An Introduction

Hello all , and thank you for allowing me to join your forum!
My name is Chris , and I am a 28 year old father of three residing in St. Helier.
My hobbies and interests include , but are not limited to , Dj'ing and event production , the recovery and refining of precious metals , electronics recycling , history (mainly WW2) , and fishing (of course! ).

When I was a young pup , I moved over to Wales to live with my father and it was at this time I was first introduced to the art of metal detecting.
I had some great fun with it but it wasn't to last for long , as my father neglected to inform me that his machine wasn't waterproof ,
When I moved back over to Jersey at age 16 , I became friends with who is now one of my very closest friends , Daniel , who also has in interest in metal detecting and history , and who also had a metal detector (which also got broke , ).

For some months now we have been discussing investing in a new machine each and getting back into it , and after some window shopping and conducting some basic research today we found ourselves here.
We are looking at buying a 'Lander XD100 Pro' each (uk-metal-detectors.co.uk ) as these seem to have everything we (think) we'll need at what seems a reasonable price , just to get us going.
I was also looking at the 'Garrett Ace 250' and at a slightly higher price point the 'Garrett Ace Euro' , but the truth is I really have no idea whats better suited to both beach and field work , and my mate's in no better position to make an informed descision either.
If anybody has any opinions on , or better still experience with , any of these machines , I would very much appreciate your thoughts!

I see that you have a meeting penned in for June and both myself and my mate would like to pop along if that's o.k. , it would be good to meet others localy with an interest in metal detecting and who might be able to share some tips and some of their experiences.
(I also like the idea of having a genuine reason to pop down to the pub! )
I only know one guy in Jersey who really knows what he's talking about where metal detecting is concerned , who is my partners mothers cousin (my second cousin in law? ) , I have a funny feeling that the forum administrator Rob and the inlaws cousin Robert are one and the same?
Well , I'm going to stop rambling for now and pop off to make a cuppa!
Many thanks in advance for any and all replies ,
All the best for now , and with my kindest regards ,
Chris
St. Helier

Welcome Chris!
I missed the last meeting, was very busy at the time and it slipped my notice, but normally I'm there at 8 ish, there are usualy four to eight of us and we bring along any recent finds, not always great stuff just the normal bits and pieces we cannot put a name to, or ocasionally a real piece of treasure. hope to see you there in june, hope I'm not still in France for the long bank holiday weekend.
I'm not sure about the detectors you mentioned, I've got two explorers the older models, and a goldmax power, but still have the Whites Eagle 11 detector which I started with it was a good machine, I bought it second hand and it did me for three years or so before I upgraded.
The Minelab Xterra range are also very good, light and easy to understand, but the better the model the more it costs. try looking at a few web sites and read the feed back from other beginners or 'newbie's' forums like Detecnicks, Minelab owners forum, or UK detecternet and that will help., they also will have detectors for sale either new or 2nd hand. see you in June.

Hi Ken , how are things?
Thanks for the reply and the welcome!
Yeah , myself and my mate are deffinatly keen to pop down the road and meet you guys in june!
I have some WW2 shell casings and a flint arrow head that I've found localy so I don't have much in the way of 'show and tell' to add just yet , but I plan on getting to work on that one soon!
Thanks for the advice on the detectors , Rob also suggested to look about for a second hand model.
As I said to him I was kind of put off by the idea of potentialy recieving one through the post without a warranty just to discover that it was defective , but hearing that advice from people who know what they're talking about has helped to allay those fears , I'm off to bed in a moment so I'll take the laptop up and get back to window shopping and try to find me a decent second hand detector.
All the very best , and kind regards for now ,
Chris

I have quite a lot of ww2 finds as well, but nothing as large as a shell now, I buried the one I had as it was a bit too risky keeping it in the house, cause I thought it was anti aircraft maybe still live decided not to risk it and dug a three foot hole and buried the dig. lots of rifle rounds though some still live, most just casings.
We find loads of regimental buttons as we had most of the british army here at some time or other. also loads of musket balls sword fittings and older military bits and bobs.
we also find a few flint blades as well.

Hi Ken , how are you today? I hope your well!
Oh no! Sorry , I didn't mean artillery shells! I meant the casings from rifle rounds , 7.62 I think (it's been a long time since I've seen them as they're probably buried away if I still even have them , they could be 5.56) , I'd never keep artillery shells!
I spent five years in the Army Cadets (Royal Artillery) so I have a very healthy respect for those things ,
I'd love to find some buttons , or anything else WW2 related really , that would really make my day!
The musket balls and sword fittings sound really interesting too , I remember being younger and dreaming about finding half a sword!
The casings that I found were interesting , some were way more rusted up than others (all were discharged) , and mine and Daniel's theory was that as the war went on , raw materials were harder to come by , especialy for axis forces , so the quality of the materials used in the manufacture of munitions suffered.
We think that this could explain why the deeper casings (not shells , my bad , I didn't think that one through did I? ) were less oxidised and the shallower ones were almost rusted through.
Many thanks again for yours and Robs advice lastnight with regards to purchasing a used detector , I hadn't noticed at the time but Davey on the forum has one for sale locally , so if that's still available I'll see what I can sort out with him next week ,
Catch up soon Chief ,
All the best for now , and kind regards ,
Chris

Welcome to the forum Chris, detecting over here is quite good-plenty to be found as for detecting sites try www.detectorist.co.uk, I'd give uk detector net a miss as they are a right boring bunch of twits, minelab owners are pretty good and so are Rogers Relic's, see you around some time,

Dave

Hi Dave , and thanks for the welcome!
I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck in!
I generaly look out of the lounge window to look if the tide is on it's way up , which is a good thing if I'm planning on going fishing , funny thing is though , I'm sure that soon enough it's going to be quiet the opposite , I'm going to be looking at the tide and hoping that it's on it's way out!
I've been scanning a few different forums , although I havn't signed up to any yet , I've just been absorbing what information I can from them ,
Maybe I'll meet some of you guys over on some of them too!
Many thanks , to Dave , and everybody ,
Catch up soon ,
All the best for now , and with my kindest regards ,
Chris