What about only digging under 140 ?

[Jiminsandiego]

There's a beach here with thousands of pull tabs that I am confident holds gold rings. I guess I could use Critterhunters "splitting hairs" theory but what about loosing the pull tabs completely? I find very few modern pull tabs read under say 142 ish and the beaver tails ( 124 ish) have a distinct "warble". So.... don't dig anything over 140 or under 95 and pass on the warbly 120's. This should leave me digging foil, small can slaw etc.. and perhaps a diamond engagement ring. I know I'd be leaving all the big gold, silver and clad and would not normally do this but this beach has about 25 pull tabs to every clad coin and I quickly realized that finding gold the normal way was going to be very tuff at best. Could this be the key to success on this beach? Just hunt for small gold with big gems in em? I know this is the opposite of the dig everything theory but this beach is a special case. Any input on this approach (and numbers) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Jim,I have found nice class rings at 176.When I calibrate a 180 meter I use my 14k 6 grm wedding band it comes in a solid 167.I have read stories about beach hunters who don't dig targets in the silver zone.Good Luck HH Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

Sounds like a good plan. That was my whole point with the Splitting Hairs thread...to use the notch to kill most tabs in spots that are just too filled with them to bother digging. I forgot the exact number, but if you set the notch right you'll kill 84% of all tabs and still recover the vast majority of gold rings...By raising it just high enough to kill a 165 VDI # tab. If you find you're digging more tabs above that number a bit and not as many below the 12.5 digits below it it also kills (notch width), then you can slightly raise the notch on one that rings a bit higher to adjust, or vise versa lower it a bit to kill tabs that keep popping up slightly below it.

Then again, if there are only a handful of tab types at that site then you'd be better off just making a mental note of their numbers and avoiding those numbers by eye without using a notch. On the other hand, your number system sounds like it has just as much merit as anything else. Try several methods until you find the one that seems to work best for that site.

Another thing to do is note any VDI targets that change by more than say 2 digits as you sweep over them from different angles, as those almost always turn out to be oddly shaped junk like foil or can slaw. In our testing of over 100 gold rings we found the vast majority locked into one or maybe two VDI numbers. Only a very few that had odd fine webbing and odd shapes to them roamed by 3 digits or more and had a sick sound to them. Most rings should sound warm, smooth, round, soft, while a lot of trash will sound harsh, tinny, hollow, bangy, and so on.

You know, I was thinking about putting together a CD with all these rings sampled in along with tabs and other junk. Then you could hit random shuffle on your CD player and as you drive down the road play a game and guess what the target was going to be along with what VDI # it was probably going to be...As the target identity and VDI # would be announced 4 or 5 seconds after you heard the target a few times. I was also going to include a book with pictures of the rings and other various targets with their VDI numbers, and a small K value listed below them and such. I bet that would have been a big seller. I just never could motivate myself to sit down and do it with my friend's ring collection. Somebody talk me into it.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

I am not sure your plan is the best. I have had many gold rings with the GT and they will fall all over the place. I had a 14G 6 diamond 14K men's ring at 172. Several nice stone rings a 165 166 168 Several at 140's This week I dug two little .5 DWT 1.0 DWT 14K stone rings the little one was 103 and the bigger one was 108. What is missing is each of all the rings sounded like gold and that's where you could draw your line in the sand.
I did a non scientific study of 25 rings and air test them and then discriminated out pull tabs and then notched out pop tops to just crackle, all but three rings were still heard. To me that was good for me to hunt! I can't remember but the rings were all over the place like a tiny ring was out and a big ring was out! Andy Sabisch tells a great story about hunting the first day after the end of the season. 20 hunters run in the water and start digging like crazy. That nigh a buddy calls him and says, I dug $37.35 in coins 6 pull tabs and 5 gold ring a 3 silver rings.
Andy says I dug 39 tabs and 14 pull rings 23 nickels 21 gold rings a few pesty coins.........Who did better?
Andy's story was adlibed as I could not remember it verbatim, you should get the point!

 

[Critterhunter]

I think he's talking about a rare beach situation where there are just too many tabs to bother with. Just like it is on land at some parks. In those cases avoiding tab numbers will vastly cut down on the number of trash targets you dig, and according to the data I compiled you will still recover the vast majority of gold rings present. It's a way to lower the trash to treasure ratio in very specific situations.

 

[Jiminsandiego]

Actually this is a unique beach situation (around here anyway) where there are at least 10 times more pull tabs than normal. The first time I was there I gave up fairly soon as I was overwhelmed with the pull tabs. My plan is to dig everything until I have about 50 pull tabs to take home and play with the "splitting hairs" approach, but after I get my 50 pull tabs I'll try to force myself to leave them and only dig under 140 and maybe 180's for the silver and clad. The rings that Buried crap found reading 103 and 108 is what I'm trying to find. I will also pay more attention to the targets that "lock on" to a particular VDI number. As always, thanks for all the input. I realize this is an unorthodox approach but it could be a way for a lazy guy to pull small gold rings out of a beach most guys would give up on.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

The one with out the stone was 103 the one with was 108 while they were a low tone I thought foil butt there was no scraty sound but a clean tone through and though this is what is a gold tone is supposed to do.

 

[Critterhunter]

I find very few modern pull tabs read under say 142 ish and the beaver tails ( 124 ish) have a distinct "warble". So.... don't dig anything over 140 or under 95 and pass on the warbly 120's.

I don't even see pulltabs under say about 149 (From memory. Check my "splitting hairs" rings thread for the exact lowest # they read as well as the highest, which I think is 169). So I LOVE to dig those 143 to 146 steady numbers that are probably nickles and could be a gold ring, even if I'm only coin shooting and not particularly looking for gold rings on that day.

I find nickles usually lock onto one or maybe two VDI numbers, usually like 144 to 146, and only change by say one digit if even that by sweeping at it from different directions. Usually if it changes by 3 digits or more depending on which way I sweep over it, it turns out to be oddly shaped trash. The only exception for me with tabs reading into the nickle range is when they've been severly crumbled up or cut in half. Just today I got a target that kept changing from 144 to 145 to 146 depending on which way I swept over it. I decided to confirm my suspicions and sure enough it was a round tab with no tail that was almost balled up into a ball. Oddly I find that most tabs, even badly bent and/or missing parts, will still read in the range of pull tab numbers I've posted in the Splitting Hairs thread. Sure, there are exceptions to that rule...But so rare it's hardly worth mentioning. Yes, round tab tails almost always change by say 3 digits or more and will have a warbly sound to them so they are fairly easy to avoid.

There are rare exceptions where I've dug tabs above 169 that read say 173 or so, but they are so rare for me that I didn't see need to include them in the compilation of tab numbers posted in the Splitting Hairs thread.

You should consider several methods to hunt that beach. Raise the notch to say just kill at 165 tab number and try that for a while. If tabs keep coming in just above or just below the 12.5 digit notch width, then try slightly raising or lowering it over one of those pesky ones that keep getting through. On the other hand, you could just visiually note the highest and lowest tab numbers as you hunt and then avoid that entire VDI range by eye without using the notch...Or if there is only a handful of say 4 or 5 specific tab numbers that keep popping up then just make a mental note of those and only dig any other numbers you find.

 

[Critterhunter]

The one with out the stone was 103 the one with was 108 while they were a low tone I thought foil butt there was no scraty sound but a clean tone through and though this is what is a gold tone is supposed to do.

Excellent point. Foil often sounds scratchy or "bouncey" or "sick" due to the odd edges and the rippled surfaces of them. While gold rings are round like a coin and so should give a fairly stable ID (only displaying say one or two VDI numbers at the most depending on which way you sweep over them), and should have a nice smooth, "round", soft, "solid" tone to them. It's wierd but if you test over some gold rings you can almost "tell" that they have a unique "quality" sound to them versus trash with even the same VDI #. Some people even say they can tell a tab from a ring with the exact same VDI # because the tab will sound harsh or "bangy".