Suggestion on coils for old site

[Stix]

I have a site that was built in the 1820's and has been owned by a sisterhood for nuns since about 1930 when they converted the mansion, old barns and blacksmithing areas for retreat houses. This place has been off limits to detecting. I have been working there for over 10 years as an outside contractor and take care of the buildings needs. They have given me permission to detect this area as long as I take care and leave no trace. They said anything found I can keep and to have fun. I tried for about 10 minutes and found a few wheat pennies then it downpoured. The site has alot of iron and nails. I am running the outlaw but have only used the 8" stock coil. I do have the other 2 coils.

Would the 5.75" coil be best for this area. What about the bigger wide scan. I have not detected in awhile as its been so busy at work. Want to jump in late in the season and see what I can pull up outta this virgin ground!! The 8" donut was real chatty but did sound off on the pennies. Looking for a bit less noise. Could it possibly be a weaker battery also? This is last years battery. Plan on jumping out there for a spell tomorrow. This whole area covers 20 acres with the mansion and 6 other buildings.

Thanks
Joe

 

[Hombre]

Hey Joe

Yeah....I would go ahead and change out the battery, not sure that would cause the chatter, maybe ground balance to a neutral setting.

The 8" concentric coil is my favorite coil, it has good ground coverage and depth. Good luck, sounds like a productive spot to hunt.

 

[kaolinwasher]

1st you have years of detecting on that site, if its nail infested the rust from the decay sing nails will make the soil mineralized , If it was me i would put on the 7" widscan and hunt with disc way back all the way, just has to be some awesome finds, not all will be masked by the Iron , go slow and keep changing direction over the same earea

 

[Stix]

Sounds good. I would have to order the 7" widescan. Not sure of the chatter eithier it was pretty quiet when ground balancing then started chattering. Will give it a go tomorrow. The mansion is pretty cool I will try to upload some pics. They will be knocking down the building in the future so I wanted to get in before that mess happens. Thats only 2 of the 6 though. I will keep ya updated.

 

[Monte]

you make sure to adjust for a proper Threshold in All Metal/Pinpoint, then set the Discrimination at the minimum position, followed by a proper Ground Balance to be just 'spot on.'

I like the 8" Concentric coil for Tesoro's, unless the trash level is too extreme and too closely positioned. I would use either a 7" Concentric coil (that they sadly don't make anymore) or the 5.75" Concentric coil. I have used the 5.75 Concentric the most the past few years on any Tesoro I have owned.

Keep the sweeps slow and methodical, overlap, and best of success to you.

Monte

 

[Mega]

I have a very similar site that has a very high trash content,what makes this site so special is the fact that the history goes back over a 1000 years plus,some roman on one part of the site but the main site that i have been hunting is a very early overnight animal enclosure for drovers,this site has provided some very nice hammered coins but its very hard when the site is so trashy.

What i have been using is the small 7'' Widescan coil on my Tesoro as i find that the larger coil can pick up multi targets which basically can cause major problems,i do have a 4'' coil as well that i may use this weekend,albeit it will take some time to cover this site,but as the crops have just come off i have a window of detecting till certainly after christmas till its sown again.

Methodically slow sweeps with a smaller coil will certainly winkle any decent finds out,its on sites like this that Tesoro machines start really shining through,on our roman sites which go back nearly 2000 years they are renown for being junky and a small coil is always the best option.

Good luck with your new site

 

[square_nail]

Your little 5.75 concentric will work great in the iron trash.

 

[Stix]

I got out for a 30 minutes this morning just for testingmstly and it is not iron but aluminum siding nails and scraps of aluminum so far. A few rusty nails. I think that is why it is not getting disced out. I did put on the 5.75 coil and it runs alot smoother more seperation. A few wheats 2 nichols and a dime. No silver or gold yet. Thanks for all the advice and will keep ya updated.

 

[Stix]

I think somthing is wrong with the outlaw. It still very noisy. I turn the unit on in all metal motion and set threshold. I ground balance and set to disc and just above foil. I start detecting and find target. Usually I will switch to all metal no motion and super pinpoint to gauge size of whats under the ground. What happens now when I switch to all metal no motion it slowly starts to rise in threshhold and then justy screams at me. I retune in the air but to no avail I have to switch to all metal or disc to get it to go away.

I have been way out of practice but this is not normal from what I remember and it is chattering like crazy like the disc is not working properly. Maybe cause the threshold rises like in all metal no motion?

Any thoughts? I did find some keys a few wheats and clad quarters and dimes but could not calm the machine down to really hunt. I tried it in other locations and the no motion does it here aswell.

 

[guardez]

Back off on the sensitivity, this usually cures the ills with my Outlaw. Usually 2 points at a time then ease up 1 each time until it becomes unstable.
Also at these old sites i use the large DD coil that came with the detector. Seems to really bring out the old silver.
Best of Luck;

Guardez

 

[square_nail]

Possibly EMI or multiple large iron objects in the ground? I've hunted a few sites with my Vaquero where I just couldn't get it to behave no matter what I tried and thought there was something wrong with it. Then at the next site it worked just fine. At one site, I found out that they had brought in a bunch of fill which included some junk automobiles! I couldn't figure out why my Vaquero wouldn't behave until I dug down on a potential target and realized it was a car door. Either way, good luck and I hope your Outlaw isn't sick.

 

[Bill G]

As mentioned by Kaolinwasher and others the 7" DD wide scan would be good choice it has a narrow more of a knife pattern and will cut between trash and even coin targets in my opinion over the 8" concentric funnel pattern and the DD normally will do better in mineralized ground and be more stable. The smaller 5.75 is a great choice if super trashy areas and up next to the foundation. The 8 concentric is a darn good coil but if it's acting up try some of the other coils suggested or you may need to turn the sensitivity down a little with the 8" to get it more stable for you. Also ground balance and adjust in clean ground free of metal and make sure to re-tune in the air after pin-pointing to put the detector back to normal operations.

I plain love the 7"DD on my Outlaw it pin points right on dead center don't even use the re-tune for pin pointing or not very often. It's quiet and more stable than my 8" and in my area. I have seen no real loss of depth with it in the ground here compared to my 8". In my opinion the 7"DD on the Outlaw cuts through trash better and the disk or discrimination is spot on as well with it. I also think the 7"DD discriminates a little better in my humble opinion on aluminum pull tabs (thumbing the knob to check an item or drop it out in the tab range). Round metal washers and round screw caps are strong hitters on the 7"DD but they are manageable with a little time on the coil. But these same items also play hell with the 8" concentric, heck they play hell with just about every detector.

Also

Best of Luck,
Bill G

 

[Stix]

Thanks for all the info. I will test it here on my property again in a bit. The problem is my no motion all metal. It just goes nuts and does not act like i think it should. I will try a video to show whats going on. Again I appreciate all the info and I will try all the suggestions except I do not have a 7" widescan and heard they are not sold anymore.

 

[Mega]

Thanks for all the info. I will test it here on my property again in a bit. The problem is my no motion all metal. It just goes nuts and does not act like i think it should. I will try a video to show whats going on. Again I appreciate all the info and I will try all the suggestions except I do not have a 7" widescan and heard they are not sold anymore.

Have you tried your detector in another location and also with another coil,as sometimes it could be outsite interferance that could be the problem and not the detector,if that does not do the trick then change the coil for one of the other that you had,process of elimination should give you a much better idea of what is causing the problem.

In my mind if you think it has a fault it wont be enjoyable detecting on a trashy site,best sort the problem out 1st prior to tackling the site.

 

[Bill G]

Thanks for all the info. I will test it here on my property again in a bit. The problem is my no motion all metal. It just goes nuts and does not act like i think it should. I will try a video to show whats going on. Again I appreciate all the info and I will try all the suggestions except I do not have a 7" widescan and heard they are not sold anymore.

Stix,

The 7" Widescan DD coil is readily available at Tesoro dealers Kellyco and others for around $75.00. The Tesoro 7" concentric coil is the one that is no longer manufactured or available.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

 

[emubob]

gee,i must lucky i have the seven inch concentric of my old silver sabre that i now use on my silver umax,it works fine,emubob

 

[Stix]

Well I just tried it outside here and I guess I jumped the gun. It works fine here in no motion/superpinpoint. I guess I have never had a site like this before. Need someone to show me the ropes of old building detecting. I have been almost always a park/school person. I have another old area I could detect for 2 years just never got there due to time. This is gonna be a long learning curve I think. Just never would have thought no motion would be so sensitive there.

 

[Bill G]

Well I just tried it outside here and I guess I jumped the gun. It works fine here in no motion/superpinpoint. I guess I have never had a site like this before. Need someone to show me the ropes of old building detecting. I have been almost always a park/school person. I have another old area I could detect for 2 years just never got there due to time. This is gonna be a long learning curve I think. Just never would have thought no motion would be so sensitive there.

Six,

Switch back and fourth between the Auto all metal and the disk mode. With an old house site just hunt in disk mode just knocking out iron and foil check targets with the auto all metal mode. Don't drive your self nuts trying to hunt an old hose site probably with iron trash all in ground all over the place in motion metal mode you will go nut's. Trust me the Outlaw will go deep enough in disk mode to get the job done if ground balanced right. The outlaw will now run smoother and way more quiet knocking most small iron trash out ( the very stuff that's making your non motion metal all crazy) this way you won't drive your self batty. It will allow you to find the good stuff. That is what the disk mode is designed to do just don't disk out higher than just above foil at most. Use the thumbing the knob method on the Tesoro Outlaws disk knob to assist you in some target ID on items.

For Example ( Note I have my disk knob set or calibrated to do this)

My Outlaw will drop a nickel right on the nickel line and bring it back in just a hair under the line. Most pull tabs will still read just above the nickel line on up to the tab line on my Outlaw NOTE this really helps me identify nickels but remember in this range is also where a lot of gold can be. But I can tell a nickel with this method 75% or better of the time ( Changing factors if it's not sideways or damaged or way deep in the ground or in the hole with another item be it other coins or trash) NOTE there are still aluminum tabs and junk that can still fool you. Your detector may or act a little different than mine. Again as stated above I have my disk knob set or calibrated fine tuned to drop a nickel right dead on the nickel line on the face plate. Your Outlaw may be a little different and drop a nickel out higher on the face plate. Learn where different types of targets drop out all the way up the face plate this will help or assist you a lot. This is just another method to help with the small body Tesoro detectors like the Outlaw, U Max, Vaquero and so on.

Hope this helps you out and if you already know this stuff just ignore me.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

 

[Bill G]

A mistake I did not correct in the post above by me.

When I made the quoted statement below I meant to say in No Motion Metal Mode not motion metal, I forgot the no in front of the motion.

MY QUOTE from post above = Don't drive your self nuts trying to hunt an old hose site probably with iron trash all in ground all over the place in motion metal mode you will go nut's.

Happy Hunting ,
Bill G

 

[Stix]

Thanks Bill!! I appreciate the infromation and will put it to good use. I won't be able to get back there until next week as i am headed north for vacation. I will have to get an ear back and learn this detector again. It has been a spell since I last was out and when I stopped I was just gettting to know this detector well. All will come back in time. The information from everyone makes it alot easier though