Black Sand and Mineralized Sand?

[FarmerChick]

boy oh boy

8 days at a beach. found just under $2 in clad, 4 lead sinkers, a little itty bit of trash, few pull tabs.

THAT WAS IT! alot of walking with no beeping. amazing.


but when I went to the wet and surf, I was ok on the detector acting fine, it was the pinpointer. It went nutso. I stuck my Garrett Propointer into a small hole and it would just sing. no shutting it up. WAS it because of all the minerals and black sand?


truly it drove me nutso.



even up on high dry areas I would dig a bit and hit black sand and made it almost impossible to find the target.


AM I DOING something wrong? I am kinda at a loss in a way because I detected for hours and hours and hours and should have come out better than this. Some holes I just walked away from because of the uselessness of it all.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You were on mission impossible! With your machine it is a wonder you found what you did. Nobody uses a pinpointer at the beach - as you found out the hard way. You need a sand scoop to retrieve targets. All single frequency VLF machines are second-rate in wet saltwater sand, because of the heavy conductiveness of the mineralization and iron-rich black sand. Good Luck!

 

[FarmerChick]

thanks terry

I tell you it drove me nutso for sure. the endless beeping put me off on that pinpointer. works well in dry sand if I need it. I always carry my pinpointer. I truly can't go ANYWHERE detecting without it...lol



VLF

ok then the other one is? I can't remember.

I guess I need to buy a machine specifically for saltwater and heavy mineral beaches?

ugh

well won't hurt to research a new machine. buying a detector is always a fun thing LOL

 

[norbyx]

Well I cant argue that Multi frequency machines or PI machines are the best salt water detectors out there. BUT some VLF can work (not very well) but can work on wet sand depending on the detector and on it's frequency. The lower the frequency the less prone to being affected by the mineralization of the salt water. Now all salt water detectors are very expensive, there is none that are cheap.
A pinpointer is useless (in my opinion) in the sand, a scoop will do the job in 10 times less time than a pinpointer.
Detecting on salt water beaches also needs some learning, there are a lot of good books on how to detect on a beach and where you could find the goodies.
HH

 

[Sandman]

Your not doing anything wrong......Wet saltwater sand is conductive even without black sand added in because Salt is a mineral which detectors respond too. For the wet sand you need a mulity freq detector like the Excal, CZ20/21 or White's Beach Hunter ID. I don't like the White's only because I also hunt the water and the coils floats like corks. They are fine for dry and wet sand. Also many like the Pulse machines, but they have almost no disc and can wear you out.

 

[FarmerChick]

yes I guess I do need to rely on my sand scoop more. I will be sure to use the scoop and keep the pinpointer in the holster

 

[FarmerChick]

Sandman

thanks so much for that reply. I am thinking the CZ. A friend said it was the best for the saltwater and definitely finds good treasures

I guess it is time to put up some savings fast and handle a CZ in the future.



ok it was good to hear I wasn't doing something totally wrong! LOL I have been detecting for over 2 years now and still know I have tons to learn. I do want to get into the water and very wet sands at low tide etc. I will go off and research more definitely!

thanks all

 

[bigscoop]

Wait a minute....I thought you were using the AT-PRO on this trip? It should have worked ok in the area you were hunting. (As for the pinpointer....leave it in the camper), but the At should have been able to handle the conditions you were hunting in, though probably not without some sacrificing of sensitivity, but it should have performed fairly stable when adjusted correctly. However, a CZ-21 or Excal would certainly make you a much happier camper. (Pun intended.) And speaking of "camper"......dare I ask!

 

[Blind Squirrel]

If I remember correctly, you go to the MB area to detect. The below pic is of about 16-18 hrs of hunting in that area with a PI machine. Some of my fellow club members say that MB is a waste of time, and I'm starting to agree with them. That sand down there is so deep and targets sink so fast, it's about impossible to find anything of any value. Had a guy throw his wedding band into the wet sand when he saw me approaching, and asked if I could find it for him. Let's hear it for good old alcohol!!! He better hope his wife didn't see him toss that thing (grounds for divorce) Well after only a couple of waves going over the ring it had sunk six to eight inches. It took me three scoops to find it, and when I started to give it back to him he said it wasn't the one he threw, so I said "OK" I'll just keep it. His being all lathered up and his attempt to impress some of the nearby hotties was kind of really stupid. Of course I gave him his ring back, and he just kept on swilling on his beverage.
As far as the pinpointer goes, you really shouldn't need that in the surf!!!

 

[Southern_Digger]

You can bet there is at least one A-hole in every crowd... unfortunately, you had to encounter him on your watch...

 

[FarmerChick]

Big, yes I was using the AT PRO. It worked well. however finding the target once the AT PRO found it seemed darn near impossible for some reason.
and it would beep sometimes, I would dig and then no beep. no target. I don't know LOL


the new camper was stellar. no complaints and I didn't ruin it in any way HAHA


I ran off and edited my profile...added the AT PRO.

 

[FarmerChick]

that is a big pile of junk Squirrel LOL

that is kinda what my MB trips are like also, but I did find that small diamond ring there one time.

This trip was Hunting Island State Park beach. I would walk for a very very very very long time and not get one beep. no trash hardly which was nice.



I am doing Holden Beach in July. 4 days. there I will hit trash and hopefully something better also.

then it is 8 days at Edisto Beach State Park. someone told hubby this was a very shelly beach. probably going to be hard to dig? will be interesting to find out

 

[hamiddetecting]

Any beach was in the site of world so much gold there. Move sand is killer of gold.