George Tindale—of the YouTube channel Magnetic G—is a young man with a big hobby: magnet fishing. In a video on YouTube which has been viewed over 1.2 million times, Tindale and his father visit a spot to magnet fish along the River Soar in England.
“Jackpot” hardly begins to describe their haul.
Tindale, who is from the Newark area of England, and whose name is a tribute to fellow YouTube treasure hunter Drastic G, found that this particular spot along the Soar was the gift that kept on giving. The popular, widely-shared YouTube video shows the then-thirteen year-old Tindale and his dad pulling a .50 caliber Browning machine gun round from the water.
“There’s some very fine ridges on this bit,” Tindale informs the viewers. “That means it’s been fired, where it engages with the rifling that makes it spin.”
“I wonder if this place was heavily bombed in World War II?” Tindale wonders aloud.
They also discovered the heavily rusted bolt off of a cartridge rifle, and several taped up bags containing various denominations of coins and some religious artifacts, including Rosary beads and candles.
“Like ten, fifteen quid in one box,” Tindale tells an onlooker on the bridge above.
Magnet fishing is normally done in fast-flowing waters, such as rivers and canals, with strong neodymium magnets that are powerful enough to shift the heavy metal items.
George fishes with a 200kg / 400lb magnet.
Among the other treasures uncovered in the video are an old cassette tape, knife blades, multiple gun barrels, an old fashioned wooden scooter, what appears to be an old pocket watch, a broken light-up sign of McDonald’s famous golden arches, and even an old rhinestone encrusted high-heeled shoe.
“Are these modern or are they something from the 1970s?” Tindale’s father, Kevin, asks with a laugh.
Tindale discovers the day’s greatest treasure on his final cast: an old Webley .320 revolver.
“Look at that!” he exclaims over and over. “Oh my gosh, look at this… that’s my third gun I’ve found.”
In other videos on the Magnetic G YouTube channel, which boasts over 33,000 subscribers worldwide, Tindale has unearthed artifacts including what could be an age-old stonemason's chisel that was still embedded in rock when dragged to the surface, dozens of hammers and other tools, fishing tackle and even a metal Christmas tree.
A keen environmentalist, George also clears plastic from the river beds alongside his metal treasure troves.
In the video above George and his dad pulled a safe containing more than £1,000 from a river, which they later gave back to the owner, who had been robbed over 22 years ago.
The pair had been scouring the River Witham in Grantham, Lincolnshire, when they made the incredible discovery. They recovered an old safe and were left stunned when among the mud and slime was a pouch containing 2,500 Australian dollars (£1,400).
Unbeknown to them, the safe had been stolen from businessman Rob Everett back in 2000 during a burglary at his office.
Also inside was a shotgun certificate and bank cards which expired in 2004, giving George and Kevin enough information to track down the rightful owner.
In a follow up video, the treasure hunters contacted Rob and then visited him at his business in Grantham to return the stolen property.
