Year-end totals

[Parkit]

When I started last January I couldn't have dreamed I'd have so much fun with my Ace 250. I'd been away from the hobby for over 20 years, with just the occasional jaunt with my old Garrett Marksman. I was skeptical of the Ace before it arrived, mainly because I didn't believe a $212 machine could possibly be a "real" metal detector. Now you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers. I like it so much I bought another as a backup. Any of you newbies who have doubts, give it the credit it deserves by learning to use it correctly and you won't be disappointed. The learning curve isn't that steep, you're biggest problem is going to be convincing yourself to turn the discrimination down and digging more targets instead of developing a Pavlovian response to the belltone for coins. For the record, my only advantage for having been a detectorist prior to buying the Ace 250 was patience to learn the machine. I just wish I could take this machine back in time (like to the '40's!) so that I could "get it all" instead of having to mess with the BFO's and earlier VLF/TR's.

Here's most of what I found in 2007 with the Ace 250:

A total of 5,448 coins, most of it tumbled clean and deposited for $237.58 plus the dirty stuff I've put in the vending machines at work. If I lived somewhere OTHER than THE poorest state in the nation I'm convinced the dollar amount would have been higher.

110 wheat cents:

[attachment 77149 Pc040020.jpg]

28 silver coins (1 is 1945D Fillipina 10-cent, oldest is 1917 Merc):

[attachment 77150 Pc040022.jpg]

Assorted silver (a few nice ones with stones are in the jewelry box):

[attachment 77151 Pc040023.jpg]

My best finds, 14k chain and 14kt white gold pendant w/diamond chips:

[attachment 77152 Pc040024.jpg]

Assorted junk jewelry:

[attachment 77153 Pc040027.jpg]

Just plain junk (toys, KEYS, buttons, pins, tokens, etc) The pile looks a lot bigger in real life....

[attachment 77154 Pc040026.jpg]

I also dug my one and only Civil War era relic, a 58-caliber minnie ball (fired but in great shape). Also didn't include all the foreign coins, probably 25-30 from all over the world and found everywhere I've hunted. Quite a few marbles eyeballed on the ground, too (same as John .


Steve

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

The effort you put into it shows. You have some nice looking stuff.
I guess I have you beat in the fact that I am in the second poorest state. It is also the second lowest in crime and the most undiversified. We are all related.

 

[jackintexas]

Hey Steve: You also got a million dollars worth of fun.....Jack

 

[Parkit]

That's too funny.

Another thing we have in common is that we both moved from states high on the per capita income lists to the lowest states available, and probably for the same reasons. I left Connecticut to come to Mississippi, you left Florida for W. Virginia. I did some beeping up in Connecticut and generally did better with my old machine than I do here with my new one, and with less search time. It was everything ELSE that can't compare to where I am now. I'd make the same move in a heartbeat. I'm sure we both enjoy the challenge, eh?

Steve

 

[John-Edmonton]

You sure did well in the silver department too! How much depth were you getting in your type of soil?

 

[Parkit]

The soil around here is pretty good, as long as it has some moisture in it. There are areas where it's mostly a clay base, some areas are rich dark soil (locally referred to as The Black Prairie) and there are some sandy-soil areas. The clay stuff hardens to concrete in the summer droughts and is almost impenetrable, but that's more of a recovery problem than a detection problem. One of my silver Roosies was at a little over 7", a lot of the wheats were 4-6". To be honest a lot of the silver coins were recovered from a demolition area and were usually shallow because of the dirt being moved around, that one dime at 7" was an exception. I measured that one because it was one of the first I found. Most were at 1-4". The fork and spoon are from the same area so they were also shallow. A few of the larger silver items were from freshwater, also, which is a different ballgame. (I bought a White's Beach Hunter ID back in September, but that's a whole other story. All my finds pictured are from the Ace.) I usually only use 4 notches of sensitivity and sometimes knock that back to 3, and while I understand that it doesn't CONTROL depth it does affect it to some degree.
I know that's a long-winded answer and doesn't help much, but frankly I don't pay too much attention to how deep something was when I dig it. I carry two trowels, and if the "small" one with inch markings to 5" isn't doing the trick I use the long one. I've only used the depth indication on the machine half a dozen times when I had trouble finding the signal, I just keep making a bigger hole until I snag whatever is making the noise then fill the hole back up. Neatly. I know that I have thought to myself at times "Geesh, that was deep" and that's usually when it's some small button, screw, or item that I was impressed the machine picked up at all.

Steve

 

[awhitster]

Great finds for 2007 Steve-o, good luck in 2008.

 

[deeponedge]

Congratulations...that ACE 250 seems to be a great machine. That's a nice bunch of silvers you found.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah it's a regular coin magnet.

Bill

 

[cwilk]

That's a lot of silver and two beautiful chains. No gold rings is a surprise with all the other great loot. You have more patience for pennies than I do. I have to learn to leave those notches on all the time.

Chris

 

[Donny nj]

n/t

 

[Parkit]

You think YOU were surprised by no gold rings! That remains my personal bugger and one I hope to rectify in 2008. As far as pennies, it's not patience. I actually hate 'em, but they're abundant and add up.

Steve

 

[draaiorgel]

Well Steve,
You sure rose to the challenge, good goin' bud.
An' I enjoyed the sensible words for the newbies about giving it time to learn their machines,
yep the ace is one helluva machine. We're a bit slow on the learnin' but getting there slowly but surely.