Question about gpx 4500 response on birdshot

[Guest]

Hi all,

Just interested to know if a small coil on a 4500 with the correct settings would pick up really small targets like birdshot. Today my mate found some birdshot while panning and I thought i'd waive the 6 inch coil over it and see what sort of response id get.

I was surprised that it didn't register a sound at all. I tried all sorts of different settings but nothing got a signal. I then went and put on the 14 inch Coiltek Elite with no results. We had a tiny piece of aluminium wire and both coils picked that up nicely. Managed to pick up bullets and other smaller stuff so both coils are working

I did a quick search on our forum and there was mention of a few people with gpx 5000 in fine gold settings picking up birdshot. What's your thoughts?

Cheers
Jin

 

[Digginholes]

Hi mate I have managed to pick up some bird shots with my 45 on the 15/12 mono it's a very light signal, just a tiny murmer in the thresh hold so I can't see why a smaller coil wouldn't see it. I was in enhance and very close to factory preset
Cheers

 

[Swinging & digging]

A GPZ 7000 picks up birdshot and the SDC is WAY MORE SENSITIVE to bird shot!
A few months back i was detecting with my GPZ and my mate has a GPX 5000 i detected bird shot in heaps and my mates GPX 5000 ( in fine gold )could not respond to the birdshot at all? You will occasionally find bird shot with a GPX 5000? The 4500 is far less sensitive than a GPX 5000.

If you want small gold buy an SDC 2300 its the MOST SENSITIVE DETECTOR on the market!

 

[Nightjar]

Our last trip we found a small patch of gold, two 45's and a 5k swinging, found 50+ small nuggets AND over 200 pellets.
If we hadn't found a nugget first we would have walked away because of the amount of shot.
All three machines using 11" Commander monos.
Either your settings are wrong or your machine needs a service.

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone. Might have to go see a mate who has lots of guns and see what different size pellets are avalable as the ones we were testing on we're tiny. When I looked at them my first thought was there small for a shotgun pellet. So either they have become water worn or they are just small. I'm sure when I've found pellets in another area panning that they have been larger.

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

I agree nightjar...heck, i even pick them up with my old GPX 4K & 11" mono, and depending on soil i have worked, as deep as 6-8" (rarely, but occasionally nearer 10" in benign soils).

I'd say he needs a deeper look at his settings, like perhaps he's in salt or some other filtered settings that are nulling the response.
Or his unit does need a service...

OP...is it possible to go out with someone else who also owns the same unit and help you with settings? (i'm guessing not, due to asking about it here). This would be another area to try, as well as going to the nearest ML retailer for guidance one on one.

~EDIT~ You posted while i was still writing, so, i will add that there are 3-4 different calibre "shotguns" and as such you will find "shot" down to as small as 2.5mm (or roughly 1/8" in the old money) diameter.

Just my musings...

Cheers

 

[SCROUNGER]

Thanks everyone. Might have to go see a mate who has lots of guns and see what different size pellets are avalable as the ones we were testing on we're tiny. When I looked at them my first thought was there small for a shotgun pellet. So either they have become water worn or they are just small. I'm sure when I've found pellets in another area panning that they have been larger.

As already stated, there are (were) numerous sizes of shot used over the past 100 or so years. Bird shot, rat shot, pig shot etc etc and some of the rat type shot is extremely small in diameter compared to typical shot used today on ducks for instance.

 

[walshie1000]

Just to clarify, the 4500 is not far less sensitive than the 5000. With the exception of one timing they are almost identical in performance.
With an 8" commander on a gpx you should be ridding the earth of all its birdshot (down to the smallest sized birdshot) as I know I do. Also the 14" elite as well as the nf 17x13 will get birdshot as well depending on depth with a less bright response than say an 8" commander. An 11 commander or a 12x7 for example sake should also have no issue getting birdshot.
Enhance or fine gold is without doubt the best timings on small stuff whether it be gold or birdshot.
I've also found that the condition of the birdshot will have an effect on its signal response.
Hope this helps, sing out if ya need any help or ideas with regards to settings

 

[SCROUNGER]

And some shot is lead while other is steel which may give of different strength signals?

 

[walshie1000]

Makes perfect sense scrounger

 

[Hotrob]

Normal shot gun shot runs from size 10 (very small) through 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BB to SSG (bloody big) & with 1/2 (half sizes) thrown in as well. Even polycore single slugs.
So yes .........saying my detector can pick up lead shot that yours can't would depend on the size of shot i.e. from No. 10 shot @ 2mm approx up too 18mm for a polycore.
HTH.
Rob.

 

[The geezer]

My 4000 was picking up the smallest lead shot up to 50 mm easily,must be the settings,on 15mono

 

[Goldtarget]

I'm not a hard core detectorist mate but out and about with 11 inch mono I picked up a fair few shot pellets over mongrel ground on the hire machine running an 11 inch mono. I'll put a pic up if need be for demonstration purposes but around an inch or more down, got bloody frustrated a few times wondering where the sound was coming from. Scratching around pushing piles of dirt from one side to another was doing my head in. Thought of this post after the first few. Got to be settings or hardware at fault, the little buggers screamed once I had them on or near the coil.

PA member here set me on the right track regarding settings from the get go, so big free kick for me right there.

 

[Nightjar]

...heck, i even pick them up with my old GPX 4K & 11" mono, and depending on soil i have worked, as deep as 6-8" (rarely, but occasionally nearer 10" in benign soils).

Cheers

Sure wish my machine would run like yours Gypsy?
6-8" deep.

Cheers

 

[Heatho]

I'd like to see a pic of the smallest shot on a 5c coin that you fellas are picking up regularly, in my experience the 5k will miss a lot of the really small shot (unless on the surface) that the SDC will get no worries. Anyway, I'm not too concerned about the 5k not getting the smallest of shot or gold, if it can punch deep on a 1/2g or full gram or bigger bit then that's what counts, I'll use the SDC to get the tiniest stuff.......

In saying that though the new flat wound coils seem to offer a decent performance improvement, now I just need to decide which one to get, NF or Coiltek.

 

[TimAu]

I think the most common size lead shot I pick up would be around 3 to 3.5mm with the 4500. The smaller ones still give a decent signal when they are up to a couple of inches down but are really hard to pin point when out of the ground, halo effect while in the ground maybe. Next time I'm out il take more notice of size and depth.

 

[Digginholes]

I got some very small shot at home and air tested before hitting the field and could not hear a response, I'm putting it down to the emi masking the faint response. In the field I picked up 5 or more a few inches deep and once out of the hole pretty hard to pinpoint with the 15x12 using the left side mid way back of the coil to pick it out of the dirt and must admit I even threw it out of the scoop a few times and had to start again sorting through the dirt but did find it. I imagine I missed quite a few also

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

Sure wish my machine would run like yours Gypsy?
6-8" deep.

Cheers

...ok, i will concede i don't micro scrape the ground by (mm's) for 'exact & precise' depths when recovering smaller targets (it's just smelt gold to me and not worried about marking them), so an 8" deep hole may have held a target at say 6".

I do dig down in layers, but only about 2-3" sections at a time...the only 'scraping' i do is on the surface to clear surface litter.

I am more careful and 'precise' when digging inverted signals though, but that's a different issue.

Hope that clarifies, but the point was that even GPX 4K can pick up 'small' lead shot. Heck, i even find 1-2mm long 'fine' wire at a cpl of inches...but that's a different composition and expected.

I know you been around a bit too NJ, so maybe my soil is more benign than what you work on...

Gypsy

 

[Goldtarget]

I couldn't fish the smaller ones out of my pocket but a couple sizes smaller than the one shown, the rest are what I picked up with the hire 45.

 

[Christos57]

found these with a 4500 and standard 11 inch dd coil in some very dirty ground not sure how deep but it was not in the first scrap second scrap was about 40mm