Whats with the bottle caps?

[mikeraydj]

What's with the bottle caps?

I am running a Fisher F2. I have the DD coil package. I used to have the 8" coil. Now with DD I am finding a lot more bottle caps ringing up as quarter signals. Is this common for the DD coil to do this?

 

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[digger27]

Yes...all DD coils will do this.
Here is a trick...
Run the edge of your coil over the target center.
I usually do this by finding target center and make short side to side passes while pulling the coil back.

Usually when you get the rim over MOST, but not all of these older bottle caps, the reading should drop down to iron.
This technique is called rimming and it works well on my F70 with the DD coil and also my Vaq and same sort of coil but it is a hassle to do it with detectors without screens.
It is known to work on all other detectors and this type of coil.

Again, a small percentage of these will still show up as coins but most will be recognizable when doing this.
It is important that you have iron notched in when doing this of course or there will be no way to tell when they drop.

On my F70 most of these will also be way more jumpy than actual coins so another clue there, but to give you an idea these will usually be somewhere in the low 80's and then drop to somewhere around 7-12 in the iron section just about every time and I have dug a huge amount of these to test this but I have enough confidence to leave most of them in the ground nowadays.

I have never seen an actual quarter that will drop like this or at all by rimming.

I have mad skills with the F2 but only own the 3 concentric coils so I have no experience using that one and a DD coil, but I have confidence it will work well.
Please try it and report back.

 

[releventchair]

On my 350 caps are a wider width than a coin when swinging over them, a tight swing as if measuring width with a narrow area of reading more often a coin if that makes sense.. Usually a reading bounce on scale also. But usually get dug anyway.Just to be sure they are caps, and to be able to check below them.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Ask and ye shall receive! looks like digger27 and relevant are getting you squared away..While I do not even have the same machine..bottle caps also ring up as quarters, or even a little higher-such as silver. And yes..I usually dig them anyway just in case it is not trash, and also to simply get them out of the way...thanks...ddf

 

[digger27]

Just to add that the other hunters are correct when they mention still digging at least some of these because of masking.
I was once at an old park with a ton of these and using the F2 and the concentric sniper and actually dug several real quarters that were laying under these hated trash targets.
Not sure how different this would have been using the DD coil, but in those cases and even with the more jumping than targets I would usually dig, every one of those still sounded clear and true like real quarters always do to me and triggered my digging instinct.

I got good enough to recognize the sound of a real quarter in my bones without ever looking the screen, there are slight differences in those 4 tones, definitely in the highest one for sure, use the great F2 enough and you might be able to hear them.
Don't know if those caps sound different than real quarters do using the DD coil...but they might.

 

[mikeraydj]

Thanks for all the great ideas and feedback. I will try your idea digger27, and let you know how it goes.

 

[lookindown]

Yes...all DD coils will do this.
Here is a trick...
Run the edge of your coil over the target center.
I usually do this by finding target center and make short side to side passes while pulling the coil back.

Usually when you get the rim over MOST, but not all of these older bottle caps, the reading should drop down to iron.
This technique is called rimming and it works well on my F70 with the DD coil and also my Vaq and same sort of coil but it is a hassle to do it with detectors without screens.
It is known to work on all other detectors and this type of coil.

Again, a small percentage of these will still show up as coins but most will be recognizable when doing this.
It is important that you have iron notched in when doing this of course or there will be no way to tell when they drop.

On my F70 most of these will also be way more jumpy than actual coins so another clue there, but to give you an idea these will usually be somewhere in the low 80's and then drop to somewhere around 7-12 in the iron section just about every time and I have dug a huge amount of these to test this but I have enough confidence to leave most of them in the ground nowadays.

I have never seen an actual quarter that will drop like this or at all by rimming.

I have mad skills with the F2 but only own the 3 concentric coils so I have no experience using that one and a DD coil, but I have confidence it will work well.
Please try it and report back.

With my AT pro with DD coil I circle a target while swinging and a bottle cap will jump from high to low tone, back and forth. I bet it changes because as I circle I catch the target with the edge of the coil. I thought it had something to do with the angle of the target. You may have just taught me something and now I might not have to look like an idiot doing circles around my target. Ill give that edge method a try...thanks.

 

[mikeraydj]

@Lookindown, I always thought on the AT Pro you just have to hit iron audio to check, as bottlecaps will grunt and quarters wont.

 

[madforclad]

@Lookindown, I always thought on the AT Pro you just have to hit iron audio to check, as bottlecaps will grunt and quarters wont.

Yep...that's what works for me. The odd one will sometimes get through though.

 

[lookindown]

@Lookindown, I always thought on the AT Pro you just have to hit iron audio to check, as bottlecaps will grunt and quarters wont.

I never mastered the iron audio...just couldn't hear enough difference in the sound and I really like the circle method...its fast and I trust it.

 

[Rawhide]

My fisher will tell me if there is two targets close together. I think this is due to target wrap of the search field. I do the circle thing also and can tell you I have never heard of rimming. I will try this. Great info.

 

[mikeraydj]

Digger27 I tried your rimming the target. It worked about 90% of the time. I would pull up a little and just nudge the edge and I would get a 08 iron signal. I dug them to be sure it worked. The quarters didn't do that, stayed in the high numbers. Thanks for the tip, one more to put in the toolbox.

 

[HoosierDiggin']

@Lookindown, I always thought on the AT Pro you just have to hit iron audio to check, as bottlecaps will grunt and quarters wont.

Turn IA on to check signal if using discrimination. IA not necessary if in Pro Zero and nothing notched. Rimming def works, but like others said, a few will sneak through and you'll still dig em occasionally.

 

[digger27]

Digger27 I tried your rimming the target. It worked about 90% of the time. I would pull up a little and just nudge the edge and I would get a 08 iron signal. I dug them to be sure it worked. The quarters didn't do that, stayed in the high numbers. Thanks for the tip, one more to put in the toolbox.

Excellent...thanks for the report back!
On my F70 I also have an extra tell-tale iron grunt so that is nice, but I was pretty sure it would work on the F2 and that coil too and I am glad it does.
As I said, a few will still slip through and act just like coins with no drop...usually the older rusted really flattened ones that are shallow and oriented flat in relation to the top of the ground, but 90% success rate is a great thing and can make these challenging sites loaded with these things way less frustrating to deal with.
The less time you spend and waste figuring out and digging these the more you can spend digging good targets and your good finds totals should rise.

You might like to know that I have dug many hundreds of these things that drop like this in my learning curve with the F70 and the DD coils, still dig a few from time to time just to make sure, but every one has been a pop top so far and my confidence levels are so high at this point I don't worry much about the "what ifs" if I leave them in the ground.
This drop seems to occur from just about any direction you come at them too, so that might save some time since you don't really need to circle them for the most part.
I have NEVER come across a coin or any other good target like jewelry that will drop into iron like this yet, and I have been able to pick out many good targets at sites infested with these hated things without digging many of them at all.

There are a few sites I dig them anyway, like around picnic pavilions and definitely my beloved really trashy basketball courts because this trash, foil, tabs and whatever else can easily mask coins and some great jewelry so it is still best to get them out of the way to be sure.
That extra work has been rewarding and well worth the effort for sure if you look at my gold and silver ring collection from these usually super trashy sites.

When I am in my parks in the more wide open areas with less chance of masking I rarely dig these things or spend much time even figuring them out because this technique seems to work so well and becomes very easy and quick when you get the hang of it.

Glad I could help...now go out and find something great hiding in a swarm of these stupid trash objects.

 

[Limitool]

This is better than college or any book learn'in. If everybody would just shut-up for a minute I might get to doing something.

 

[digger27]

This is something I just read on another forum.
The OP of this thread runs with a Fisher and a screen, and this rimming thing I mentioned pertains to screen units because even though it works on my Vaq and a DD coil it is a huge hassle because you need to turn the disc knob down to iron to see this effect and for me this takes too long so I never do it.
I don't use the Vaq a lot nowadays, but I still pull it out once in a while and most of the time I hunt with that set up I usually aim for sites without a ton of this type of trash, but sometimes at a new site I might get caught in this situation.
This tip seems like it might be a perfect solution when that happens, and since we are talking about DD coils and bottle caps I will post it here for those that like to hunt with other units that have no screens like I do.

"After doing my experiment at the lake today. I went and did some normal detecting with the 10x12 dd. As anyone who has one knows they love steel bottle caps. However if you get a good signal and then push pinpoint the bottle cap will start sounding at the edge of the coil from both sides and non iron targets will sound only in the middle. I tested it with about 100 targets more than half were caps and I knew they were caps before digging them. Thanks GunnarMN from u tube."

 

[Davers]

A good read.
As nobody has responded in my Teknetics post.

Also this is my 1st Experience using a DD coil.

My Tejon having 2 disc modes makes ID'ing Steel Tabs easier.

In time I will learn.
Thanks

 

[Rawhide]

Bottle caps are round and sometimes the paint or decal has metal also. Round is one thing your detector is looking for. On the F75 you pump up and down and if signal changes or goes away you have a bottle cap.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Aluminum caps are the Achelies Heel of the DD.

Try this: as you go back over a good signal "X" the coil over it coming at it from 90° different angles. Then lift the coil as you sweep. Bottle caps will often stutter and cut out suddenly while quarters will not.

 

[Davers]

I was mostly talking about Steel Caps , but good info on the Aluminum ones as well.
Thanks