Do you feel your ctx helps in the silver count? One of my partners has a Safari and digs tons of silver. Nice digging!
OxShoeDrew: Here is an article I am just finishing for this months issue of our MD Club Monthly newsletter:
CTX 3030 - Revisiting Old Sites
by Paul Flickner-
[email protected]
There has been some great articles and input from Dave XXXXXXX concerning the Minelab CTX 3030. I would like to outline some of my recent CTX 3030 activity visiting sites that I thought I had hunted out with my E-Trac.
Perhaps a little background is in order. I just finished my 5th year Metal Detecting. I’ve owned 4 land detectors: For the 1st 3-4 months I used a Bounty Hunter LandStar, then came a Minelab’s X-Terra 70 for 18 months, then I purchased Minelab’s E-Trac on Nov 2009, and finally the CTX 3030 June 2012.
I still remember getting my E-Trac and finding 30+ silver coins that 1st month by hitting sites I’d hunted with the XT70. I recovered 110 silver coins and 418 Wheat Pennies in 2010 with the E-Trac visiting the many previous sites I had worked.
Now fast forward to 2013. I’m now visiting sites that I have not been to in 18+ months. Sites that I had given up on with the E-Trac due to a fall off in recovered targets and keepers.
I arrived at 10am to one of these sites. It was moved to a secondary then to a tertiary site. I've hunted this spot 35+ times and have recovered 100+ wheaties and 30-40+ pieces of silver, a few gold rings, and a bunch of sterling. I started here with my XT70, then hammered it with the E-Trac. but the CTX 3030 hasn't been here. This site is 4-6 acres. I pick a spot and started gridding. My 2nd coin was a wheatie and they started flowing pretty regular. 12/37 to 12/41 4-6 wheat wheat wheat. I ended up with 21 Wheat pennies including 1917, 1918, 1925, 1930 and the rest were 40's - 50's. I was in this site for a little over 5 hours and 2 hours in I got a 12/44 signal at 4-5 inches. I was hoping for a silver dime, or at least a wheatie but I figured that was a modern copper penny. Out pops a 1935 D Walking Liberty half. This was a HUGE surprise. This was a nice start to the year for my 1st silver coin. The keeper total on this trip was a 1935 D Walking Liberty Half, 1939 Mercury, 1962 D Roosie, and 21 Wheat Backed Pennies.
Fast forward 3 weeks and I’m back at this site. This hunt would last for 2.5 hours. The first hour was pretty quiet with few coins and no keepers. I moved to the back where I had recovered the Walking Liberty Half last month. 1920 and 1944 Wheaties then I got a dime signal at 2” and I could see the back of a Merc. (1944) There was 2 more wheat pennies when I got a dime signal at 5”. Another Walking Liberty Half Dollar! This one was a 1943. I recovered another Merc (1943) and had a total of 9 Wheaties. These two visits to a site I gave up on yielded me 30 Wheat Pennies, 2 Walking Liberty Half Dollars, 3 Mercs, and a Roosie.
Next location was to revisit a place I call Indian Park. I have recovered 50+ Indians from a 50 X 150 section of this park, a pile of Wheaties, a seated liberty quarter, a seated liberty dime love token, and a small fist full of barber and mercury dimes. Last last 3-4 visits with the E-Trac yielded little to nothing. Here we are with the CTX 3030 and I am now going home with 1904 and 1905 Indian Head Pennies, 1913 and 1915 wheat pennies, and a 1945 Mercury Silver Dime.
In April I revisited a green south of Boston. This was my 11th trip to this green that is one city block. I have recovered some of my best finds from this location, but this trip yielded a fatty 1859 Indian Penny that was counter stamped 1492 over the date, a 1903 Indian Head Penny, a nice musket ball, a military issued button from 1832 (Albert PC48) depicting George Washington for the 100th anniversary of his birthday, and lastly a beautiful Artillery Corps button from the War of 1812!
The next site is a very small park between the Amtrak RR tracks and a boat yard. 5 years ago I recovered my very first Indian Head Penny (1888). This site was move off the visit list over a year ago. I arrive with my CTX 3030 and hunted for for 3.5 hours. I went home with 2 1900 Barber Dimes, 3 Indian head Pennies (1901, 1899, and 1867), 6 Wheat Pennies, and 3 lead Seals from the New York, New Haven, and Hartford RR.
Two weeks go by and I head back to Indian Park. It is 6:15 and I have just about 2 hours of light left. I was there for 10 minutes and I get a deep upper 30’s conductive signal. It is about 9” on the screen, but could very well be a deep large rusty nail. Oh oh oh… It’s a very very worn SEATED DIME ! 1875 is the date. Just a few inches away I get a conductive target of 15. It is a rolled up screw cap, but wait… That unmasked a dime signal at 5”. No it can’t be, but it is: ANOTHER Seated Dime. This is a beautiful 1891.