Shortstack
Silver Member
- Jan 22, 2007
- 4,305
- 419
- Detector(s) used
- Tesoro Bandido II and DeLeon. also a Detector Pro Headhunter Diver, and a Garrett BFO called The Hunter & a Garrett Ace 250.
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Keep your eye on eBay for those BFOs to come up. Be sure to use different search words on the site to cover all possibilities. Don't just use "metal detectors". I've found whole pages of detectors by changing just one word in the search phrase when the first check found nothing.
I've seen sellers advertising just the coils, too. If you ever spot a 24 inch or larger Garrett's BFO coil advertised, grab it. They are kinda rare and seldom show up. Those Garrett's BFO coils were pretty well interchangable between all of his BFO machines.
The way to adjust the detection setup is to decide if you want the machine to sound off when it finds a void or "soft" area OR do you want it to go "silent". Most hunters, back when, also carried a steel probe of about 4 feet long made of 1/4 inch diameter rod. The probes push into the softer ground a lot easier than the ground in it's "natural state". This is also how they searched for old trash dumps with their old bottles and other stuff.
Your other option would be to spend $15,000 for a machine like the Meteorite Men use. That's what their new detectors cost. Personally, I'd rather have a reliable, old Garrett's Master Hunter BFO with a selection of large diameter coils. Charles Garrett would also use that machine with 12 inch coils for searching the walls, floors, and ceilings of old mines for hidden veins missed by the miners.
I've seen sellers advertising just the coils, too. If you ever spot a 24 inch or larger Garrett's BFO coil advertised, grab it. They are kinda rare and seldom show up. Those Garrett's BFO coils were pretty well interchangable between all of his BFO machines.
The way to adjust the detection setup is to decide if you want the machine to sound off when it finds a void or "soft" area OR do you want it to go "silent". Most hunters, back when, also carried a steel probe of about 4 feet long made of 1/4 inch diameter rod. The probes push into the softer ground a lot easier than the ground in it's "natural state". This is also how they searched for old trash dumps with their old bottles and other stuff.
Your other option would be to spend $15,000 for a machine like the Meteorite Men use. That's what their new detectors cost. Personally, I'd rather have a reliable, old Garrett's Master Hunter BFO with a selection of large diameter coils. Charles Garrett would also use that machine with 12 inch coils for searching the walls, floors, and ceilings of old mines for hidden veins missed by the miners.