Digging in a Confederate fort site on the Texas coast , you can usually find the remains of shell fragments from the Federal gunboat bombardments. However, when a complete shell turns up , you know you just got your "bonus" find for the days hunt. I had dug several large frags at the site of Fort Sulakoski on the Brazos river on this day when I got another large hit with my X2. After digging down about 18 inches , my shovel hit with a hard thud. As I started digging out the hole, I could see the slight curve of something iron and knew immediately it was a shell, but my surprise as the hole got bigger ,so dig the shell. I was thinking it was likely a 26 pndr used by the Reb batteries at the fort but when this basket ball size shell started to emerge, I realized then ,this could only be a deadly 11inch Federal Dahlgren shell that had been fired by a Union gunboat. The shell weighed 120 lbs.and still had a Naval watercap fuse in it dated 1862 and was also in excellent condition. To say the least, this was a real trophy find for any civil war relic collector. I must brag on the X2 Troy, it is the most stable machine I have ever used in a salt water environment. Thanks for a great detector.

Bobby McKinney