CZconnoisseur
Active member
Yesterday's hunt started in a familiar spot where both Mike and I know there are deep coins hiding...but there is a layer of trash to get through first. I bet we dug 30 beavertails apiece in various states of preservation - I got lucky on the third or fourth hole with an 1894 Indian at 9" deep. But first I had to move the folded beavertail out of the way to get to it. The pinpointer still indicated at the very bottom of the hole after removing the junk, and was a nice surprise to say the least!
A few minutes later I got another unremarkable signal that seemed to have the same footprint as a coin, and hoped for a Buffalo or V nickel. Took the plug out of the ground and saw the golden glint of something still half-buried in the dirt. For a split second, I finally thought I had found a gold coin, but that went away when I saw the blue stone! Moved the dirt away to reveal a sweet 14K gold ring that was about 6" deep. Out of the hole, and while in 4kHz, the ring indicated a "32" VDI which is just below nickel and just above the foil range. My notching for that program is 00-15, 98-99 which doesn't miss many non-ferrous targets and for good reason!
We moved to another section of our spot and almost immediately Mike and I had promising coin signals. Mike would go and dig a fantastic 1885 Indian from more than 9" deep - again with the Coinstrike - this coin somehow got spared the black spots that seem to plague most Indians and early Wheats that come from this soil. Just several minutes later we would both get promising signals again, and both of us pulled early Wheats at about the same time from the 8-9" level. A short while later I found a deep, smooth signal...and Mike scanned with the Coinstrike which indicated "indian cent" range. A 1902 Indian cent would come from that hole, and a foot later at the same 9" level would come a tiny piece of lead shot, followed by a sharp 1906 Indian! The Coinstrike is a beast!
For the entire hunt I was trying some different settings to hopefully reach those coins that were just out of range. I dug 5 total old coins yesterday, and all of them were from 8-9" deep. It seems that lowering Reactivity helps determine the "footprint" of the signal more accurately, and I also made an adjacent program that is almost fully "wide open" but at 12kHz. This 12kHz program *should* help with those deeper nickels, as 12kHz is MUCH more sensitive to nickels than the copper and silver coins vs 4kHz, where the latter is true. So far I haven't been able to "call" a nickel due to the characteristics of the signal, and after changing programs...so it will need more field time to see if it's at all possible.
We got pushed out of our hunting spot after digging the Wheats by a quick rainshower that only lasted a few minutes, so we went back to our starting point - but our efforts were in vain for the last hour or so...both of us could only manage deep iron and flat pieces of foil! Next time, weather permitting both of us will return to where we dug the Indians and try for more. Hopefully the bulk of summertime is past us and we can start to enjoy detecting at lower temperatures
A few minutes later I got another unremarkable signal that seemed to have the same footprint as a coin, and hoped for a Buffalo or V nickel. Took the plug out of the ground and saw the golden glint of something still half-buried in the dirt. For a split second, I finally thought I had found a gold coin, but that went away when I saw the blue stone! Moved the dirt away to reveal a sweet 14K gold ring that was about 6" deep. Out of the hole, and while in 4kHz, the ring indicated a "32" VDI which is just below nickel and just above the foil range. My notching for that program is 00-15, 98-99 which doesn't miss many non-ferrous targets and for good reason!
We moved to another section of our spot and almost immediately Mike and I had promising coin signals. Mike would go and dig a fantastic 1885 Indian from more than 9" deep - again with the Coinstrike - this coin somehow got spared the black spots that seem to plague most Indians and early Wheats that come from this soil. Just several minutes later we would both get promising signals again, and both of us pulled early Wheats at about the same time from the 8-9" level. A short while later I found a deep, smooth signal...and Mike scanned with the Coinstrike which indicated "indian cent" range. A 1902 Indian cent would come from that hole, and a foot later at the same 9" level would come a tiny piece of lead shot, followed by a sharp 1906 Indian! The Coinstrike is a beast!
For the entire hunt I was trying some different settings to hopefully reach those coins that were just out of range. I dug 5 total old coins yesterday, and all of them were from 8-9" deep. It seems that lowering Reactivity helps determine the "footprint" of the signal more accurately, and I also made an adjacent program that is almost fully "wide open" but at 12kHz. This 12kHz program *should* help with those deeper nickels, as 12kHz is MUCH more sensitive to nickels than the copper and silver coins vs 4kHz, where the latter is true. So far I haven't been able to "call" a nickel due to the characteristics of the signal, and after changing programs...so it will need more field time to see if it's at all possible.
We got pushed out of our hunting spot after digging the Wheats by a quick rainshower that only lasted a few minutes, so we went back to our starting point - but our efforts were in vain for the last hour or so...both of us could only manage deep iron and flat pieces of foil! Next time, weather permitting both of us will return to where we dug the Indians and try for more. Hopefully the bulk of summertime is past us and we can start to enjoy detecting at lower temperatures
