Reeks said:
I use DD coils on my sd2200d and I use the discriminator on screamers- It is very accurate and I use it for this purpose only (big close targets)
Twapster, you will find that unless you're super lucky most gold targets will be faint and alot of the time small pieces of steel will also sound quite similar- the discriminator can't get enough info from these small trash targets and you will have to dig them.
After a while you will know by the sound your machine makes what shoe tacks, 22 shells, small wire, lead shot and if you're lucky nuggets all sound like.
Later model PI machines (like your 4500) are much more stable and rely less on the use of DD coils. GPX series were designed from the (mono) coil up and as such mono's run as smooth as DD's but have a more sensitive response to targets.
As for knowing what sounds like what...i refute that with my own experience.
eg1; It is stated when you hear a double response over a single swing that it will be a nail or long piece of wire. I hit such a signal one day and dug it anyway (using a mono coil) and lo and behold a 4.5cm long 7.4gm (1/4 of an Oz nearly) chunk of gold. (have a pic but can't seem to get them up on here so if ya wanna see it, PM me your email and i'll show the pic).
eg2; I thought i had "sounds" down to a T with my GPX 4K & 11" mono. Swung over what sounded to my "trained" ear as a piece of junk, dug down 7" and picked out a 2.1gm nugget. I now carry this with me to remind me of just how much i "don't know" and to dig everything.
Now ordinarily, based on my "educated" ear, i would normally have walked past these target responses, but due to being in the habit of dig everything, i ended up being pleasantly surprised.
No matter the operator, or how long they have been in the game, i defy anyones claim of "knowing" what gold sounds like & being correct 100% of the time. I have seen a 7 Oz nugget blanking (overloading)on a discriminater set up detector and since that day (early in my beginnings) i have only used mono coils....and dig everything. You won't know what the target is until you dig it, and gold can be found under the junk.
Do i dig i LOT of junk?.... Hell yeah, but i reckon i leave behind a lot less gold in my journey than others who believe they know what GOLD sounds like. I also tend NOT to walk over Gold to get to Gold, as the saying goes.
Perhaps the targets above are exactly examples of this and i found the gold others left behind in the belief it was "junk"?
Just treat each outing as a treasure hunt and be pleasantly surpised by what you are lucky enough to find imo. Gold becomes a bonus, enjoy being out in nature and part of something more grand than you or I.
Cheers
