Observations with yesterday's short search.

[Ron from Michigan]

One of my favorite city parks where I have recovered lots of silver coins has been worked over and now produces very little silver.In the same park the other side of the road has too many screw caps that read as good targets.A couple of years ago using my GT with a 180 meter every target dug was a screw cap(some kind of malt liquor cap) and abandoned the area search.Last month my brother was on a visit from Virginia he recovered a silver dime from the worked area and later crossed the street into what looked liked the perfect hunting spot.After an half hour or so he gave up even his F75 and he met the same fate.By accident I've been using the 550 meter(actually stuck didn't have a 180 meter on hand and had to make do) and set at 480 for a US quarter.With the meter set at 480 gives an idea of how much resolution this meter has compared to the 180.Again a quick comparison 480 for clad and 470 for zinc gives more wiggle room than 180 for clad and 176 for zinc.Anyway a couple hour hunt yesterday in the malt liquor screw cap zone showed promise.Most troubled screw caps 477-478 and was only fooled with a deep round aluminum can bottom.Finds would indicate promise out of 7 pennies 2 wheat's rest in the sixties, one 1977 nickle and dimes 1965,1966,1968 close but no cigar.Maybe later this week another search.

 

[wpruden]

That's why I like the 550 meter. Srew caps read 540,zinc reads 537 clad silver,copper& silver coins read 550. I can tell a screw cap quick as they sound he same.
To each his own.

 

[Critterhunter]

I've found most screw caps for me will read somewhere between 176 to 179, and while often they can hit 180 I go by the sound rather than the numbers. One way they will sound better and ID better while the other way they drop or sound much worse. Still, even the direction where they sound good is never quite as good sounding as they should be. They make a distinct "worbly" sick sound, never staying perfect as I sweep over them. It's sort of an up/down type of audio that is even different from say a coin on edge swept from the bad direction. Sure, I still dig a few screw caps that were perfect coin signals, but I've also had that problem on any machine I've owned over the years. My Whites would often clue me off to it being a screw cap by the audio, but just the same I would dig my share of real good sounding screw caps on them as well. I'd say probably 7 or 8 out of 10 times I can properly identify the screw cap before I dig it. Coins on edge can sound similar, yet they are often a perfect 10 from one direction while most screw caps don't sound totally perfect. Also, from the bad direction of a coin on end it often will do steady climbing to 180, fall like a house of cards, and then do the same thing all over again. This is different from the bad direction on screw caps. They often jump right to the 170's (like 176 or so) and then waiver back and fourth from there to sometimes 180.

No harder for me to ID them than it has been on other machines, and I don't get fooled more often by them than I did with other machines.

I hear you about looking forward to going back to that spot. Sounds promising. A friend just called me and told me him and two other guys hit a modern looking park yesterday that most people wouldn't expect silver to exist at. In three hours they got 4 silver dimes (Rosies and Mercs) and a silver Washington quarter. None of these were very deep (2 to 5") or masked badly. Sounds like most people have over looked this park as looking too modern and that it wouldn't contain any silver. He told me I should head over there today and see what my GT can do there, and needless to say I didn't need much encouragement. A 3 hour hunt among 3 guys pulling that much silver is a very good sign that a park is loaded with silver coins. Also, whenever I see a silver quarter pop out that tells me the area has real potential, because silver quarters are usually the first to go out of a pounded out site. I'm heading over there in a few hours here.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Wpruden,I have noticed the coins seem to have a very steady 480 and doesn't jump much as I expected.I still need more experience with the 550 meter in the field.Today I went for a short hour and half hunt and recovered a couple more wheat pennies and clad.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Critterhunter usually most screw caps are easy to ID.At this park on one side of the road they all come in 180 on the 180 meter.At this point the 550 meter handles these screw caps better,but today I did get a couple with a 480 reading.I don't have enough time for long searches,but will make time to get out on more short hunts.

 

[gear box]

I still dig plenty of screw cap's mostly for safety reason's (you know better safe than sorry). The ones I dig the most are the one's that have been flattened or partially flattened. I can get a 178 to 180 on the meter with these, and the tone is much higher. It seems that I can only get 180 from one direction though. But on un-flattened ones the number is a little lower around 176 and 177. And the tone is a little scratchier,at least for me. I try to alway's go by tone and size of the target, I dig a few just to be sure of what I think I am hearing. After swinging for awhile with nothing but low tones any higher tone is a welcome sound so I dig. By the way I have dug quarter size and larger aluminum token's that gave the same response as flattened screw cap's. So you just don't know for sure.
Good hunting,Gary

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Gary,I agree better to dig than miss a good find.The one side of the park is infested with screw caps and requires some way to eliminate these caps.I did get fooled by two flattened deep caps.Thanks Ron