ONE WAY -> Wheat cents

[JimmyCT]

This evening, I took a stroll down the street to my local park and went to a spot hit way too many times over. I figured I didn't have much time as the sun was going down so I would hit this little area near the parking lot / public phone. One thing speaking through my headphones were TONS of bottlecaps. I advanced very slowly and carefully analyzed the signals. I ended up with 6 wheat cents 1942-D, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948 & 1949. Four of them were one-way -> signals.
I tipped up the back of my coil so the just the head of my coil was touching and danced around to see how far the signal would go around. on the four one-way -> signals, I could turn about 30 degrees and still get a good 180 / high pitch audio. The other two I could get 180 anyway I swept over them. I was really impressed that I pulled that many wheats out of this little area and I am really understanding the language of the detector. I only covered about 1/3 of this little area so I can't wait to see what else has been missed. I also found this skull ring, too bad it broke I think it is pretty neat. And of course a sample of the bottle caps that infested the area.

 

[GunnarMN]

I would not be suprized if you pulled two mercs out of that spot ,

 

[JimmyCT]

Gunnar, that would be awesome if I did. I hope you are right. Although right in front of this area I am hunting now, I found a 1914 Barber dime (20+ years ago)

I am finding that lightly rubbing my coil right the ground (just holding it up with enough pressure to make it slide on the grass) I find my signals are stronger, sharper, clearer, and much easier to identify. Give it a try at one of your local parks.

Also, I forgot to mention, for the duration of my hunt this evening, I had my sensitivity set in manual approx 2pm.

 

[Critterhunter]

Keep digging those one way coin signals and you'll soon know what false coin spikes from iron sound/act like compared to real coins being masked by iron. Only way to learn that is to dig all those marginal coin signals. Like I said before, I don't trust PP telling me the target has moved to tell if it's iron or not. I've dug too many coins that would PP in a different spot than discriminate showed them to be. I almost always now use discriminate to PP my targets. Kind of iron for a guy that designed a remote PP switch circuit for his GT. If I go to PP it's more to just look at things but it's almost always back to discriminate to PP the target.

 

[JimmyCT]

I am realizing that if I can't even turn the coil 10 degrees ( working around the target / tippy toe around ) It ends up being iron. I also notice when the "snap crackle pop" appears and the signal is 180 it usually ends up being an iron target and no coin to be found. If it hits 180 / high pitch and just nulls out on the turn then I usually pull a coin. Do you or anyone else have these findings? I still dig as I am not leaving anything to chance. I need to know right then and there instead of coming home and realizing "maybe I should of dug" and leaving something precious behind.

 

[Neil]

An advantage of switching over to pinpoint all metal to check targets is you should be able to seperate them up better. Critter has a point, sometimes checking to see if a targets moved doesnt work, but dont forget the other advantage of seperation, clearly better in all metal pinpoint.

Id keep digging em EPL, your learning alot and those wheats are some nice finds. Your learning alot right now and in the field too, the best place to learn.

 

[JimmyCT]

Hi Neil,

When I find a good one-way signal and switch to all-metal pinpoint some times the target moves. I don't wan't to dig up that signal, I want to dig up the one that is giving me that nice meter reading and audio. I have read (and learned in the field ) that when switching to all-metal pinpoint (and there are multiple targets) it will "see" / over power the little target and see only the larger one. I just want to focus on where that good signal is coming from pinpointing with disc. Then if it keeps moving, I have a good feeling that I am now battling an iron object. Today is a prime example with the mercury dime. There was a large target off to the left of the dime ( this actually took me a some time to pinpoint in disc but was well worth it) finally I isolated what I thought was a coin (which it was) and dug at that very spot. Had I switched over to all-metal pinpoint, it would of "pulled me over" to the left and I would of became discouraged. I am finding the more time spend in the field that this is what works best for me. I sometimes do use all-metal pinpoint when the target(s) are iffy in trying to pinpoint with disc.

An advantage of switching over to pinpoint all metal to check targets is you should be able to seperate them up better. Critter has a point, sometimes checking to see if a targets moved doesnt work, but dont forget the other advantage of seperation, clearly better in all metal pinpoint.

Id keep digging em EPL, your learning alot and those wheats are some nice finds. Your learning alot right now and in the field too, the best place to learn.

 

[Critterhunter]

I like PPing in discriminate because often, like you said, switching to PP mode will sound off in more spots than where I think I need to dig. Even if no iron is in the hole I've had PP sound off due to I guess ground minerals or something over a wide area. I wiggle the tip in discriminate to sniff out targets and use the same to PP them. Usually I'll PP in discriminate from one direction and then go 90 degrees and use the tip again, references where the two spots said it was and then digging there or in between them. Sometimes when I move 90 degrees I can't even hit the target or it's PPing way off from the first place. In that case I'll use whichever angle gave the strongest/best reading and then use the tip in that position to reference where to dig. Even just doing PPing from one direction in discriminate I can usually dig right on target. The SEF coils are easier to me to PP with the tip with because of the "V" shape at the front and rear of the coil. The target is right at the base of that V when I move forward and just start hitting the target.

For me, I don't so much determine if it's a false coin spike from iron by (like I said) seeing if it moves in all metal PP, and I also don't determine if it's iron by how much it nulls all the way around the target. I mainly go by how the ID and sound acts. It's very hard to describe what iron does versus a coin in iron. One thing is that the coin has a much more less random climb to 180, while iron will jump all over the place and also hit 180 without as much ryme or reason. The audio is also key for me. Iron will have a ghostly or washed out sound as it climbs to 180 while a coin will have a much more perfect sound to it at least in a certain spot. I've found that even badly masked coins will have one particular spot where they will give a perfect 180 and great solid "coin" audio to them. You may have to wiggle the coil and slowly creep it forward or back until you hit that spot and hold it there, but it'll be there. There is nothing like the sound of a true coin even if it's in one tight particular spot. It just sounds too good, while junk or iron trying to be a coin will throw in a warbly sound or other traits that don't tell me coin.

One other thing I'll throw out there is to be careful of thinking you know you've hit a screw cap. You know the slight warbly sound they'll make and dipping down from 180 to like 176 here and there. I have dug coins on edge that acted that very same way. For that reason if the sight isn't loaded with screw caps then I'll dig those "screw cap" signals.

 

[Rick(ND)]

First thing is I get the general location of the target in disc and come at it from a different angle to see it is one I want to check out. By doing this I can tell where it is and if it is one I want to dig. If it is a deep signal where it is weaker than I will always switch to all metal pinpoint and do my 90 degree pinpoint so I have it centered right on. Now if I go to pinpoint and i get a signal of a different target to the side that is over powering the good signal I will go back to disc and pinpoint it with the tip of the coil, then back to the all metal pinpoint as I know exactly which target i want and can hear the good target beside the trash item with no problem. In most cases I find I get the signal, turn and come at it from a different Angle to see it is a good target, then go to pinpoint and if deep do my 90 degrees pinpoint with no problem. With experience of digging some of these a person soon can tell very easy the good from the bad.

 

[Neil]

absolutely Rick, this is part of what the reverse discrimination hunting is about, seperating up better in pinpoint but checking in disc.