Problems finding rings or jewelry

[slingshot]

I know what you're saying, Southwind-there are just too many variables that can change the VDI numbers, though. For example, on my MX5, I usually find nickels at 20 on the scale. I found several at 18 and a couple at 14 that shocked me. I sometimes think it's better to have them grouped in a general area like on my Ace or Lone Star Pro. I was hoping when I got my Whites that I could go by the numbers-thankfully I checked all targets when I first started using it.

 

[plidn1]

I agree to find the majority of gold you need to dig in the foil range but you can indeed increase your odds with just a few changes.

What's the difference between a detector with 199 target ID segments and a detector with 20 target ID segments? Being able to more precisely ID gold over foil. In tot lots I rely on the AT Pro's great gold sensitivity, but in those parks and school yards it is about target ID variance. If you've only got 20 target ID segments a whole lot of foil is going to read like gold would. You would not see the VDI variance you'd see with a detector that has 199 segments. I used a White's DFX for 10 years not because of depth, but because it's ability to more clearly show the variance in targets. Especially gold and foil.

Take a piece of gum wrapper foil and you'd probably get a 39-40 from any angle on a detector with only 12-20 target ID segments. Same as you might get from a gold pendent, small open earring or chain. That same piece of foil on a detector with 199 segments will vary greatly, unless the foil is round, from 35-44. On a detector with 199 segments that gold will not vary unless deep. Of course this isn't 100% but it does increase the odds in your favor and isn't that the name of the game?

I now use the MXT All Pro because it not only has plenty of segments, I believe 198, but it is a bit deeper than the DFX in my soil.

I agree 110%.
But there is one flaw to your method. Masking.
I was leaving a park to go home one day and was hap hazardly swinging the detector on the way to the truck when I got a hit.
The MXT ID'd it as a pull tab at 1".
Not wanting to leave it to find in the future, I popped it out with a screw driver. A check swing then hit a vdi of 23 at 4" right under where the tab was. I had to dig it and good thing, it was a 10K black hills gold ladies ring. This happens a lot.
Masking is the wild card with a VDI detector.

 

[Southwind]

I've never owned the MX5 but they does seem odd. I've owned many DFX's, Eagle Spectrums, XLT's and MXT's and I pretty much always found nickles were 18-21. Not 22. If the VDI every went to 22 it would not be a nickle. But, my point is a detector with say 12 target segments is going to show a target that could range from 07-25 on a 190 segment machine as a single number making it harder to tell trash from gold. My experience has been the White's Target ID systems are the best on the market when it comes to precise ID'ing for such targets.

Again I say this is not 100% and there are always exceptions. I've dug them myself. What I'm saying is you can increase the odds in your favor and not need to dig everything to get good gold odds. I've been ask how I manage to find so many rings in the dirt and this is how. The right tool makes the difference between having to dig it all and being able to cherry pick successfully.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I have been metal detecting 39 years. I am 82 years old.I don't mean for it to sound like I am boasting but ....

Jack, great post ! I hope I am as good 'a shape as you are , at 82. Thanx for posting.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

....my experience has been the White's Target ID systems are the best on the market when it comes to precise ID'ing for such targets.....

Yes, agreed. To this day I always tend to think of things on the "Whites scale", since they, and Teknetics, were the trail-blazers in '82-83-ish when this all first evolved.

 

[mudpuppy]

Excellent post Jack!

I agree, most rings lost are lost by Women, and they are the small 'foil/nickel' signals...that said, just one big honking 14k mans ring that sounds like a zinc = 10 small 2gr 10ks that sound like foil!...what a conundrum!

Great thread! Lots of great info getting thrown out here from some long time knowledgeable hunters...aside from location, luck and focus, sometimes all it takes is just grinding it out, working the numbers so to speak.....getting as many targets pulled in the shortest time in all the likely locations...

I also like full tones and many segments like Southwind mentioned, also adopted a really fast target recovery method...I use a thin shaft screwdriver on the dirt/totlots and a very fast light sandscoop drysanding and of course a big industrial scoop for the wet..then I just grind it out..miles and miles and 1000's of targets..the trash and clad show me the way....

Telling myself, "Theres gotta be a pony in here somewhere!", "Even a blind nut finds a squirrel!"...one things for sure, a guy cant find nothing sitting around in the house!..
Mud

 

[berryman]

"If you are serious about finding gold rings and gold coins, use as little discrimination as possible. I recommend setting the discrimination level to be just below nickels. All gold items are lost at about the pull-tab level of discrimination, so by eliminating pull-tabs, you are also losing all of these gold targets. Even if you use a Notch Discriminator to eliminate pull-tabs, you will lose all of the gold targets which have the same phase response as the pull-tabs.

A truly serious hunter, and one who has been successful over the years, will have dug many, many pull-tabs. But that is why he has also found most of his gold targets. I know of several excellent hunters who still hunt in All Metal mode. While they're digging a lot of trash, they are also finding some incredible targets. With today's motion machines, it is pretty easy to get rid of most of the iron objects, but those iron objects could be hiding good targets below them." - Jack Gifford

 

[jackintexas]

Something I did not mention. When serious about looking for gold rings The only coins I dig are nickels I notch out all the other coins. If I hear them I will want to dig them. To me that is wasted time. I am not looking for gas money or hamberger money I am looking for gold rings.. There are some gold rings in the zinc penny range but so few, I do not dig zinc penny targets. There is a fellow in our club that I understand does dig everything. He always comes up with many good finds.But my saying has always been.......I don't have the time, the back or desire to dig every target. He is young and very fast......The more you dig, the more you find. I am not saying my way of looking for gold rings is the best way. Only it has worked well for me......Jack

 

[TN Mike]

I don't consider my self to rank among the people who have given advice here.. most of the advice here I'm still chewing on. But I can say I restarted metal detecting may 25th and since then have found roughly 15 rings. 3 gold one silver the rest junk. Silver necklace and quite a few small charms. I believe location had a ton to do with the finds, but I think being able to check my targets size was the most key ability used in digging targets. I didn't dig everything that was above foil.. I dug everything that sounded small above foil. On my detector you do this in all metal.. I'm sure you can do the same on yours. I practiced with coins until I knew the sound of a small object.

 

[Grilled Scallops]

I have been metal detecting 39 years. I am 82 years old.I don't mean for it to sound like I am boasting but I have found 116 gold rings Just to make a point. . Mostly most in the last several years. I was water hunting in area lakes long before most people were. We made our own equipment. We floated our detector heads in a float and made our own digging tools. Most people were looking for old and later silver coins. We found quite a number of gold rings. Then later I had an insulin pump attached to me which stopped my water hunting. Then I still was wanting to look for gold rings.After digging many, many pull tabs with little success, I decided to make a study for finding gold rings on the land. What I discovered was most gold rings lost were women's. Who wears the most rings. Women. I discovered I am going to say 90% of white gold rings are in the foil area of the detector. I say 90% because I have never seen one large enough to read in the tabs, but there may be some. I again say 90% of platinum rings read in the foil. Also most 10K and small 14K also read in the foil.Most the the women rings are small and light otherwise they would be too heavy to wear. The larger 14K and larger 10K read i n the pulltab range. There are times when I hunt only in the nickel-foil range. I did not intend to write a book, but I did want to put my 2 cents worth in.....Jack.

If there's anyone to boast about gold, it's dmnz who found a mind boggling 101 gold rings just last year, and is on course to at least match that this year. He lives in New Zealand. "I only managed 5 gold rings these past few weeks," makes the rest of us cry. It exemplifies Tom's point clearly. Location. Dmnz lives on prime real estate...and a lot of it. I swear if I ever go there...I will be bringing every metal detector I own with me...and pounds of gold back...

 

[Southwind]

In my opinion the real test for gold finders is in the dirt. You expect to find a lot at any beach or swimming hole. In the dirt is a whole different ballgame.

 

[5900_XL-1]

In my opinion the real test for gold finders is in the dirt. You expect to find a lot at any beach or swimming hole. In the dirt is a whole different ballgame.

Amen to that.

 

[plidn1]

People Are Always Asking.....................................

What is the best Detector To buy ? or Where can I find gold? or How do you find so much gold all the time?
It's very simple.
I hunt every day and I hunt in places where people have the opportunity to lose jewelry.
I have a good quality detector that is gold sensitive and is capable of giving me lots of valuable information on what is in the ground. I have learned to understand what it is telling me and have learned it inside and out. I use the right coil for the place and conditions I am working. I use no discrimination and dig most everything that isn't iron.

I just love it when I am told The place is worked out.
I have found more value targets in worked out parks then any other place.

All detectors are different with a different language and quirks of there own.
When you become one with your detector, then you have a good one. Every day, every hunting spot is different. Something as simple as weather can change the way a detector responds to a target let alone all the other factors involved. The only way to truly over come these challenges and be successful, is to really know your tool.
I have over 3000 hours on my primary detector and still learn something on a daily basis.

The detector is only a tool. Knowing how and where to use it, it's strong points, capabilities, and it's short comings is the secret.
Everyone thinks they own the best detector made. I make mine the best there is.