My first dig..and my second..silver and gold

joestalin

Today I had been waiting for the mailman like a 10 year old waiting on Santa on the 24th! He finally came and handed me my Ace 250. I headed out into my
backyard, probably where alot of us started and started searching. A few things I noticed. First this is an excellent machine, I had dug a penny in less than 5
minutes! Most of my finds were between 6-8 inches deep. My home was built in 83, the oldest coin I found was 77 but still a great hour and a half. Here is the
hall.


The find


I was very happy to pull this ring, probably worthless, but still nice!


I'm not sure what these are, they came up as a nickle.

I might do a park tomorrow!

Thanks
Kevin

BunchOBull

Awesome first day out Kevin...that metal piece looks like an aluminum plywood weather clip. They are used in conjunction with hurricane clips as a standard down your way.

The fun has just begun.

joestalin

I went out tonight in the dark and dug up 2 feet of nutin'!! LOL

BunchOBull

Mineralized soil will give you crazy readings like that...as will things like hematite and other iron containing rocks. You can dig forever!

Repeatable signals are key, and the more solid the signal the better. Also try sweeping your coil over the same area from alternate angles of attack if you aren't quite sure. If the signal is just as strong after that method, you've almost assuredly got a solid target of some sort, junk or not.

joestalin

Thanks, I was pulling small white rocks out of the hole. I hope the park is easier!

Kevin

joestalin

I hit a small park today. I hit 2 quarters 5 dimes and 9 pennies,nothing key but still nice. A few observations:

I have respect for those who find nickles, they are so far the hardest thing to find as junk comes up as the same thing.

I would of spend 1/4th the time and found just as much value wise had I set my detector to find only dimes and higher and searched the park
benches rather than have it on all metal mode and dig what I thought was nickles.

The Ace was hindered by the metal playgound equipment, so the sniper coil isn't affected by this?

So if I detect in nothing but dimes or higher then I will never find gold? I'm starting to understand the sounds and when to dig and when not to.

This is cool!

Kevin

fc

<< <i>I hit a small park today. I hit 2 quarters 5 dimes and 9 pennies,nothing key but still nice. A few observations:

I have respect for those who find nickles, they are so far the hardest thing to find as junk comes up as the same thing.

I would of spend 1/4th the time and found just as much value wise had I set my detector to find only dimes and higher and searched the park
benches rather than have it on all metal mode and dig what I thought was nickles.

The Ace was hindered by the metal playgound equipment, so the sniper coil isn't affected by this?

So if I detect in nothing but dimes or higher then I will never find gold? I'm starting to understand the sounds and when to dig and when not to.

This is cool!

Kevin >>



you are a fast learner! nickels are pathetically annoying to find.
i often just set it to quarters when i am in the mood to cash in at the
local parks. i can find a couple bucks in a few hours compared to digging
trash all evening.

but most of the time i enjoy the mystery of digging up those unknown
objects in the nickel area. some strange stuff comes up occasionally
but mostly junk

BunchOBull

Kevin, your gold is going to be in that nickel and lower range sadly...esp. in the foil range. The one thing I'll say about nickels is that they tend to have a much stronger signal than a soda can tab, even though they fall in the same range. I find the tone of the signal has a slightly higher pitch as well, and very repeatable.

BunchOBull

Oh, and you inspired me to dust off my 9.5 inch coil today and detect a little patch of grass about 10'x15' in front of my apartment. In about 10 minutes I dug 4 quarters and a few copper pennies. I tend to over look the zincs when I'm not doing an indepth sweep...they never turn out to be dimes.

joestalin

<< <i>Oh, and you inspired me to dust off my 9.5 inch coil today and detect a little patch of grass about 10'x15' in front of my apartment. In about 10 minutes I dug 4 quarters and a few copper pennies. I tend to over look the zincs when I'm not doing an indepth sweep...they never turn out to be dimes. >>



When you say dug four quarters, how deep did you have to go? I think I like sand MUCH better than grass, especially in the forest with roots everywhere!

Kevin

BunchOBull

These were all surface quarters, 1 inch to 3 inches deep. I just say "dug" in general if they aren't actually laying on the surface.

joestalin

As promised here are a few pics, my first silver and gold!




How did I do?

Kevin

BunchOBull

Very, very nice first hit! Does it have a maker's mark?

joestalin

<< <i>Very, very nice first hit! Does it have a maker's mark? >>



Where would I find that?

Kevin

BunchOBull

Oh, it could be anywhere...along the edges, inside of little nooks...if you have a loupe that you use for cards that helps. I made an eyeball find today...thank goodness for loupes because I would have never been able to read that it is .925/19pt...sterling with 19k plating.

One thing about metal detecting, you'll become keenly aware of your surroundings like never before. I make tons of eyeball finds that I would have completely walked over if I had not trained myself to just look.

joestalin

just found sanborn maps online...looking at jax circa 1887...wow..bet those place have already been hit!

Kevin