Hi There! New member currently living in Missouri

[cjweber]

Hi Everyone, I'm a new member just joining the forum. I currently live in Missouri until next May. I am not new to MD but I have never had anyone teach me any best practices to hone my skills. I would love to meet up with anyone in the Fort Leonard Wood area if they wanted to go out on a Saturday morning hunt occasionally. Let me know! ~Chris

[OxShoeDrew]

I'm glad you joined us Chris....could you elaborate on your detecting history? What machine do you use....any cool past finds? I hope someone near you.

[aloldstuff]

Welcome aboard Chris. We have a great bunch of folks on this forum with lots of knowledge. As drew stated hope that someone is near you. Have you tried watching youTube vids? Looking forward to seeing you finds.

[cjweber]

Hey guys, sure, I'll elaborate! I just went from one extreme to the other on equipment. I was using a Bounty Hunter Landstar and it was pissing me off and I know it wasn't hitting on objects that I used to test it. Plus it was very slow to respond with a hit even with a nice controlled swing... so I bit the bullet last night and ordered a Minelab CTX 3030! hopefully it will be here to play with this weekend! I have been metal detecting since I was a little kid... I can remember using my dad's old White's to go hunting in the school yard (someplace I want to go back and search again now that I know better). I am in the Army and am an EOD tech so metal detectors and other sorts of detectors are part of my job... I am competent but I know there is a lot more for me to know... a LOT more! in my job, mine detectors are one of my weaknesses, so I would really like my hobby to help improve my job skills too... plus I want to find GOLD!!! (I mean who doesn't right?) but I also want to have fun doing it too!

[Digger_O'Dell]

Hello Chris and welcome from Wisconsin! Typically the Bounty Hunter is great for kids happy to find the occasional pull tab or even a toy car in the litter box. But sure you will be really happy with the CTX, especially once you learn it pretty well-it's an incredible machine and what I use. If you have questions about it, we have many people here that use the CTX and would be happy to help. Don't forget to check out the many youtube instructional videos too.

[cjweber]

Believe me, I did a ton of research first before pulling the trigger last night on buying it. I understand its weaknesses it had when it first left the production line, and being from the more tech minded generation, I like the abilities it provides in tracking where I have been, where I searched, where I have hit on targets. I have only heard great things about its discrimination capabilities. I know there will be a ton of learning and growing but I thought instead of paying $600-800 on a mid range machine, I might as well pay the bucks for something that I am going to eventually want anyway!

[leslie(nova scotia)]

Good choice of joining here sir. Lots of gud bouys with a lot of knowledge. Look forward to reading your digging experiences!

[cjweber]

Leslie, are you also on CCF? You sound a lot like another person that always starts out with stories from "the land of the Bluenose..."

[Tony Two-Cent]

Welcome from Illinois!

We're glad you joined us, Chris! The CTX 3030 is a serious machine, I have heard nothing but good things about them. You should do well with it.

I visited Fort Leonard Wood a few years ago on business. I designed the steel roof trusses for the mine detection K-9 kennels. Here is a picture of me and my Amish boss at the job site:



Best of luck and I hope you find some gold.

[cjweber]

Tony - Gold, some pull-tabs, a couple rusty nails... a hit is a hit right? I might not have that mighty machine in my hands yet, but I am damn good at digging crap out of the ground at this point... just want something shiny now!

[Digger_O'Dell]

I started with a really good mid range detector, but within the first month or so I was already drooling over the CTX. 2 months later I bought one. At first I was intimidated by the stories of how complicated it was supposed to be, but it was actually a bit of a let down. But then, I'm used to dealing with huge complex machine logic programs-by comparison it was nothing. But i did find a few quirks that can make or break a hunt in some cases. One suggestion would be to buy the book by Andy Sabisch which explains most everything in pretty good detail.

[del]

Hello Chris , welcome ! Congrats for pulling the trigger on the new CTX , its a serious machine and wish you the best with it .

Dan