We use a 4" cup cutter for pulling soil samples at a 6-8" depth. They are generally available through golf supply vendors. For deepers stuff, we have a small drill rig mounted on the front of a Kawasaki Mule....with a 4" auger, we can drill down to about 4 feet. Kelly Grahn Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety West Chicago Field Office grahnk@aol.com or Grahn@idns.state.il.us