No Bragging Rights Yet

[Judy]

Pretty excited, never had a metal detector before and finally after ALOT of diggin' I finally have a couple coins to pop in my "baggie". Collected alot of junk previously, but FUN. Now to hone in on what the machine is actually telling me~junk or booty! Went to local beach yesterday and had a ball, tho tons of junk, but will go back for sure. Practicing on "pinpointing", etc. Wish me luck today!

 

[DavHut]

Once again, there is far more junk than treaure out there and some excellent treasures can masquerade as junk. For example, a 5$ gold piece can appear like a bottlecap to your detector. You are fortunate in that you have intimate knowledge of your current hunt site, an old mid-1800's property (which ties directly into my "Know Before You Go" advice).

There is a possibility of finding one of these VERY desirable gold coins there. Remote, I admit, but the chance exists. Would you wanna miss it, simply because your detector said it was junk instead of treasure - and you believed it? Other things from buttons to cow bells can read as junk, too. The moral of the story here is:

DONT rely on your machine to tell you the difference.

Instead, dig more than watching that meter. While I know what the ad hype says about your detector, the TID is only an indication of likely conductivity, and should be considered as nothing more than that. If you have doubts of this, as well you might, consider the goodies that Les The Bluenose unearths - he uses an old Garrett Freedom III, which has no TID features. All he has to go on is the audio and a little knob twiddling to "sorta" tell him what it might be. As a consequence, he digs a lot. My personal inner dialogue goes like this: "Hmmmm, the TID says it's a pulltab (bottlecap, foil, etc.) - let's see if it's right."

Here's an old trick, Judy, to help hone your instincts. You may not like it, after youve spent $$$USD on an ID instrument, but it's good practice. Get some black electrical tape and cover the ID blocks on your Ace 250. Then, use only the cleanliness of the audio and your PP indications in deciding to dig.

 

[Dang]

I spent 10 bucks on a book all about discrimination. It showed all sorts of common readings and what falls within their range on a meter (ID). There are treasures to be found in every range of discrimination is what it all comes to. 10 bucks and 2-3 hours of reading just to be told, "Dig every signal".
Go around your house and gather up everything metal including valuable and junk jewelry and see where they are and your ID. Earrings make my 250's meter bounce between two segments. At certain angles I discovered irregular shaped rings will cause the readings to bounce around also.
Now grt out there and dig up some GOLD!

 

[Judy]

Went beach huntin this a.m. Nothing really, but what a beauty day! Decided (like you've said), I would DIG EVERYTHING! Put the machine thru its paces today. Tried every mode, put down coins, etc. in sand and dirt. Came home and didn't go in till 5 p.m. (dark then). Found tons of stuff here. Nothin' to brag about again, just old huge barn spikes, buckles, tractor stuff (I think), etc. Had fun anyhooo. Just trying to decipher by ear and machine the signals for coin. My machine occasionally even in sand doesn't 100% tell ya. I've also kept my Sens. constantly between 4-5 like you've said. I'll practice, practice on the "known" barn site, it'll keep me busy for YEARS. Don't need those Airmiles for China!

 

[DavHut]

...Is cherry picking, J. This means running your DISC at a level that will allow only selected targets to come through. You see this most often when someon is trying to retrieve only silver coins.

This is a good plan IF you know your detector and your location. When you are first trying things out and/or getting to know a site, I dont recommend it.

 

[Judy]

Will do tomorrow. Thanks

 

[Uncle Willy]

Just keep plugging away. The goodies will come.

Bill

 

[Judy]

Thanks Bill. Just waiting for the price of scrap to go up and then shipping out this hord (lol).

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah I'm from the old school so don't rely much on meters. If it dings I dig it. The ultimate and only 100% accurate discriminator is your digging tool. The ID on your detector is probable only and never 100% exact. Actually it's a crapshoot. Your detector is telling you what it thinks the target might be not what it knows it to be.

Bill