What was the hot detector make or model in the late 1970's and early 1980's?

[maxxkatt]

The reason I ask is I talked to some older detectorists who hunted in that time period the Atlanta parks that were in civil war battle or camp areas. They said it was common to find lots of 3 ringers and other CW relics. They were saying they would find 20-30 CW bullets per hunt.

I can see that happening for three reasons. One the introduction of a really good metal detector, the growth of the hobby back then and the lesser amounts of metallic trash in the parks compared to what we have now 40 years later.

I am thinking it was some model of the white's detector line that was cleaning up these parks. But I cannot remember what the old guys told me 10 years ago in terms of the type of detector they used. No real reason for this post other than I am just curious because I know even in the past 6 years with my 800, CTX or XP2 those parks give up little CW treasures or old coins.

 

[CalReg]

I can only speak about the mid '70's. White's, Compass and Fisher detectors were a big deal back then. Bounty Hunter was still fairly new at the time and Garrett detectors weren't that popular in my area. I will tell you the White's Coinmaster series was the hot ticket at the time...

 

[Diga]

In the 80's, my go to detector was the Fisher 1266X.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

MaxxKatt, when you say: "Late 1970s / early 1980s", you'd need to be more specific. Because there was a period of time, between 1975 to 1985, where every couple of years was astounding new mousetraps. The evolution was amazing every year or two. It went from no disc (the 77b and metrotech, for example). To TR disc. To VLF motion disc. To slower-swing motion disc. To TID .

So it will depend on which set of years you limit your question to.

It also depends on your geographic region. Because back in those days, word traveled REAL slow. New tech was slow to catch on in some areas (like if there wasn't a club, and/or network of md'rs who chit-chat). Unlike these days, in our internet/social media era, where : If there ever is a "better mousetrap", YOU CAN BET that the pro/con praises will be plastered on our hobbyist chit-chat pages. But back in the late '70s to early '80s , it might take a while for news to spread, adoption to take place, etc...

In my humble opinion, the biggest leap in advance, took place with the 6000d. That came out in 1978. Or if you include the Red Baron SPD, that came out in 1977. They added an immediate few inches of depth, with incredible ground coverage speed WHILE discriminating.

But it took time to catch on. I saw a single guy swinging a 6000d in about 1979. I laughed under my breath at how he appeared to be swinging a golf club around ! (surely a big mistake right ? Surely incorrect usage, right ?). But as 1980 and '81 rolled on, and slowly more and more people got them, a glaring truth began to be clear : You could no longer argue with their results. Like if you hunted side by side with them, they finish the hunt with 5 silver, and you'd only have 1 silver. So we all quietly went out and bought our own motion discriminators.

Garrett was quick to follow suite, in about 1981 or '82, with the ADSII and ADS III. But IMHO, the 6000d seemed to do it best. They were also better in black sand on the beach than Garrett's attempt.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

In the 80's, my go to detector was the Fisher 1266X.

They were wickedly deep in an air test, and *maybe* could replicate that in dry white sand. But in all other normal soil conditions (where I'm at, at least), the discrimination "hit a brick wall" after about 4 or 5". Everything sounded the same beyond 4 or 5". So those never caught on in my area.

 

[Diga]

They were wickedly deep in an air test, and *maybe* could replicate that in dry white sand. But in all other normal soil conditions (where I'm at, at least), the discrimination "hit a brick wall" after about 4 or 5". Everything sounded the same beyond 4 or 5". So those never caught on in my area.

In my mild ground, it went deep. I can't speak to the disc, because in those days, I was digging everything nonferrous.

I also really liked the index finger mode trigger for all metal, normal, and pinpoint

 

[CalReg]

In the 80's, my go to detector was the Fisher 1266X.

There was an older guy who used to hunt the local park near my parents place. It was a more upright detector (a la Etrac). and It was a TR (transmitter receiver) and was probably the best detector I had personally seen at the time

 

[Cherry Picker]

Garrett Master Hunter
Whites Coinmaster
Bounty Hunter Red Baron

 

[maxxkatt]

cannot give a better date range. But it seems to me from what the older guys were saying that there were several detectors that came out that really outshined the previous detectors and thus helped clean up the parks in north Atlanta near or on legal to hunt civil war locations. I remember on antique store in Chamblee, GA now run by the son. His father was an Whites dealer and avid detectorist. He had a huge punch bowl stocked to the rim in silver and old coins. It was amazing. He was detecting back in that same time period I mentioned in my post. Of course he had that punch bowl full of coins in a locked glass cabinet.

 

[Xxray]

Well yeah, 1st at the table get the choice cuts, everyone else gets leftovers and scraps.

That is thee reason, the golden era of metal detecting was early on. So it remains for us to pick up those scraps, or preferably, find virgin ground that hasn't somehow been pounded.

 

[hoser]

Since I didn't get mine till the early 80's, from what I was reading and hearing at the time, it seemed to be the Whites Coinmaster series machines that everyone wanted. Wasn't too long after that when I got the Garrett Master Hunter ADS7.

 

[LovestheShiny!]

1980-83 Whites Coinmaster 6000D Series 2

 

[Carl-NC]

The first detector that was a real game-changer for Atlanta relic hunters was the White's Coinmaster V (1974). It was the first true VLF ground balancing model and ran at 1.75kHz, at the time it could punch much deeper in mineralized ground. Atlanta relic hunters (Tom Dickey comes to mind) used it to great effect. Compass followed with the Relic Magnum (3.7kHz) which also did well. Now, whatever hasn't been paved over has been picked clean.

 

[cellrdwellr]

I was just a glint in the old man's eye back then, but sounds like we are on a projectory for more of the same in years to come unfortunately...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The first detector that was a real game-changer for Atlanta relic hunters was the White's Coinmaster V (1974). It was the first true VLF ground balancing model and ran at 1.75kHz, at the time it could punch much deeper in mineralized ground. Atlanta relic hunters (Tom Dickey comes to mind) used it to great effect. Compass followed with the Relic Magnum (3.7kHz) which also did well. Now, whatever hasn't been paved over has been picked clean.

Yup. To get 10" to 12" on a coin, NO MATTER HOW NASTY the soil was, was : A game changer in 1974. Some guys were still using those on southern CA wet-sand beach hunting, all the way to nearly 1990 -ish. "Riding the knob" as they walked closer-to or further-away from the water's edge.

However, the devil was in the details : It only got that depth in all metal. So if you needed to reject nails, you were S.O.L. And while the Coinmaster V did have a TR disc. mode, it was lousy. The Garretts, of that period, had a better TR disc, IMHO.

 

[Cherry Picker]

The first detector that was a real game-changer for Atlanta relic hunters was the White's Coinmaster V (1974). It was the first true VLF ground balancing model and ran at 1.75kHz, at the time it could punch much deeper in mineralized ground. Atlanta relic hunters (Tom Dickey comes to mind) used it to great effect. Compass followed with the Relic Magnum (3.7kHz) which also did well. Now, whatever hasn't been paved over has been picked clean.

I always wanted to try a Compass but was limited to what our local Garrett dealer took in as a trade. The Master Hunter was good, but I liked the American TR. I still have an ADS 4 in my vintage collection.

 

[maxxkatt]

how do you delete a post you posted wrong?

 

[maxxkatt]

my gosh! you remember him? An Atlanta legend. Just look at the list of places he found all those CW relics. Amazing. His collection is in the Atlanta Historical center building in Buckhead.

Tom Dickey Collection

www.civilwarartillery.com

 

[Tom_in_CA]

......

Tom Dickey Collection

www.civilwarartillery.com

Great read. Thanx !

 

[maxxkatt]

I didn't know him (Tom Dickey), but of course heard about him. He was before my time. Goes to show you the amount of Civil war relics in Georgia. Georgia was the clean up campaign Gen Sherman used in the final days of the Civil War in the spring and summer of 1864. Sherman had 100,000 men, the Confederates 60,000 men and were in very strong defensive positions. Normally this would have been pretty good for the Confederates. But they tried to move out of their Atlanta defensive positions and trap Sherman's forces to the north just after they crossed a very deep and wide Peachtree Creek that ran from east to west. But the confederate generals made a series of mistakes. One they were 4 hours late and that gave time for Sherman's men to dig in forcing the Confederates to attack and cross open spaces. Plus one or maybe even two confederate divisions got lost in a swampy wooded area and never made it to the battle. Ouch. It was still a blood bath, but worse for the Confederates. That was the battle that won Atlanta for the Union. Most people think it was Kennsaw Mtn. Kennesaw Mnt battle was a small battle, and Sherman quickly gave up the idea of taking the mountain from dug in confederate forces.

In the 1940's they (some government officials) were going to make the Peachtree Creek area a national battle field. But there were hundreds of homes built in that area. So the decided to buy Kennesaw mtn from two farmers and that became the national battlefield. So the vast majority of people think that the Kennesaw mtn was THE important battle of Atlanta. Not True it was the battle of Peachtree Creek. There is one small creek in the Peachtree creek area called Bloody Magnolia creek. It is hard rock bottomed creek and about 3 feet wide. The written reports of the battle said that creek ran red because it was used as a field hospital area. Other reports said after the battle you could hardly take any steps without stepping on or near dead soldiers from both sides.

Sherman's march to the sea after the battle of Peachtree creek and a few skirmishes in South Atlanta was pretty easy for Sherman. They faced old men and young male military students in battle. When they reached Savannah, the mayor of Savannah gave up the city and gave General Sherman 50,000 bales of cotton. This is why Savannah has so many very nice old homes and Atlanta does not.