Barb,Welcome to the sport of TH'ing. I also own a GTA500. It's an older one. Not a GTAx500. But still produces lots of old coins, including an 1864 indianhead penny, 1852 large cent, and several mercs, and a 1900 barber dime. I often get "dime" signals at 7 or 8 inches. Since the GTA500 probably will not detect a dime at 7/8 inches in most soils, I know it's an aluminum can. If I dig it, it is always a can. But dig you must! Your gold targets will usually register in the pulltab area, so you must dig them or pass up many gold rings. I have a cup full of gold and silver rings that would have been missed if I did not dig sigs that said "pulltabs" Good luck. TTC