Just a few questions for the ACE250 experts

[Danimal]

More than a month under my belt with my ACE250, and I am approaching $100.00 in clad, have dug up 15 rings now, including 4 gold rings. To date, my only silver coin is a 1941 merc. dime. I am spending time searching areas I KNOW haven't been hit hard and are of sufficient age to yield more silver. I have dug almost 2 dozen wheat pennies, the oldest 1917, a 1924 Buff nickle, but ONE SILVER coin. I swear to GOD I must have 100 1965 quarters and dimes.
My questions are about digging questionable signals on my ACE. Usually I run in jewelry mode
Usually I run sens. at it's highest, assuming I get the greatest depth.
Quite often I get a half-assed silver coin ID in one swing direction, but NADA in the other. Usually, if this happens, I right away use pinpoint to try and find the exact spot and to try and determine the object's size (LOTS of crushed cans fool the ACE250 into thinking there's a quarter or dime down there). Quite OFTEN these iffy returns show 8+ on the depth. I then TURN DOWN sens. and OFTEN the depth will then show 6". These usually end up being trashy rusted iron (nails, etc).
I guess my main question is:
Have you ACE250 owners ever dug weird, non-repeatable, signals that do NOT ID lock on to say-quarter, and are 8+", and you DO end up with a silver quarter that was 8+"?
I feel that MAYBE I am being TOO selective in digging only targets that lock on nice to a solid ID of a dime or quarter.
HONESTLY, I am so damn frustrated, that I DON'T EVEN ATTEMPT to recover a signal that locks on as a half-dollar or dollar, as they have thus-far ALWAYS been trash items. Every single time I pass this type of signal by I wonder what might have been.
To responders of these inquiries, PLEASE DO NOT just take the easy way out and tell me to DIG EVERY TARGET. I want INSIGHT into what a DEEP SILVER COIN was like on your ACE250.
BTW, I am in NE Ohio, and it seems with the soft earth that is predominate here, even 1980s quarters are 6" deep at times.
Ramble mode OFF*click*

 

[NM5K]

I haven't found any silver yet... So, couldn't
say about those when deep. I also have dug some trash
that rang as big coins, but I do notice most will
bounce around and not read that every time. Here,
I haven't dug any coins at 8 inches yet. I think the
deepest would be in the 5-6 inch range. To tell the
truth, I think the stock coil is straining at it's
limit at the 8 inch range. Thats why I just ordered
the big one for deeper stuff. I'm hoping it will give
me more solid response at at 8 in +. The deeper clad
dimes, etc that I have dug always ring pretty steady,
and will pinpoint real sharp and "small". I think a
silver coin will read up pretty steady as long as trash
is not around. But...I'm not sure if the ID is a "clad"
scale, or "silver" scale. I think I read it , but I
fergot.. Seems it's kinda geared to clad if I remember
right. But if it ding's the same each time, and points
sharp, worth a dig. I ordered both the big and the
sniper coil. I'm hoping the big coil will get me the
8-10 inch range a bit better, and the sniper will be
good for coin plunkin the kiddie sand lots they have
around here.
I ain't no expert, just my 48 cents worth from what
I've seen so far..
MK

 

[LowRider]

I am definatly not an expert with the Ace. In the 6 hours I have used it I have found nothing. I found a penny and a gold body piercing post. I just spotted then laying on the top of the ground. I have dug a number of holes and I could not find the quarter or dime it said was there. Burlar said it was probably where the dog took a dump. Animal urine will read as a good target. Or course I have not covered much of the yard. I have to go very slow due to being handicapped. I have found lots of surface trash that I pick up.

Mike

 

[saika/ace250]

I have dug, both types of signals. I have found that silver and copper will always give you a good signal. Sometimes it is only from one direction, but will repeat. If the pinpoint floats around it is usually rusty iron. If it says 2" and nothing and more digging tells you it is deeper, this usally translates to aluminium, as long as your target isn't falling into the hole.

 

[gregl01]

I also have been blanked in the silvers with my ACE. I did an experiment in my yard last year, I placed a Merc dime about 4" down on edge and my ACE acted the same way. I'd get a clear da-ding in one direction and a broken or no signal the other. This made me very curious!!!! How many times have I passed on this type of signal thinking it was junk??? I now try to dig most of these but they are junk!?!?! Oh well, the only way to be sure is to dig all iffy signals.
HH
Greg

 

[Dick from IA]

A good topic & question, Danimal.

I really don't have a lot to offer; just soaking up the info. The other day I too noticed good silver and copper signals one way, and iffy or none the other. So I would pass on digging.

Sounds like I need to start digging these for awhile and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[saika/ace250]

If the coin is on edge , and there is no garbage right next to it, by shifting your sweep direction by 90 degress will usually give you a good hit.

Try this:

get a wooden brush and stick a dime in it so that the dime is on edge.

Sweep across the faces. This should result in a double blip equal to the depth of the coin, all this means is that your target is dead center of the two blips.

Now shift to 90 degrees so that you are sweeping along the edge of the coin, you will get a single beep right in the middle. The same is true for rings, rings can actually disappear in this situation, meaning if you don't sweep along the edge you will never see it!!!!

If there is garbage on one side of the coin you will only get a good single beep from the good side and maybe a jumpy signal from the masked side. BUT, you will almost always see a coin id within the bad blip.

Just what I have noticed with all detectors over the years.

Again, go read Norman's site "GoldenOlde.com" I wish he was still with us. That site is like detecting a favourite spot, it always turns up some goodies.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I think you are being too selective. Your detector only gives you a probability of depth and target ID, which can be influenced by many variables. The final outcome of finds works like this:

"The more iffy targets you dig, the better finds you will accumulate over a given time."

Give up the iffy signals, and you leave behind gold rings, gold jewellery, foreign coins, old copper coins, well oxidized silver and copper coins etc. But of course you also dig more junk too! Keep digging those iffy signals, and you will soon discover that you are building more muscle mass, and will be able to dig targets in half the time that it takes you now. Try not to get frustrated.....it's only a hobby, and hobbies are supposed to be fun! We all dig countless amounts of trash....we just don't post it with our good finds.

Happy Hunting
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[Uncle Willy]

One of the hard core facts of detecting - you have to be smarter than your detector. Do not, and I repeat, do not rely soley on your detector display to determine whether you should dig or not, for if you do you will leave a long trail of goodies behind. Detectors are not 100% accurate in anything and offer up probability only. The rest is up to you. Detecting is 90% operator and 10% machine. You are the one in control.

In the old days before all the fancy gizmos on current detectors we had to dig everything as the only discriminator we had was our screwdriver and trowel. This is one reason why you ain't finding all that silver you think should be there because guys like me dug it up 30-35 years ago. Remember, detectors have been around since 1932.

Even today with all the hi-tech detectors I seldom rely on the display. Through force of habit and 42 years behind detectors of all kinds if it signals and sounds halfway good it gets dug. If you're always in a big hurry, lazy, selective, depend entirely on the display, or whatever, you're not going to find what you are looking for.

Just take your time and enjoy what you're doing. It ain't no contest. Dig those iffy signals and you might stumble upon a surprise plus you'll learn the right sound of the ones you don't want to dig and the sound of the ones you do.

How a detector signals is wrought with a myriad of problems never described in the glowing detector ads and through experience you have to learn them all. Just the age, condition, or position of a coin will cause it to signal a half-dozen different ways. Even the patina on a coin will cause it to signal differently than a clean, new, coin. So just dig a few targets and see what they are. That's what it's all about. It's a hobby not a business and hobbies are supposed to be fun.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah you might dig ten that are junk and one that is real which makes the junk well worth the dig.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah I miss old Norm. He was a trip.

Bill

 

[saika/ace250]

Aint it the truth, you are cursing and burning up with all of the junk you are rescuing from the ground and all it takes is a silver or gold or old thingy to make it all go away ....

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah that's the way it works. One gold ring pays for a ton of trash. I was digging some junk in a playground awhile back and cussing, when all of a sudden up pops a sterling silver angel pendant with 24 KT gold wings and a diamond in the center. I felt like kissing all the junk. HA.

Bill

 

[Ron from Michigan]

The quantity of coins that you have found in a month is very good.We all like to find those silver coins,and they do seem harder to find.The detector I use most often a Fischer Id Excel will work through thrash separating close targets with different ID numbers.The Fischer is like the Ace and will give a quarter or fifty cent readout for aluminum cans.I have dug hundreds of flatten cans hoping to find that half dollar,which is very frustrating.I have found a 10 to 1 ratio with wheat's to silver.With the number of wheat's you found your probably due for another silver coin. If you are in an area where a lot of wheat's are found you will find silver.Last weekend I found two silver dimes a 44 Mercury and 62 Roosevelt each one of these only at a depth of bout five inches. No I don't think Willy and his old timer buddies have cleaned all the silver out. Ron

 

[ace250semo]

After having been in the field with my Yeller Feller, I have come to the conclusion that sound pays off where the display will fail ya. I have had the aluminum can syndrome and shriek every time I hit one, but by display my indicator is jumpin' like a cat on a hot tin roof, most likely I'll pass it by, but and this is a BIG BUT....if it hits solid and then jumps as I sweep, I figure the coin is edge wise and change direction of my sweep, this usually reveals coin or junk. I have to totally agree with every one who said you have to dig a lot of junk before you find pay dirt, I went to a spot the other day, dug up a few aluminum pieces and boom right in the middle was a 1934 George Washington staring me in the face, and right in between a pile of nails I pulled out two wheaties, '41 and '44...so, patience pays off only when you are consistent in your digging practices. Jack.

 

[Danimal]

Don't get me wrong guys. I dig a LOT of trash targets. My trash item pouch usually outnumbers my "good" target pouch. That really wasn't what I was asking (I ended the original post by asking for no "dig every target" advice, but I DO appreciate any and all input here.
To be specific, I was really looking for recollections on HOW successful-silver-coin retrievals LOOKED and SOUNDED on the ACE.
Since the ACE250 really only has three discernable tones, the advice to "listen" rather than rely on the ID's visuals seems odd.
I know that the silver is out there. I just wanted to here from ACE250 owners that HAVE found old silver as to what it DID ID at and what it DID sound like if the tone was NOT "locked" as far as a perfect bell-tone in either coil direction.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I don't have that much experience with my Ace 250 and hope the information helps.My Fischer has four different tones but discriminates on all metal mode with ID numbers.Anyway other detectors seem to have the same problem as the Ace 250 with identifying large aluminum targets including my buddies Minelab getting the same results when cross checking these so called good silver readings.Silver coins are out there and the Ace 250 will find them.With the number of wheat you are on your way to finding silver coins. Ron

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Silver is just plain hard to come by!! After reflecting on what a quarter meant to me when I was a wee lad back in the early fifties, it's not surprising we don't find many. That quarter got me into the Sat. matinee, popcorn and a coke and candy or a cherry soda at the corner drugstore after. If I had lost it, there would have been some serious looking done. People also used to carry their coins in coin purses, even the men. Coins were valuable then so you wanted to keep them corraled. When a dollar might have been a weeks pay in the '20s, a lost dime may have meant going hungry a couple of days. At least that's how I look at it. I'm sure if you pass your coil over a silver coin, at a depth that the 250 will pick it up, you will have it in your pouch, post haste!! Oh, and it's gonna belltone to beat the band!!

 

[NM5K]

Yep, a quarter was pretty decent money in the 50's.
It's funny...When I was young, even in the 60's,
the franklin halfs were a everyday sight. I remember
when the Kennedy halfs hit the scene, and they were
considered "new fangled"... I'd pretty much forgot
about all the old franklin halfs, etc, until recently.
They sure got cleaned out from circulation. I haven't
seen one from "change" in ages. When I was young, the
mercury dimes were still real common. Hardly see em
now though. But you never know...One day about a year
ago I got change from the store and got a 1907 indian
cent in great shape. I tend to eyeball my change...
I get a good wheat penny now and then. When I was real
young, I remember seeing the "walker" halfs fairly common.
I think that was the name anyway...Whichever one was
before the franklin..
MK