Nickels?

[Delta Digger]

For me 12-13 has always been a nickle.

 

[treasure sstate]

12-13 have always been nickels for me also got a buffalo nickel at 6 inches last week that was a solid 12-13. Have found a couple at 12-14 none at 12-12. Did find one at 12-40 but it was on top of a quarter. The E-Trac is a nickel machine; since I have got my E-Trac my nickel ratio to other coins has doubled.

 

[Goes4ever]

I have dug 5 buffalos, 5 V nickels, and 6 silver war nickels, and maybe 20-30 1939-40's jeffersons this year, and I bet I have dug 300-400 nickel signals. Today I dug a 6" buffalo that was 12-12, I was shocked to see a nickel! 9 out of 10 nickel signals I dig are trash. They are by far the hardest coin to find.

From this year most of my deeper nickels were lower than 12-12, most of my V nickels were like 08-10 or 08-08, even had one that was 01-12
so therefore if I am at an old house I am digging everything even remotely close, hoping to get a piece of gold doing this as well!

 

[bcoop]

Nicklels for me here in Southeast Missouri always seem to hit at 12-12 and sometimes 12-13. I have also dug pieces of pull tabs that rang it at those numbers too but the tone is different. Nickels have a more solid tone if that makes sense.

I once went to a school yard, first 3 coins I dug were nickels, the next signal sounded like a nickel but the FE and CO numbers were different. Out pops a nice diamond and gold ring.


BCOOP

 

[ryanchappell]

It has a lot to do with how the machine is presenting the reading to you. I am sure everyone is going to be all over a high flutey 12-47, 14-46, 11-45, quarter hit, but if you get a low 12-14 it you might think beaver tail, pull tab or something. In TTF all the FEs less than 18 come in with a high tone, so if you see a 12-14, you are more likely to dig it.

I try to dig pull tabs, pull rings, and crown caps on purpose, because they could be nickels, engagement rings, or $1 or $2.50 gold pieces. $1 gold pieces come up 12-11.

Keep in mind that I don't always get crisp numbers either. The combination of Deep, Fast, Difficult being on, coupled with lots of junk, red clay, and grain and pebble sized hot rocks skew everything. Just have to dig faster.

 

[ryanchappell]

FE - TARGET ID Numbers - As far a FE numbers go - with all other coins I usually go by FE numbers - with Nickels - if the FE numbers are all over the place - it usually means its a Nickel - if the FE number sticks - its usually a pop-top. Another key thing I look for ... It seems the deeper the Nickel is - the more FE numbers will bounce around - if the the Nickel is 5" - 6" down or deeper - the FE numbers are usually all over the place.

Makes a lot of sense. The Aluminum pull tabs do seem to be stable and locked in. According to coinflation.com nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel so maybe that has something to do with it...

 

[Goldmanjace]

In other words, dig everything

 

[Idprospector]

I will go into quickmask mode when I find a target, (nickles included) that I am wanting to investigate before I dig. My QM is open and it seems to give more consistent reading(less number jumping) with nickles than can slaw. Lots of mine are 12-12, my last buffalo was 6 inches deep and came in at 11-11. I have been using it for less than a month and have probably found 40 nickles and only 8 silver coins. I know I have missed lots of siler but I cant figure out why. Idigid

 

[DirtAngler]

I think those who don't dig many nickels with the Etrac are stuck on the 12-13 hype. If I only dug 12-13 nickel signals, I'd only have a few and most of them would have been on the surface or very shallow. I dug more nickels reading anywhere from 15-13 to 14-18 thinking when I was digging them they were going to be junk targets. And yes, I rescanned the area using a wide open screen and nothing else was there. If you want to dig more nickels, open up your range of readings. You'll dig more junk but also find more good targets. Of course this is true for any target and it's "supposed" reading. You have to remember that depth, ground mineralization, ground moisture, proximity to other targets, and corrosion are going to fluctuate expected target Id's. JMHO.

 

[Idprospector]

If you want to test your machine and see if it will find a nickle just find a row of parking meters that are in grass and you should find plenty. some local guys think its dumb to detect by parking meters because it is all just new coins but I have found a good percent of my jewelry finds in front of them. If people are digging in their pockets they will loose stuff, and lots of times that is the old coin they carry for good luck, the diamond ring that felt a little loose to them in the cold weather, or the ring they loose while taking off their gloves to feed the meter.

 

[Bell-Two]

Did the old school yard the other day to hunt the trash area, used TTF with X-8 Sunray coil and I squeezed out 4 nickels between the trash, we have taken at least 40+ nickels from this site and I thought it would be tough finding more, well TTF does the job!

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Nickles like said are all over the place. Buffs here go as low as 11 on the co side. Surface regular nickles fresh dropped in the last year or so just starting to blacken from rain and earth hit as high a 14 on the co side. I don't pay attention to the ferrous numbers on these as they are all over like described by the others who posted here first. Silver war nickles have hit like 01 fer then bounce to some other ferrous number depending on the depth and the slight corrosion of them in the earth. Recognize them by sound after a while. Sounds smoother than a pulltab or pieces of tabs.

Around here regular nickles end up rusty on the surface from the wet damp ground and mineralization and it drags the numbers down on both the co and fe sides. I use the open quickmask trick on iffy or really deep 8"+ targets to get a better sound and read on these targets. TTf is good for finding them but I think the open quick mask has lots to do with it as they read all over in ferrous. co stays in a good fairly tight range 11-12-13--14 here.

 

[MHirschmann]

It's quite strange that nickels seem to be a problem to many people. Here in Minnesota, nickels come in between 12-12, 13, 14, 15 and it rarely ends up being anything other than a nickel. E-Trac-Ohio's post was very good but it seems in our ground here, nickels come in loud and clear. I also have an SE Pro and it is not nearly as hot/clear on nickels as my E-Trac. Sorry my response doesn't help much but I think E-Trac-Ohio's response was spot on for your question. HH -Marc

 

[Bell-Two]

A couple of Saturdays ago my hunting partner and I hit a great spot and between us, both E-Trac users in a six hour hunt dug over 50 Nickels!

 

[DirtAngler]

Marc,
That's interesting. Here in Pa., usually 12-15 will be a pulltab. I have dug nickels at 12-13, but more slightly out of that range probably due to ground factors.

 

[Idprospector]

I have dug over 100 nickles since the first of the year. They are everywhere or idahos iron rich soil makes them stand out from the foil and junk better. The only thing that fools me when digging nickles is the occasional pencil end peice that holds the eraser. Idigid

 

[jughed440]

I found several today. 12-14, 12-15, 11-14, 11-15.

Those are the same #s i get for old shotgun brass. I have found so much shotgun brass at the old sites i quit digging those signals. I've probably walked over some nickels. Guess i had better keep on digging if i want nickels

 

[lawsonland]

I think this post wil help me find more nickels

 

[dannygene]

My numbers for nickels are 12 12 solid.Just got done counting this years total 42.

 

[McDean]

I think this post wil help me find more nickels

second that and gold too!!!