Rusty Nail Coin Sound

[weeunc]

Hi
Just want to thank everyone for the good advice from my last post. Still fighting the detector. Took it to the dealer and he says that there is something wrong with it. But because we have only about a month of hunting I'm still trying to fight the machine as sometimes it seems to work fine. Tonight seemed to be one of the nights that it was working I think. It wasn't chattering all of the time at 4 to 4.5 but now it seems to be giving me the wrong sound for what I am finding.

I only had about 45 minutes to hunt so I returned to an area of my yard where I pulled a 1864 Indian Head from. I keep getting good two way bell tones from this area but when I dig all I come up with are rusty nails. I use the pro pin pointer so it is easy to find the nails and there are a lot of them. I rescan the hole and still I get the bell tone. Dig deeper and more nails. Is this something that is common or is this just another problem with the detector? It is hard to leave the hole as the bell tones are very consistent. I going to try the hole again tom morrow with the scorcher coil.

If I do find a coin in this hole the Garrett will go in my books as the greatest detector in history as this much iron in one hole and to come up with a coin would be amazing.

Thanks Guys

 

[Old Katz]

If you really feel there is a problem then send the detector back to Garrett not the dealer that sold it to you.
Ask for a replacement.
Katz

 

[weeunc]

Thanks Katz for the reality check. I was hoping there was a magic fix for this.

Because I'm new to using a higher end detector I wanted to make sure that it was the detector and not something I was doing. I took it to the dealer as he is a small dealer who uses the GTI 1500 on a regular basis so comparing his with mine was easy. Nice man that I hope to go out hunting with one of these days.

It is a harsh reality that I will now be sitting at home watching the snow fly for the next 5 months. Oh well next spring will be even more sweeter.

I'm going to send it back as I just rechecked the hole and another one that I found the same night. This time I found a rusty file which came up as a consistent bell tone. I think the detector is working in reverse if that is possible. I was hoping to use it this weekend as it is my birthday.

Either that or I need to get my hearing checked.

Happy hunting everyone

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I have a bucket of rusty nails that chimed-in as a coin. Your detector may be defective for some other reason, but I'd say it's doing it's job.

 

[Geo Unit]

When you get rust I believe it changes the metal (more or less conductive) so you're no longer looking at iron, but a new oxidized form of iron. I read anywhere from dime to $$ on rusty stuff. Like Dave said, your detector is doing it's job.

 

[khouse]

Big rusty iron can give you a coin signal. In your case a rusty ball of nails. Sometimes I can leave larger rusty stuff in the ground this way. Without pinpointing try to find the center of the target in the discriminate mode. Keep that spot in your minds eye. Then using the pinpoint mode find the center of the target. If both spots are about the same then dig. If there is some difference then it's most likely a piece of rusty iron and your getting what I call the "edge beep" of that target. For the most part if fooled and I open the hole I dig all that crap out. Because there could be something good under or next to it?

 

[weeunc]

Thanks Guys.

This is a relief. Here I thought that I was the only metal detectorist to find rusty nails as coin signals. This is why forums like this are so helpful. I can see how newbies can get discouraged as they think that the detector is going to be one hundred percent accurate all of the time. I just never thought that iron could read so high on the scale.

This also means that I can hunt more and learn what this machine is telling me instead of sending the machine back to wait for the same results.

I will keep you guys posted on my advances with the machine.

The property that I am hunting has a lot of nails in it because it used to be the old barn area for the 1850's house next door. It looks like I will be getting a bucket full of nails because I can't pass up on the coins that I hope to find.

 

[khouse]

On old houses and buildings there is a mote of iron trash about 10 feet out from the building from all the repairs to the windows, siding and roofs. This is where the small coils shine.

 

[Geo Unit]

n/t

 

[weeunc]

Thanks everyone.
I'm going to try and use the scorcher coil tommorrow and see how I do.

Thanks for all of the good advice. I will put it to good use

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah rust is a great mimic.

Bill

 

[Johnny Cache]

The first day I ever went metal detecting was confusing for me, especially with those rusty iron objects. The first signal I dug turned out to be rusty junk, but I thought I was digging a silver dollar. Not to mention I had a hard time finding the actual target, and ended up digging a hole 2 feet across and half a foot deep lol! Good thing it was in an empty lot that I own...

 

[khouse]

I had a Fisher CZ5 for a few years. I would have to say it was king of deep rusty nails. CZ users know what I'm talking about. The ATPro's iron audio should eliminate a lot of iron junk. Technology is great! Especially in detectors!!!!!

 

[NM5K]

Sounds like it's working normally to me. Rust is much more conductive than iron.
So it's quite common to have rusty objects hit in the coin range. I would expect
a rusty file to hit the large coin ranges. But the non rusted iron will still hit low.
That is often how you can tell if it's rusty iron vs a coin. Rusty iron will often
bounce high-low. Coins rarely jump around as far as ID.
The ID scales read the level of conductivity, and is not related to size, etc.
But.. The calibration of the scale is set so that the coin tabs usually match
the coin listed on the tab. But.. It assumes it is actually a coin in such a case.
But it's easily fooled. A less conductive but larger object can mimic a certain
coin. And small very conductive objects can end up reading the same.
They both end up having the same appx conductivity despite being different
sizes. So the ID scale is only accurate at IDing a coin, when it's an actual coin.
Any object that shows the same conductivity will ID the same. Many objects will.
Rust is very conductive. So even in a small package like the coating of a nail, it
can show pretty hot. Totally normal. The machine sounds fine to me.
The only part that sounded kind of irregular was when it was constantly falsing
even at the 4-5 range.
If it's not doing that any more, it might have just been a fluke. Sometimes semi
shot batteries can trigger that. Sometimes just the surroundings can cause
that if you are around a lot of electrical wiring, radio transmitters and such.
Loose cable connections could cause that and ditto with a flopping coil cable.
Next time you change batteries, I would do a reset on the machine just to
clear it's brain and give it a fresh start. If it continues to want to run wild even
after new batteries and a reset, and making sure not around electrical stuff,
I'd probably send it in for a check.
But as far as the detecting and ID, it sounds totally normal.

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

The first day I ever went metal detecting was confusing for me, especially with those rusty iron objects. The first signal I dug turned out to be rusty junk, but I thought I was digging a silver dollar. Not to mention I had a hard time finding the actual target, and ended up digging a hole 2 feet across and half a foot deep lol! Good thing it was in an empty lot that I own...

HAHA I'm glad its not just me! I've spend half hours at a time trying to dig up silver dollars on the beach to find out its an old peice of rusty Lake Michigan iron. I think I found peice of an old anchor yesterday...

Even little pieces of rusty steel cable or wire come up as dimes for me on the beach. At a ghost town I hunted this summer, barbed wire, and baling wire kept beeping up dimes... but so did a nice trade token for a cake of soap!

HH

 

[kwdstalker]

as for repairing i sent my 2500 in for a tune up last spring from here in Nebraska i had it back with 1 new coil in less then 2 weeks at no charge.

 

[weeunc]

Thanks for all of the info. It seems like ever since I started the post I have been getting better and better at this detector. I have come across an old scrap yard that has had the cars removed. Nice thing is it is just behind my house. Anything chromed sure comes up coin sounding. With the sizing feature on the detector it sure has saved digging. I have found some neat relics from earlier cars and now that I know that older rusty objects is not the fault of the detector I am having a great time. You never know what is hiding behind the next beep and that is what I love about this hobby.

Found a nice hood ornament that I want of show once I get it cleaned up.

Thanks again

 

[weeunc]

Thanks for all of the info. The detector has been acting normal for the past two days but I have yet to try the 12.5 " coil. I don't have any problems with the false readings anymore either. I hope it was just me as I love this detector when it is working properly. (or I am working properly) . I'm going to give it another 50 hours before I comment on it again. In the meantime I hope you keep posting your expertise as newbies like myself really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[khouse]

Your a glutton for punishment being a newbie hunting a junk yard! I wouldn't go near that place.

 

[GimmieThe Loot]

Yeah dude... how long have you been detecting for? Even though the ACE is considered an entry level machine, it still takes time to learn. What makes it hard and also a fun challenge at the same time is that every situation is different. Each time you take it to a new location, there is a learning curve. You have to dig everything at first until you get familiar with what is in the ground there. Only then can you start to confidently ignore "bad signals" and notch out junk targets. You give yourself the best chance of finding goodies if you can run all metal as much as possible. I used to notch out anything lower than dimes until the one time I left it in all metal and found two gold rings that rang up as nickle/pulltab. Don't be afraid to dig up a bunch of crap... i know it gets annoying but its like dating... you have to pull up a bunch of pull tabs and nails before you find the standing liberty.