For a background, I had taken a one day lesson from a well know nugget hunter on using a Gold Bug II around 1998.  While he had good advice, I found no gold.  In December 2003 I purchased a Minelab 2100 from a well known company.  I received the detector & associated accessories, a receipt, a thank you note, and nothing else.  I spent 5 days hunting known nugget producing sites in Arizona and found nothing again. 

Later, I found out about Gerry McMullen, a dealer, detecting enthusiast, and instructor.  He put together an excellent package deal for me on a GP3000, Nugget Finder Coil, other accessories, and lessons.  I can not emphasize the importance of these lessons enough.  I literally drove over a 1000 miles (one way) to take lessons from him.  It was definitely worth it!

Items he covers concerning the detector includes:

• How to optimally route the coil wire
• How to route the battery wire to minimize wear on the connectors
• How to set the switches and other controls on the detector for optimal sensitivity
• How to establish optimal coil control
• How to “tune” the machine
• How and when to ground balance the machine
• Of critical importance, what signals to listen for

One of the most important aspects of his training is that he uses a “Y” connector for the headphones so he & the student can both be plugged into the same machine.  Both the student & he then listen to the same sounds the detector makes.  He patiently teaches you specifically what signals to listen for.  He will take your detector some of the time & show how it should be used, while both you & he are plugged into the same machine, and, very importantly, what signals to listen for.  He then lets the student use the detector to learn the correct technique & again, the extremely important, what sounds to listen for.  He demonstrates the proper way to pinpoint the target & good ways to recover the target, undamaged.  Obviously, not every signal dug will be a nugget, but if you are patient & follow his advice, eventually, you will find nuggets.

I spent 2 and a half days on site.  Using his techniques, I finally found nuggets, 3 to be exact.  One was 0.3 grams, another was 0.2 grams, and the third?  It was 7.5 grams (1/4 ounce) that was 17” deep!  Certainly, not every student will find a nugget that size on their 1^st outing, although some have found larger nuggets than that. There is a huge difference between buying from a dealer that is a highly skilled detecting enthusiast and will provide lessons (Gerry McMullen) and a dealer that simply takes your order & ships you hardware.  Taking lessons from him at a known nugget producing area proved to be extremely important and worth every penny! 

If I had it to do over again, I would not hesitate to drive the 1000+ miles (one way) to take lessons from him.  His training has made the difference between my finally being able to find nuggets & consistently coming up empty handed as I had in my previous hunting attempts.

Dick (Colorado)