KJ&nugget
Jr. Member
- Mar 9, 2013
- 55
- 30
- Detector(s) used
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I use a garrett AT pro.
My son uses a Technetics Delta 4000
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I had some young boys to the park yesterday, we were going to see who could find the most coins or the "coolest" item. Spring break here so these 10 and 11 year olds need something to do.
We all took off our own separate ways and started hunting. I went to coin pro mode and started picking up coins quickly. Seriously this AT Pro is a coin monster. It was not at first, but learning to listen to what it says ( and believing in it) makes it easier.
First thing is the high pitch "ding" of silver, or pennies. But that could be a crown cap too. The solution, When you hit this sound and see the 79-83 number, use pin point to find center, then increase the distance from the pinpointed location about 2-4" if the numbers jump up or down say for example from 40-95 ...... Walk away its a crown cap. If it stays in the 75-90 range it's a coin. I collected about 50 coins yesterday in 4 hours. By the time I was at this 45 minutes I was calling the coins 9/10 times. There are the odd crown caps that will fool you but not very often. With that said, once in a while I let it fool me just to confirm it was a crown cap and my tone and number strategy was accurate. So I did dig up many crown caps, but I knew they were. I only did it to confirm I was able to tell them apart. Just as a note on this, I cannot distinguish the crown caps with the 5X8DD coil with any consistency. It just not as easy for me to use as the bigger coil for that.
I was digging coins and not wasting any time on crown caps for several hours! Now......... Nickels are another whole story. When they ding up with the mid tone, and the numbers are 50-53 solid without any deviation it's a nickel much of the time. However it's also an aluminum oval pop tab much of the time. Probably 25% it's a nickel, and that is the best I think you're gonna get with nickels. They just ring up exactly like those tabs do. I've circled the targets, listened for the faintest tone change, nothing different I have noticed yet.
One other thought, On rings or gold jewelry obviously not enough recoveries to have consistent data, but I have buried them and listened to the few items I have tested. They usually score a VDI number in the 45-75 range. However most junk targets are jumpy and the numbers are bouncing up and down on the display. Good solid targets like a 10K-14K gold ring are more consistent and to my ear louder and more stable tones. Those oval aluminum tabs will get you with this too though. They ring powerful and stable. It's so hard to dig every one of them up, but passing them is walking by possible good items. In small areas with dozens of these targets I usually walk, but if they are shallow, I'll make a quick stab at it.
So in Coin mode I blow off the jumpy unstable 45-70 scores, however when it's a solid mid tone "dinging" and the number is constant, I will dig that up. Sunday this was the strategy and I passed countless unstable tones. I did however get that solid mid tone and gave in to dig it up. It was a 14K gold size 6 ring with leaves and vines in thin shiny copperish colored gold weaved around it. Almost like a tiny little wreath.
That was the first actually valuable piece of jewelry I've ever found. I'm so glad I did not hit it with my shovel because it's so frail. Anyhow, maybe these numbers/ tones will save somebody some digging time? If anyone can figure out the nickels please post up. I would like to collect more then 5 nickels a day, compared to the dozens of dimes quarters and pennies!
We all took off our own separate ways and started hunting. I went to coin pro mode and started picking up coins quickly. Seriously this AT Pro is a coin monster. It was not at first, but learning to listen to what it says ( and believing in it) makes it easier.
First thing is the high pitch "ding" of silver, or pennies. But that could be a crown cap too. The solution, When you hit this sound and see the 79-83 number, use pin point to find center, then increase the distance from the pinpointed location about 2-4" if the numbers jump up or down say for example from 40-95 ...... Walk away its a crown cap. If it stays in the 75-90 range it's a coin. I collected about 50 coins yesterday in 4 hours. By the time I was at this 45 minutes I was calling the coins 9/10 times. There are the odd crown caps that will fool you but not very often. With that said, once in a while I let it fool me just to confirm it was a crown cap and my tone and number strategy was accurate. So I did dig up many crown caps, but I knew they were. I only did it to confirm I was able to tell them apart. Just as a note on this, I cannot distinguish the crown caps with the 5X8DD coil with any consistency. It just not as easy for me to use as the bigger coil for that.
I was digging coins and not wasting any time on crown caps for several hours! Now......... Nickels are another whole story. When they ding up with the mid tone, and the numbers are 50-53 solid without any deviation it's a nickel much of the time. However it's also an aluminum oval pop tab much of the time. Probably 25% it's a nickel, and that is the best I think you're gonna get with nickels. They just ring up exactly like those tabs do. I've circled the targets, listened for the faintest tone change, nothing different I have noticed yet.
One other thought, On rings or gold jewelry obviously not enough recoveries to have consistent data, but I have buried them and listened to the few items I have tested. They usually score a VDI number in the 45-75 range. However most junk targets are jumpy and the numbers are bouncing up and down on the display. Good solid targets like a 10K-14K gold ring are more consistent and to my ear louder and more stable tones. Those oval aluminum tabs will get you with this too though. They ring powerful and stable. It's so hard to dig every one of them up, but passing them is walking by possible good items. In small areas with dozens of these targets I usually walk, but if they are shallow, I'll make a quick stab at it.
So in Coin mode I blow off the jumpy unstable 45-70 scores, however when it's a solid mid tone "dinging" and the number is constant, I will dig that up. Sunday this was the strategy and I passed countless unstable tones. I did however get that solid mid tone and gave in to dig it up. It was a 14K gold size 6 ring with leaves and vines in thin shiny copperish colored gold weaved around it. Almost like a tiny little wreath.
That was the first actually valuable piece of jewelry I've ever found. I'm so glad I did not hit it with my shovel because it's so frail. Anyhow, maybe these numbers/ tones will save somebody some digging time? If anyone can figure out the nickels please post up. I would like to collect more then 5 nickels a day, compared to the dozens of dimes quarters and pennies!
I'm getting my AT Pro today,and can't wait to get out with it,and start hunting.
