Hunting gold chains on salt water beaches.

[jbc465]

I'm wanting to hunt for gold rings and chains on the beach. I have the Excalibur and thinking of getting a ctx3030 since it should be a smart machine. On minelabs web site they talk about using the x terra 705. With a coil of about 18 megahertz to find gold chains. Shouldn't the ctx be able to mimic this condition. Thanks for the input. John

 

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[Terry Soloman]

No, it will not. The X-Terra 705 with the 18kHz coil can find gold chains in DRY saltwater sand, the CTX 3030 can't. Chains are VERY tough targets. I have found a few in the DRY sand with the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq, but multi-frequency detectors will walk right over them.

 

[ron lord]

What is a Gold chain ? 1000's of small Pease's of Gold and if your detector can't find one of those Pease's you won't be able to find that gold chain. Most chains that are found by finding the clap or medallion on it.

 

[bigscoop]

Your Excal with a small coil can find small gold chains but you'll have to hunt with high sense. As for those real fine/thin chains, not even worth pursuing as it would take many of them to equal the value of an average sized gold band of equal k.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

I would believe chains and such are lost less frequently than rings.

 

[LE.JAG]

Hi

gold chains are very hard to take
some PI, with a very low delay, do fairly well

otherwise tried very high frequency as the gold bug 2 (71 khz)
Explorer the ancient xs2 (fbs) are also killers on chains

 

[dieselram94]

Now if the chain is balled up as opposed to strung out it should be easier to find, correct??

Sent from my USCC-C6721 using Tapatalk

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

In 8 years I have only fund 1 gold chain with my excals, no medal or charms on it, was probably rolled up in a ball... I did find a gold lobster clasp by itself, no chain, it weighed less than 1/2 gram....






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[diamondr]

I would stay with the Excalibur it will find chains. I fond a 8" 10k one today in the water with my Excalibur II 8" coil. I also use a CTX3030 that needs to go back for repairs for the third time since I bought it last June. The CTX finds gold but I haven't found a chain with it yet.

 

[cdv1]

There are exceptions to every rule....
2 gram 14k hoop earring, detector won't pick it up in an air test but it was in the scoop with a nickel
< 1 gram anklet 14k gold....also in a scoop with a nickel
chain found in scoop after a mid tone..... went back to the hole, yep, there was a nickel in the hole still.
These targets were dumb luck!

Chains I've found with multi frequency machines all had charms attached or larger clasps and were very near the surface to hear with only one exception, a 5 gram bracelet just the other day with the CTX (recent drop near the surface). Link design and size has a lot to do with IF the machine will pick it up along with the alloy of the gold. Rolling it up in a ball doesn't always make the machine pick it up.

Not to argue with Terry but it isn't a cut and dry NO answer for the CTX (or Excal) BUT the chain needs to be closer to the surface to be heard in most cases. More will be missed than found due to the bad sound it will give off IF you hear it at all.

In the Dry sand the better tool to use is a higher frequency machine... If I was searching for gold necklaces in the dry sand I would not use my CTX or Excal for the job!

Cliff

 

[bigscoop]

This, I know, is going to be controversial, but I have actually spent some time just hunting for chains on my local beaches. In the end I found quite a few, some in the 1 gram class. What I learned was that unless they are fairly heavy/chunky chains then will seldom offer clear returns, quite often just broken chirps or barely noticeable threshold breaks. Now here comes the controversial portions of this post.


The three biggest things that came into play in finding these chains was A) how they were positioned in the matrix, and B) the machine settings and the size of the coil being used, and last C) where we hunt. Our ability to find anything but the heavier gold chains is largely dependent on these three factors.


Chains are different, in total mass they are very heavy/dense, but when stretched out over a “larger surface area” they are easily lost within the makeup of salt/sand matrix, the machine then filtering them out right along with the mineralization, the conductivity of both being too similar without a noticeable difference in mass. The other issue is that these smaller links, due to their density value, can't produce strong enough return signals, especially when competing with a matrix that is so similar in conductivity and mass. Simply put, chains that are balled up have a much better chance of generating stronger returns, but even this is dependent on a few factors.


You're not going to find these smaller chains unless they are shallow, say within the first few inches of the matrix, just no way for them to be isolated from the larger amount of surrounding matrix and no way for them to produce a strong enough return. But these shallower chains can be found with some frequency if one really wishes to specifically target them, but this can come at the cost of finding better targets.


Chains are dense in total weight, but relatively light when spread out over a larger surface area, meaning that they will move much easier in the force of the sand and currents VS a dense gold ring of the same weight, the ring being very compact, dense, and providing very little surface area. For this reason these chains will often be found in those areas where the currents are pushing soft sand, the same places where you would expect to find can slaw, sunglasses, pull tabs, and other lighter debris. These are not the same places you would expect to find denser gold rings unless these areas have been created by considerably more force, enough force to move heavy/dense fishing weights, chunks of iron, etc. So here is the potential tradeoff when specifically hunting these smaller chains, and this is why I no longer bother to hunt for them. You can spend endless hours and days on end hunting for one small gold chain that isn't worth a fraction of the value of one average gold band. I don't ever recall having found a gold ring while hunting for these chains. But if you are so inclined, as I once was, then lets go find some of these wash areas.


Basically, you will need the hottest settings you can hunt with, right at that point just below instability. You will need to focus “on any possible response” that you think you may have heard, even the tiniest whisper, the smaller your coil the better your odds due to the lower amount of matrix the chain has to compete against. The more matrix being processed and filtered the greater the variance the chain has to produce in order for it to be recognized, this being the challenge of an item whose conductivity and mass are already too similar to that of the surrounding mineralization being filtered out, even with the hottest of settings. So, how do we find these chains?


It all begins with “anything and everything”...any suspected response at all, these chains simply not able to produce a strong enough return signal to provide anything else unless they contain larger clasp or a form of denser mass, such as a small pendent, etc., if they are balled up, which is typical, this will sometimes create the same effect, but even then these responses will usually be abnormal, intermittent, and broken. “Tics, whispers, breaks, etc.” Whenever you suspect you've just heard one of these, and here comes the really controversial part, you need to impart a very rapid and swift whipping action over the suspected target, this action producing stronger send signals and likewise stronger returns. It is a means of further separating the mass of the gold chain from the surrounding matrix, and it almost always works to the point that you will get some type of a repeatable tone. Think of it as bouncing a basketball on the ground, the more force you apply on the ball the faster and the more forcibly it will return to the hand. Same general principle being applied here. It provides a very small edge when trying to generate a response from a suspected target and it's a very useful edge when hunting these smaller chains.


While I was hunting these chains, nearly a full year of it, the Excal with the 8” coil ruled, it was the only machine I used that could still detect these small chains even in flushing currents that created an unstable turbulence of sand/saltwater. And this is all I know about hunting these smaller gold chains on my area beaches. Hope it helps.

 

[diamondr]

I hunt in pinpoint with my excal with OBNS Grey Ghost Amphibians headphones. And before OBNS I used the Peltor mod with Piezo 50 buzzers. You have to inspect every little variation in the threshold. I find gold chains and deep rings like this. Granted the gold chains you will be closer to the surface. Take your time or your going miss not only chains but deep rings.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Don't you love the amphibian headphones...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[Beach Papa]

I found a small 14k earring by accident once. I was over a foot deep with my Whites DF and still digging a strong signal when out of the pile slid a 1.3g gold earring. I was amazed that the detector found it that deep. I scanned the hole again and the signal was still there. Kept digging and another foot down I found a nail. So I threw the ring back on the sand and scanned it. NO RESPONSE at all. Must be plastic I thought. When I got home I looked it over and there was the 14k mark. I got all 5 of my detectors out and scanned the earring. Cheap Radio Shack, Tesoro Tiger Shark, Whites DF, Custom made Aquasound, and CTX3030. I was blown away!! The only detector that gave a hit was the Tiger Shark at about 4". None of the other detectors even wavered at all, nothing. The Tiger Shark is not the detector I regularly use now, but it definitely will find small gold and gold chains at shallow depth. Maybe a couple of times a year when the crowds are heavy, I should use it just to see what I can come up with in the small gold department. Happy Hunting, Beach Papa

 

[diamondr]

Don't you love the amphibian headphones...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

I love them. I added gel pads to mine. That made them better yet.

 

[cdv1]

Good write up Bigscoop..........but........ (just kidding)!

Cliff

 

[bigscoop]

Good write up Bigscoop..........but........ (just kidding)!

Cliff

I need a beach fix badly but can't get away from this house and a very long list of "to-do's" long enough. I use to see the beach nearly every day, not seen it now in something like two months and no opportunity in sight. I'm having serious withdraws!!!!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Hurricane Season is approching maybe mother nature will bring beach to you...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[bigscoop]

Hurricane Season is approching maybe mother nature will bring beach to you...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

I've been hoping for something to develop all winter but it just hasn't happened this year. No sooner does it appear that beach might be starting to open up then things swing around and close it back up again. I'd make time if I thought it was worth it......but just don't think the odds are there at present to offer any consistency. Still keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I've been hoping for something to develop all winter but it just hasn't happened this year. No sooner does it appear that beach might be starting to open up then things swing around and close it back up again. I'd make time if I thought it was worth it......but just don't think the odds are there at present to offer any consistency. Still keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath.

I've been waiting since 2009 for something to open up the beach afain like it did on that subtropical storm that hit central Florida from the East....






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......