Vintage Bounty Hunter 1

[SamHegler]

Greetings from North Central Texas, I was sold a B/H 1 detector in almost mint condition for the sum of $5 at a local thrift store. I was told it might have issues and would not detect metal, sounded like my type hobby due to the fact that i had a legit excuse for not finding riches and happiness buried in my backyard. long story short, the tuning pot was dirty and the coil wire had come loose from the board. i hit it with a toothbrush and some solder and when i fired it up that thing made the most god-awful ruckus i have heard since my son left home. i was completly, madly in love from that moment.

when i was a kid i remember tagging along with a neighbor who had a Bounty hunter and used to mine the school yard on the weekends, i always wanted one but never ran across the right deal until now. this detector is so cool looking that it reminds me of a 1950's sci-fi movie prop. i used it for real this past weekend and after alot of knob twisting, a trip to the store for fresh batteries and a beer i had some luck of sorts. i live on a very old property that has been a working farm since the 1840"s and has only recently been built up. there are 2 or 3 sites where a house or barn stood as well as well's and old dump sites. when i started i had no idea what to do except twist knobs and sweep back and fourth. first find was ax head about 6in deep. i was stoked that it really worked and 10 hours later i had a sore back, sore girlfriend, and a pile of iron and a few pennies. great fun. if anyone has info about this unit or tips on using it please reply.

 

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[jeff of pa]

Thats an Oldie.

Probably close to the age of the relics you found

Welcome & Congrats

 

[Jeep]

Here ya go:

http://www.whiteriverprep.com/vintage/bhvintage/bhI_II_III.html

That's your manual and that site has everything you want to know about vintage BH

I have a few of the old BFO's myself and still love to use em

 

[Snickers1]

Nice old Bounty Hunter.

 

[dansail]

Bounty Hunter I-II-III BFO

The website whiteriverprep.com is no longer around... fail. Is there another place to find such a manual?

 

[U.K. Brian]

I never used this model but they all work just about the same. The BFO (Beat Frequency Oscillator) design has two oscillators that have to be adjusted together. In the case of your commercial detector one will be fixed and you "tune" the other to get them almost to the same radio frequency. When this is acheived and metal is brought within range of the coil then an audio tone is produced.

I don't know this model but I would assume one knob is on/off and volume and the other the tuner. The tuner knob should be set to a near zero output with a slight motor boating noise. It may well be that there's a low or no volume area where the knob is centralised. If so you may be able to turn it both left and right from this position and hear the audio beat start to pick up. If your detector is set up like this then its most likely the knob should be turned clockwise to gain the audio output. If you turn it the other way to the next audio point then the detector will null as the coil approaches metal which you don't want.

Even if working correctly the depth is not going to be that great....nothing like even a cheap modern detector so you will soon want to upgrade. I would hold on to the BFO though as there's going to come a point where more are going to want something from the history of detecting and the value will creep up. Your's is in exceptional condition, works and has got to be from the early 60's.