Explorer SE Pro and nails?

[Frank in NH]

Any way to set up Explore with 5" Sunray to pick coins mixed with nails? Might have to use my Tesoro for this!

 

[IDXMonster]

Ferrous sounds and 90 degree sweep. No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin. Dig anything that lands in the upper right quadrant. Don't try to "make it a coin"....either it will repeat most of the time in the SAME spot on the ground or it won't if it's a nail.

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Ferrous sounds and 90 degree sweep. No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin. Dig anything that lands in the upper right quadrant. Don't try to "make it a coin"....either it will repeat most of the time in the SAME spot on the ground or it won't if it's a nail.

I have found silver with my 13" ultimate coil on my SE Pro in trash. All I do is have the screen wide open and as the coil is passing over the iron crap I listen for the difference in tone. It might be a split second of a difference.
Then I stop and use the tip of the coil to sneak up on that higher hit and separate it out of the mix. I move around the iron crap in a circle and keep sneaking up on the good target. Then I dig an whala! A silver or a copper or a nicke!.
Of course my silvers are far and few but it's the hunt that makes it fun.

 

[IDXMonster]

In my mind running a wide open screen is the only way to go in nails...and I'm always geared toward silver coins so that's why the upper right quadrant. For nickels you're OK in nails,but in a lot of pulltabs and chopped up aluminum it'll be tougher. You're right though Tony,a large coil can pick stuff out but the operator must have a good ear and know how to nose the coil in from different angles.

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

In my mind running a wide open screen is the only way to go in nails...and I'm always geared toward silver coins so that's why the upper right quadrant. For nickels you're OK in nails,but in a lot of pulltabs and chopped up aluminum it'll be tougher. You're right though Tony,a large coil can pick stuff out but the operator must have a good ear and know how to nose the coil in from different angles.

I can do the same thing with my DFX with the large standard concentric coil. Hunting all metal and I can hear the coin under or near a piece of trash.
It does take a lot of patience though to hear the good target but patience always pays off.

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Agree

Ferrous sounds and 90 degree sweep.

Agree

No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin.

Agree, rusty nails shoot a signal out along their length extended well beyond the end of the nail, which makes pinpointing them seem like the target is changing location when you sweep it from different angles. A target that seems to shift around location wise, good indication of a nail.

Don't try to "make it a coin"....either it will repeat most of the time in the SAME spot on the ground or it won't if it's a nail.

Agree, except in a rusty nail infested site.

No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin.

Now lets take it to the next level, collocated targets nail(s) and coin in the same hole which is pretty common if you are hunting a rusty nail infested hell hole which I'm assuming is the case here. Here's the good news, rusty nails that false ID in a particular spot on the screen and do no deviate from this spot. Its about where silver half dollars ID, cursor right edge of screen, half the cursor off the right edge. Rusty nails that are not falsing also ID in a particular spot, cursor top/left of screen right up there in the corner. This very consistent behavior of rusty nails and cursor location on the screen is how you pick off coins hiding in nails.

If a rusty nail is bouncing between these two rusty nail locations, never deviating, its a nail bank on it. However watch the cursor, is it also hopping into the coin areas at times, Indian, wheat, silver dime, quarter? Rusty nails don't ID there. You should be sweeping the target from several angles just not 90 degrees, circling it, picking at it with the front few inches of your coil if need be, at times you may only get a hit on the coin from one particular angle which is why you circle not just rely on a 90 degree sweep. At times you can only get a hit with the front of your coil, any further forward and the coil latches onto a nearby nail. Shorten your sweeps when you are hitting on the coin, 2-3 inches wide. Sweep it a few times then stop the coil, let the machine try to settle the cursor. If you are running your sensitivity hot as I do its okay to back off the sensitivity a few clicks to settle the machine down for more consistent cursor locations.

If you are getting fairly consistent hits in coin locations, you dig. So what about silver half dollars? While they ID in about the same spot on the screen no rusty nail sounds that pure. Practice sweeping silver halfs, train your ears how sweet and pure they sound. Most of the silver halfs I have dug (hiding in iron, under rusty bottle caps) were dug on the quality of the silver tone I was hearing.

Exceptions to the above...rusty hex nuts which will false high from every sweep angle. They still ID in the rusty nail falsing location on the screen but its hard to walk away from those.

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Agree

Ferrous sounds and 90 degree sweep.

Agree

No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin.

Agree, rusty nails shoot a signal out along their length extended well beyond the end of the nail, which makes pinpointing them seem like the target is changing location when you sweep it from different angles. A target that seems to shift around location wise, good indication of a nail.

Don't try to "make it a coin"....either it will repeat most of the time in the SAME spot on the ground or it won't if it's a nail.

Agree, except in a rusty nail infested site.

No repeat at 90 is VERY likely not a coin.

Now lets take it to the next level, collocated targets nail(s) and coin in the same hole which is pretty common if you are hunting a rusty nail infested hell hole which I'm assuming is the case here. Here's the good news, rusty nails that false ID in a particular spot on the screen and do no deviate from this spot. Its about where silver half dollars ID, cursor right edge of screen, half the cursor off the right edge. Rusty nails that are not falsing also ID in a particular spot, cursor top/left of screen right up there in the corner. This very consistent behavior of rusty nails and cursor location on the screen is how you pick off coins hiding in nails.

If a rusty nail is bouncing between these two rusty nail locations, never deviating, its a nail bank on it. However watch the cursor, is it also hopping into the coin areas at times, Indian, wheat, silver dime, quarter? Rusty nails don't ID there. You should be sweeping the target from several angles just not 90 degrees, circling it, picking at it with the front few inches of your coil if need be, at times you may only get a hit on the coin from one particular angle which is why you circle not just rely on a 90 degree sweep. At times you can only get a hit with the front of your coil, any further forward and the coil latches onto a nearby nail. Shorten your sweeps when you are hitting on the coin, 2-3 inches wide. Sweep it a few times then stop the coil, let the machine try to settle the cursor. If you are running your sensitivity hot as I do its okay to back off the sensitivity a few clicks to settle the machine down for more consistent cursor locations.

If you are getting fairly consistent hits in coin locations, you dig. So what about silver half dollars? While they ID in about the same spot on the screen no rusty nail sounds that pure. Practice sweeping silver halfs, train your ears how sweet and pure they sound. Most of the silver halfs I have dug (hiding in iron, under rusty bottle caps) were dug on the quality of the silver tone I was hearing.

Exceptions to the above...rusty hex nuts which will false high from every sweep angle. They still ID in the rusty nail falsing location on the screen but its hard to walk away from those.

Priceless information!

That is exactly how I do it with the tip of my coil. I call it "sneaking up on the coin." Just little wiggles and going around the coin and sometimes, on purpose backing away and pinpointing just where the iron nails are
then going back in and sneaking up on the coin in the midst of those nails.

 

[IDXMonster]

I have to print this out and carry it with me cuz I forget most of it by the time I'm in an area like this!
Thanks guys!

 

[BigTony]

Probably the VDI numbers would tell more of the story but after these many years of using the Explorer II I never checked the numbers just the display and turning 90 degrees.