Meteorite hunters in N.C.

How many have you found. I sit outside and watch the persieds shower annually. A good spectacle. But I think you have a better chance of finding a very valuable coin or relic as apposed to a meteor. What is your method of operation? We all know they are out there. Seems to me, too few actually hit earth to concentrate on them.....................
 
There's a book called Rocks From Space (which puts me to sleep faster than the stuff they give you before an operation.) One of the theories expressed in it (probably on page 1) says that on average, given the age of the earth, the number of meteorites which actually hit the surface each day, and time, on average, there should be about 10 metorites per acre just waiting to be found. (Can't be sure on the number, it might be smaller,)

I seem to remember reading that some people find them in the desert using metal detectors and magnets. I remember seeing Becky from Cash and Treasures finding an extra large one in Iowa with a couple of guys who towed a big home-made detector behind an ATV. They had to dig it up with a back-hoe.

When I consider that I've found as many silver coins as meteorites (zero), I figure the odd's of me finding either is about the same.
 
Anyone in the North Carolina area hunt meteorites?

PM me if so.

Need a hunting buddy.

Rocco

That's something I'd love to do. Some specimens can be quite valuable, but money aside I'd still like the chance to search for them.
 
met hunting?

I wouldn't know what I was looking at if I had one in my hand... post a few pics if you get a chance. what are the tale tale signs... heavy, magnetic,??? etc. sounds like fun.
 
The best way to learn about them is to do a google search on meteorite. There are lots of sites with pictures of them. There's even a link in this sticky: http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=4743

A lot of them are magnetic. Some have nickel in them. If you find a large one, it's worth lots of money. But first you've got to learn what they look like and where to sent it to have it tested and authenticated.
 
The Cash and Treasures episode was actually Mike Farmer and Steve Arnold, and they were looking for the Brenham Kansas pallasite in the strewnfield. Meteorites on average are difficult to pick out, but the amount of time I spend just rockhounding makes my chances a bit higher than others.

Deserts are the way to go, and while I was deploying to Iraq, we spent quite a bit of time training in the deserts of Kuwait, and i picked up a few decent magnetic specimens from the surface, that are being tested at the University of Washington in St. Louis. Testing of stony or stone meteorites is free, if the tell-tale signs are there. (Google meteorite identification for a complete list of common signs)

I spend a great deal of my time out hunting for arrowheads and relics on the surface, but while doing so, i keep my eye out for meteorites, as they can resemble almost any type of stone. The reason deserts make it easier is because they aren't as subject to terrestrial weathering in a dry desert climate (This includes Antartica) and they are most times, if fresh, easy to identify on the suface because they get a shiny black or brownish crust called a fusion crust. But desert varnish can also be mistaken for fusion crust. So basically, if you find a magnetic rock (Even though they aren't always magnetic) and it looks shiny black, or out of place, test it with a meteorite website's recommendations, and you could have something worth it's weight in diamonds. That is, if you wanna wait for the classification process. The only way to avoid this is to search known strewnfields. IE Franconia, Gold Basin, Park Forest, Brenham, Etc.

So any rockhounds out here in the North Carolina area wanna hunt, drop me a line, I have several true meteorites, none classified that I have found, but purchases, to show as references, and to test with a detector, and we can hunt.

Rocco
 
I forgot to mention, if anyone is interested in meteorites, or wants to learn about them in a friendly environment, I am a moderator at www.Illinoismeteorites.com, and there are many links to pictures, ID websites, and general knowledge websites on the subject as well as fellow hunters/collectors who will teach anyone the fundamentals without prejudice.

It is my favorite hobby, albeit a difficult one.

Rocco
 
Viewing the web-site you are obviously from Illinois. I am transplanted from Illinois to WV. I used to hunt for points in the plowed fields in Southern Illinois. Never really thought about meteorites, however. My first point was found when I was 7 years old. Was stomping a tin can in the ground to make a washer pitching hole in Pittsburg, IL. What,s the odds of that?
 
I'm going to buy that book, Rocks from Space, so I'll at least be a bit better informed about what I'm looking at, or for, while metal detecting. Will your metal detector react to all meteorites, or are some not metallic? I truly don't know.. yet!

SnowCajun
 
Actually I'm from Indiana. I have so many arrowheads and spear points from Indiana that I found before the age of 10 it's almost insane. I kept them all. As far as all meteorites being detectable, it all depends on your machine, and what setting you use. It's best to purchase some cheap unclassified NWA (Northwest Africa) meteorites, both stone and iron, to see how your detector reacts to each. But I always keep any stone that sets off my detector or sticks to my magnet cane, as long as it is not obviously hematite, or magnetite. Basalt is another tricky one to avoid.

The Rocks from Space book was recently re-released in stores and has been newly updated so I would check it out. It was written by O. Richard Norton.

Anybody in North Carolina near Fayetteville interested in hunting meteorites, just PM me and I will bring along several specimens to show, and test your MD. One of the best and most respected meteorite dealers in North America actually live here in Fayetteville as well. He has some beautiful specimens, as well as Martian and Lunar meteorites. Although I can never afford these, and would rather find my own. www.star-bits.com Give it a look, and I promise you will think some of these stones are nothing but something from your backyard. Makes for a very interesting hobby.

Rocco
 
Turn off your Discrimination and you will be surprised what you find!:D:D:p
 
NC Meteorite hunter

Hello! Located due south of Charlotte, due north of Monroe near border of the two Carolinas.

Have metal detector and a few rare-earth magnets, but have never gone meteorite hunting before.

Thinking perhaps going where the gold might be, might find one if not the other.

As many meteorites fall here as anywhere. It's just harder to notice them.

I am posting two (what at this time) is a two year old thread, anybody out there?

BB
 
Hello! Located due south of Charlotte, due north of Monroe near border of the two Carolinas.

Have metal detector and a few rare-earth magnets, but have never gone meteorite hunting before.

Thinking perhaps going where the gold might be, might find one if not the other.

As many meteorites fall here as anywhere. It's just harder to notice them.

I am posting two (what at this time) is a two year old thread, anybody out there?

BB
im not far from you, north charlotte area, done work in monroe,get in touch, new to tecting, about a year, never meteroites, and am interested in the gold, have wondered about a few sites
 
can you point a resource out for getting a rare earth magnet? I am ne of Raleigh, below wake forest. I haven't got my MD yet, and am researching for the best machine for me. But the confusion comes in where the good reports on "pinpointers" like the Garrett has are making me wonder if the PP is something extra that gets bought and installed onto a MD? Is the PP going to be all I need to try to detect metallic objects and iron bearing meteorite? There is a rock that I found here that I believed was Meteorite, took it to the science museum on Rock Day, and they had it sliced and whatever and returned it to me, minus the slice, and they said it wasn't meteorite, but possibly iron sludge from a foundry. The place I found it would make a fool out of that guy saying that if he saw it, unless some point in history there was a forge in civil or British wars, and now all trace of human habitation and industry were miraculously removed from this swamp location. I imagine that during the wars, anyone making gun barrels or bullets would need to have been secreted away, but there was nothing else to suggest this one round rock with interior of mercury/silvery looking geometric patterns was the only remains of foundry work. I didn't know about magnetism at the time, i was only hunting arrow heads and artifacts, but i love rocks and want to study any pretty ones. If I had extra money i would like to get a gem and mineral identification machine, but that's another couple hundred. any help for me, I am seriously considering the garrett PP, but am wondering if i also needed a MD with a 3D screen to show what's underground? I watch the meteoritemen on directv, and like that their md's are vocal with definite tones targetting the iron content they are hunting in general. I just don't know enough about other forms of space rock or earthrocks impacted by contact with space rocks to know wha6t this means for what devices i need to hunt space rock besides metallic object.s I lost my wedding ring's use whne the diamond setting wore away and couldn't afford the hundred dollars to retip the prongs, and got tired of lookng unloved and unmarried, took it out and wore it and one day, wrestling a stubborn gate socked up with goat manure and erosion mud, i got done and went up and washed my hands at the kitchne sink, and then wiped and to my everlasting horror, saw that shadowy hole where my diamond used to be, tellling me that i am ugly, unloveable, unworthy, and if God ever made a man that understands what that star-filled marquise stone of exceptional cut, no matter what the color or inclusions may have been, it meant the world to me. I always hoped that there was some device that could detect diamond, though I am afraid that my diamond went into the sink, down to the septic tank, and we had to have that pumped two yrs ago. I just want to believe that my diamond is still in that barnyard manure and mud, and that something can help me find it. Maybe I'll get my life back if I could find my diamond. I have shopped from washington dc and everywhere online and cannot find another marquise cut as exceptionally as this one was, with no bowtie shadows, just a million little white stars and big color flashes from every angle. Back to the pinpointers, does anyone just use them, instead of a md? thanks, huntersart
 
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