My first trip out with a 4500...48.9 gr

For quite some years now, due to somewhat financial constraints I have been using a SD2200d. I have looked after this detector and it has been very good back to me. Using a DD coil though, as I have been on the 2200, does have it's limitations though, and as many would know, there are a lot more "smaller" pieces left than there are bigger ones. DDs have no problem finding those bigger ones, but when it comes to the more numerous smaller ones, well I just couldn't get them. Last week, I took delivery of my new weapon, a GPX4500. This weekend I took it out for it's first "maiden voyage" with me, to see if it could find something, anything that would break the ice and christen her in.

The good wife was able to come home a little bit earlier on the Friday after work and before she could say "have a nice trip", she was coughing out the smoke from the rubber I left in the driveway. After a "forever" drive up to the golden triangle, I met up with Manny (TheGoldenChild), Glen (GullyHunter) and his good wife Dee and their 2 "girls" and Brian (TheSmillingAssasin). Itching to have a swing, but not being able to let go, I pulled out the 2200 and gave it a whirl around the camp but to no avail, but at least I got my immediate itch to swing out of my system. I had a little play with the new 4500 but it was like learning a new language for me. I handed it over to Glen and asked if he would be kind enough to turn a few knobs to where they should be, to which he obliged and we sat down to talk about where to go for a night swing - my first time out swinging the new detector for real.

Nightfall came and off we went to the area that we had discussed, I geared up and started swinging this "new" beast. It was strange at first, sounded quite different to the 2200 that I was quite used to and comfortable with, but not too bad. Five (5) minutes later, I kid you not, I've walked around a tree and noticed some scapings on the ground at the base of this tree. I swung the detector over it and picked up this loud but definite signal. Normally in this situation you think that someone has dug up some junk and then reburied it for the next sucker to also dig up (I hate those people), but the ground under the scraping looked somewhat undisturbed. I dug down and at about the 4" mark I hit a fat root. I immediately thought it may have been the root that gave the signal, but after putting the coil in the hole, it screamed even louder. Two more inches and the screaming stopped, I had the target out of the hole. Sorting through the heap, I found my first ever piece with the new detector, a 2.51gm gold nugget, within 10 minutes of first starting to swing it.



Pumped, excited, elated!!! I found my first piece with the 4500. Would the 2200 have found it??? Yes I'm pretty sure it would have, it wasn't a soft tone, so I reckon it would've found it easy. Nevertheless, the 4500 was the one that found it.

Glen found a similar size one that evening too before we called it quits and headed back to camp, where Johnny (Hobo'sGold) greeted us as he had arrived while we were out.

Next morning, up bright and early, pumped and ready to go out, I headed back to the same haunt to see if I could try my luck again. Five minutes after getting there, I kid you not again, I picked up a very faint signal, and after scaping the top, it got a little better. Six inched down and I managed to "free" another little golden colour rock from it's resting place.



Would the 2200 have found this one??? The signal was so faint and the target so small at that depth, I'm pretty sure the answer would be no.

Well the boys all arrived and we all spread out to see what else we could find. I've ended up, unknowingly, walking into a junk pile. Bits of rusted old metal everywhere around this tree, but I didn't see them and picked up a signal at the base of this tree. Absolute screamer, blew my ears with the twin speakers I use. I started to scratch and the dug a hole down about 9", and then stuck my coil down the hole, but there wasn't anything there anymore. Plenty of other targets right next to me, but not in the hole anymore so I had obviously dug whatever it was out. I started to sift through the pile and then I got a scream from this dirty, rusty looking, piece of "crap". It looked like a very rusted away bolt, but then again it looked like a hunk of lead. I couldn't see any gold on it, so I gave it a good scub with my hands to clear the muck, so I could confirm that the colour underneath was the silver of lead. Shocked, surprised and totally blown away, I noticed a couple of specks of gold breaking through all the muck. This wasn't a rusty piece of crap, or a tangled bit of lead, it was a hunk of gold covered in ironstone and bits of quartz.



I searched and searched and dug up about another 40 odd targets from around that tree, and everyone of them was rusted old pieces of junk. Had I hit a few of those first, I probably never would have found that lone slug of gold. Would the 2200 have found this one?? A Dick Smith special would have found it, the way it screamed!!!

Anyway, the 4500 had a great first outing and I couldn't be happier (unless some of those other 40 junk targets were gold too). Special thanks to Glen for adjusting the knobs for me and offering me invaluable advise regarding settings, as I am a "newbie" in the 4500 world. It's going to be a very, very, very long month until my next outing.....

bloody awesome mate well done
cheers
stoppsy

Top job Costas.Talk about breaking in a new machine? Well deserved finds.Get that whopper in the Hydrochloric so we can see what it really looks like. Well done fellas

Cheers Kon.

A big congrats on the girls maiden voyage, what a f@#k#n ripper of a find...... I don't think that nugget would of given it self up to any other than a 4500

The way my luck has been lately I would of dug all 40 junk targets then cracked the shites and walked off leaving the nug.....

I think Glen would of tweaked your 45's dials to stage 2 (intermediate depth) ........Next time get him to tweak it to stage 1 (deep X)

Regards Ren...

Sweeeeeet!!!!! how nice that must have sounded!!! ,how many before you dug a few shitty bits of iron before they said bugger this I'm off and left that behind for you eh?, well done! I love my 4500 and I just know if I treat her good she will reward me too, and it's another one in ya face for the negative "there aint no gold out there" brigade, I trust you have or will be doing this area thoroughly at your liesure, please be kind enough to keep us posted as you progress and also when you clean that nugget, should make nice eye candy for those who like a peek, I'm sure there's more waiting in amongst that iron field, good luck.

Wayne.

Thanks guys, for your kind posts.

Digginerup, the area was combed with a fine rake after that, just in case there were some more hiding below the leaf litter, but only one more was found by Glen. After 4 of us scouted around there, I can pretty much confidently say that there's not too much left there now, but I will still be paying the area at least one more visit, when there's different weather conditions, just to make sure.

Stage 1 you say Ren, Glen didn't tell me there were different stages of settings. Must look further into this new information.

Just looking at it now Kon, while getting it's HCL bath nice and ready, for it's little swim (fingers crossed it doesn't loose too much weight due to shrinkage).

what a fantastic christening of your new toy!
And an amazing piece of ironstone gold as well.
good luck with your next outing.
cheers
bedrock

That's awesome .

Con.

Well done and deserved.

Now that your swining a 4500, I'll have to speak to your good Wifey to make sure you only get out once a year instead of once a month or you'll clean up the Golden Triangle of all it's treasure.

Hi Con,

Well done on the first trip out with the " Colt ", and from the looks of it she shoots very true

The wife must be blown away with the finds $1500 for a couple of days, I sure she will be letting you off the chain every weekend now

Anyway buddy, congats on the great finds & great story, and look forward to seeing your future finds on the forum.

I must say though, " did it feel good having Glen play with your Knobs " or were you just glad to be finally using a quality machine???

Time to part for you and the crew


Peter

Congrads couldnt have been found by a more well deserving person ,but gee how did you beat hobo to it? he usally smells those from miles away let alone ,let you near it eheheheheheh I sure hope your finds will keep happening and we all will share in your delite, to see this piece of ( junk ) in its glory.
yours wolfy.

con ,con,con......congrats, you have been thinking about a different machine for a while now. now that you have made the switch, it going to be a whole new ball game........i carnt wait to see what the second trip finds. cheers

wow
what a great effort with the new machine
well done

Costa you have been waiting a long time for your new up grade and it has paid of mate. So what can I say that others haven't already said but, great finds, great story, and it could not have gone to a better guy. Well done mate. I'm looking forward to the final clean up of your nug's I've got a feeling it may be the year of the big finds.

wombat

Cheers guys, for the kind words. It's sitting in the HCL, bathing away, getting all nice and clean. I'll put up a photo in a few days when it's out of the HCL and then again after it's had a day or two in the Ali-Brite.

Now guys, don't set the bar too high here. I know it was a case of beginners luck and being at the right place at the right time. The first target was scraped by "someone", but fortunate for me, and I can't understand why, they never dug. The 3rd target, I approached the tree from the only direction and along the only path that didn't have rusty rubbish spewed everywhere - a very welcomed but an absolute fluke of a find, but nevertheless, I suppose it doesn't matter how it happens, it's just excited that it just did happen. An absolute dream first outing.

I must say though, " did it feel good having Glen play with your Knobs " or were you just glad to be finally using a quality machine???

Pete, I really did enjoy it when Glen played with my knobs. It made me feel satisfied...that's not a bad thing is it???

The wife must be blown away with the finds $1500 for a couple of days, I sure she will be letting you off the chain every weekend now

Pete, it doesn't count in her books unless it's sold and the money is deposited into "her" account. Until then, she sees it as just a hobby that I am soooo blessed that she "allows" me to enjoy every now and then...it's such a cruel, cruel world sometimes.

I was really hoping to get these finds on video. With the first one, when I picked up the target I switched the recorder on and proceeded to dig out the nugget. Did the whole who-ha and only at the end did I realise that although I turn the recorder on, I forgot to press "record". Damn I thought, I have to make sure I don't do that again! Well next morning when I found the smaller one, I turned the recorder on and believe it or not, I did exactly the same thing, I forgot to press record. I was really p*ssed off at myself again... The 3rd target, the biggest one, because it was an SCREAMER, I never expected it to be a nugget, so I just never bothered to even turn the recorder on. Missed out again. The rest of the weekend, the recorder went on and "record" was pressed, so I have dozens and dozens of vids of me digging up junk Oh well, next time....

Fantastic result with the new detector

I hope you find many more with it,

Phil

An absolute delight. Costa, you did buy a great machine, you did drive to the goldfields, you did search for gold, you found 3 pieces of gold, which is what you planned to hopefully find, so why do we call it luck? Sounds like the plan you put into place came through. Other than the size of that beauty, there was no luck involved, Congrats. Harry

Good things come to those who wait,well thats the line we will run with here anyway mate!
I had a good feeling that you would go well with the new detector Costas. Maybe I am slighty psychotic .... Ummm psychic.
Well done brother you deserve it!

Well done CostasDee what start with 4500 great pick up on the first run will be nice after the clean up.
Good to meet you and some more of the forum Members in GullyHunter & Dee , GoldenChild , Hobo's gold.
Cheers bren.

Good to catch up with the Bro`s and see first hand the results of a successful hunt..A dream result there Con,and first up too with the new 4500..top stuff A big thank you to Glen and his lovely wife Dion who showed us some fine hospitality...Ohh did i say that`s a sweet nugget Costas

ATB out there
Cheers Bill

good onya costa,after trade you would of paid for the 4500 in one session!very impressive bud!

Glad to hear you did really REALLY well out there! Costasdee ..
You put up with all the rubbish and were well rewarded..
Can't wait to see it after its bath.. (Drool)
Question? Are you going to make that one a keeper and wear it around your neck??? Or do you think it might be a bit heavy for that..

I am really happy for you and the guys.. Sounds like you all had a great time together..

Well done Costa , congratulations. might spoil you for the future, but at least this one is in your pocket. You have been waiting a while and now that the bug has grown bigger, how is she going to keep you home.

Good luck mate, great stuff

Jeff

Great story Costa , and an awesome weekend by the sounds of it .
Glad you got your way with new 4500 you will have to wipe a lot more dishes at home now !!!
Pap

Great finds there CostaDee What a way to christen your new toy. Absolutely fantastic and congrats to you for those great finds.

Cheers.

Mike.

Fantastic stuff mate. The 45 will pay for itself in no time at that rate .Well done.

Congratulations Con, Great results for first swing with a 45. What a fantastic BIG Nugget look forward to see it after the acid clean.
Cheers
"TWO BOB"

Well Well Well
I think getting the 4500 was a very smart move

What a wonderful find.Congratulation that is fantastic nugget.

You nearly paid off your 4500 at the first trip

I can see very exciting times ahead.

Well done.

Looking forward to see the "rusty" nugget after the clean.

GoldEN

Thanks again guys for all the kind words.

It's sitting in the acid bath at the moment, cleaning away some of the ironstone. I'll pull it out and give it a gentle scrub with a toothpick and a quick swim in the ultrasonic cleaner to dislodge some of the muck, a quick little weigh to see how far it's shrunk so far, and then submerge it in the acid again for some more cleaning. I'm eager to see the final product too, but unfortunately it's a time thing with the acid and it just cant be hurried.

I've got the ok to post the photo of the collective effort of the weekend's takings. Brian had just left so his nugget missed the photo shoot.



All up, 16 in the photo and the one of Brian's makes the tally 17 for the weekend. Great thing was that everyone in the group found something, so everyone got a rattle in the jar to go home with. It's a great thing when that happens as everyone leaves with a smile on their face and a good memory of the weekend.

Wow, that big one will take some beating no matter what detector you use. Great finds