal ...... also the trigger guard off a Confederate Enfield rifle... went back today looking for more parts to the gun , but no deal ...... In this same soybean field , I found a really old and pretty diamond shaped sterling pen and today I found a sterling silver spoon and a toasted V nickel...... spoon was stamped W & H , a British silversmith that started business in 1835 and is still going today .... I figure this spoon is from the early 1900s......
I have the 8x11 DD coil ......run disc just before Nickel and then thumb the knob .... Depth is really good in my soil .... running super tuned according to the manual ..... Last two hunts I tried a little negative ground balance and almost wide open sensitivity,,,, seems to work , found an Enfield and two pieces of silver ,,, pen and spoon and the V nickel.....
I like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Great review and post. The Vaquero is a fantastic machine, and can reach 13" -14" in All Metal with the 11"x 8" Widescan. Congratulations on your success!

 

[Mudflap]

Nice report. I picked up one recently but don't have much time on it yet. I have noticed it loves nickels!



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[Peter67]

I have read and seen a lot of good things about the Vaquero on youtube. I'm looking for this detector to buy second hand here in Belgium but they are very hard to find. I guess that the ones who bought the Vaquero are so happy to have it that they want sell them.

 

[longcut]

yes Mudflap , I didn't mention the handful of nickels I have found.....

 

[longcut]

..... not a good picture , but 1876 seated liberty dime the vaquero sniffed out this morning .... CC mint , my first Carson City coin ......

 

[longcut]

..... got to research the iron piece .... pistol bullet and two Enfields from Confederate skirmish line ............... metal button from the 40s or 50s......... the Vaquero seeks out relics if you can keep from digging too much big iron ....................... so after a little research , the small pistol bullet is from the St Louis arsenal ... cooking the iron piece in hopes of finding some markings on it .....

 

[Mudflap]

OK I'm talked into it. Ordered a 11" x 8" DD 4 pin widescan coil ........

 

[john67]

nice finds longcut. vaq is a great machine. I bought a 12x10 for mine and I'm finding a lot of deep dimes with it. only had it about a month and have found 11 silver coins and two silver religious medals

 

[DiggerinVA]

Anybody know where there is a good deal on a used Vaquero? Sold mine a while back and wish I hadn't. Just got to where I used the Tejon all the time....but now I want another Vaq. Send me a pm if you know of any....thanks. by the way nice finds!

 

[Mudflap]

Ok ...... picked up an 11 x 8 DD. Seems to have a quicker response over the 9 x 8 concentric coil. I only put an hour on it and noticed I was finding older generation pull tabs that were 8" deep or so and could not discriminate them out. I know some older pull tabs will do that so not sure if it is a calibration issue with this coil or not. Can't tell much in an hour, however, noticed the ground tuning was really flat indicating low mineralization.

 

[jld66]

I use a Vaquero and have the 5.75 concentric coil, 8x9, and 8x11. Used the 8x11 only one summer when I first got it. Don't think I found anything the 8x9 would not have found. The 8x9 is a better all around coil in my opinion. I use the 8x11 for fields and areas where there's not a lot of targets or trash, that's where it shines. The 5.75 concentric is a great little coil though and am liking it more and more. I'm no expert or claim/think I am. Have not had my picture taken with some of Tesoro's staff either. So, I don't think I know everything about the Tesoro company and their detectors. lol...

 

[DiggerinVA]

The 8x9 spoked coil and the 11x8 are both great coils on the Vaq/Tejon. I think Max depth in good to moderate ground is about the same. The 11x8 dd covers a little more area per swing and handles really bad ground better. But it loves bottle caps and pull tabs. The 9x8 works better at discing out unwanted targets like bottle caps ....mainly because of it's concentric design. So the DD coil is my choice for fields and areas of bad ground.....in really heavy trash I like the 5.75 concentric. Everywhere else the 9x8 is the right choice.

 

[longcut]

I have had excellent luck knocking out pulltabs with disc knob ......they disappear completely just like they should at TAB on the dial ....... Now bottlecaps , that is a different ballgame ...

 

[pinenut]

I have had excellent luck knocking out pulltabs with disc knob ......they disappear completely just like they should at TAB on the dial ....... Now bottlecaps , that is a different ballgame ...

With a concentric on an Outlaw or Bandido, bottlecaps will disc out before nickels..

 

[walnut]

With a concentric on an Outlaw or Bandido, bottlecaps will disc out before nickels..

On my vaquero, the bottlecaps disc out between zinc and dimes, close to dimes.

 

[longcut]

I am not putting up pictures today , but had a decent hunt ..... We left the truck and the first target I dug was a nice fired round ball ... hunted across the field for 2 hrs and found one small "pocket pistol" fired round... Hunting back to the truck , about 40 or 50 ft from tailgate , boom , a big three ringer , fired ............. I should have stayed at the truck , I was parked on the targets!!! On second thought , I better post pictures ... heard somewhere if there isn't a picture , there isn't a find !!! lol

 

[jld66]

I have had excellent luck knocking out pulltabs with disc knob ......they disappear completely just like they should at TAB on the dial ....... Now bottlecaps , that is a different ballgame ...

With the 8x11 coil you can push the pinpoint button and if sounds off around the edge of the coil, it's probably a cap. Coins only sound off when the center of the coil passes over it. There is an online book, Mastering the Tesoro Tejon and Vaquero Metal Detectors. It's a good read for 10 bucks, worth it for sure.

 

[Mudflap]

The 8x9 spoked coil and the 11x8 are both great coils on the Vaq/Tejon. I think Max depth in good to moderate ground is about the same. The 11x8 dd covers a little more area per swing and handles really bad ground better. But it loves bottle caps and pull tabs. The 9x8 works better at discing out unwanted targets like bottle caps ....mainly because of it's concentric design. So the DD coil is my choice for fields and areas of bad ground.....in really heavy trash I like the 5.75 concentric. Everywhere else the 9x8 is the right choice.

I agree with your statement 100%

 

[longcut]

.....1890 seated liberty dime this morning ... it is pretty slick, but date visible under magnification, no mint mark ........... my buddy found a 1901 barber quarter just minutes before I found the dime ....... no Civil War relics today , but silver is always nice ....