Strange ID Issue

[DFXer]

I've been detecting the edges of a man made lake that goes back to 1746. I'm using an SE in all metal with ferrous sounds and max manual sensitivity. In areas where the muck is deep and wet, I'm getting foil level signals that jump into the penny range when about 4 inches of muck is removed. If I dig to the 7-9 inch depth I find a .69 cal. musket ball. I'm surprised that the signal distorts way down into the foil range. This gets confusing because corroded shotgun shell and .22 cases give the same foil signal but you can tell by the sweep and audio that they are more shallow. I have now found about a half dozen musket balls that gave this same strange ID.

The lake shore contains a lot of iron mineralization.

This ID issue does not happen if the musket ball is in wet sand.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[NealNoIN]

n/t

 

[Jim upstate NY]

the black muck and dirt does strange things sometimes, the important thing is the detector see's something.. many others will not

 

[mattockman]

If you say the area is wet and mucky....then there must be lots of air bubbles in the muck.....if you had well compacted dirt it will read alot better....if the ground is uneven with hills and valleys then it will sound bad....when you get a signal, try flattening out area with boot, enough to get a good swing at the target...it should improve the audio. I do this in tall grass fields and the sometimes good sound usually turns to solid iron.....and if it stays good or gets better then I dig. The fields could have tire ruts in field and I have no way to get a flat surface to swing on, I stomp the ground down to get a flat area...and bingo...it makes a big difference.

 

[DFXer]

Mattockman,
Good point,
The muck consists of rotted leaves and vegetation that cointains a lot of air spaces. When I push my scoop into this stuff there isn't much resistence. I plan to dig any deep signal regardless of the ID.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[mattockman]

n/t