Question on finding old nickels.

[treasurefiend]

I was wondering, do all nickels ring up the same? What I mean is, say a V-Nickel, Buffalo, and a Jefferson do they have the same composition I dig every solid Nickel signal I get, but most of the time it is tin foil or something else. When I find nickels out in the woods, they are reddish in color. I found a 1939 Jefferson that came up as a nickel signal at 5 or 6 inches deep. But I also found a Buffalo on the surface, but I can't remember, I think it bounced around on me, I looked only because it said 2 inches deep. Should I dig all of the bouncy signals for nickels

 

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[bomber]

dig it all bud

 

[mastereagle22]

I concur dig anything that isn't a total Iron signal unless you are relic hunting then dig all!

 

[Lowbatts]

Yeah, been using CZ's for years, the dirty little secret on these "nickel killers" as they're called is don't dig any nickel signal at 4". Almost always is a beavertail. I've put 3 CZ's through several thousand hours. Only the CZ-20 rings all nickels as nickels but doesn't get quite the depth of the other CZ's. The CZ-5 and CZ-7 both would ring buffs as foil if they were not on the surface or were less than 8". V's and shields come up as nickel as do war nickels and jeffs.

I know I'll get some grief for this but for some reason even the best machines just don't hit nickels as deep or accurately as dimes or cents in my experience. That's probably why I've hit some spots where all that was left were nickels and trash within 6" of the top.

As far as shiny nickels, the finish on a nickel goes as fast or faster than any clad coin when it gets into the ground. The only nickels that preserve finish in the ground are war nickels because of their partial silver composition. I dug a small cache of V nicks with good finish on them, but they had been contained in something until not long before I dug them. Also got a nice buff with about 30% finish in the river, under water and in about 6 to 8" of goose crap and mud. The lack of oxygen probably preserved it.

Don't know whether or not air testing would give any help on your machine, but you might try it with several different nickel types. Try it and see.