Etrac owners..... (pulltabs and gold)?

[TheRockDoc]

Hello everyone. I have a question that Im hoping someone here can answer. I have been getting a bit of confidence with my etrac finally, (as I just bought it as my first detector in september). I feel I'm off to a great start as I have 3 silvers so far in the first 3 days of 2012.. (1962 quarter, a merc dime, and a roosie). I am using my etrac on multi tone, and it gives a very specific tone when detecting a pull tab. My question is this, everyone talks about how pull tabs are the same tone as gold rings for instance.... Is this true with the etrac as well? I have always assumed it was the case with the etrac, but seems how I havent found a ring (of any type yet) I started wondering if the etrac is different when it comes to pull tabs and gold... Should I be digging what I can tell is a pulltab? Or is that one of the perks of an etrac, does it have a different tone for gold/rings than it does for pull tabs?

Any feedback from etrac users....?

Happy hunting.

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Yes you will have to dig pull tabs to get the rings. If a metal detector came out that could tell the difference you could set any price you wanted.

[goldentruth]

Gold is found in the nickle/metal range... I just dig them all my friend. I bring a small strong magnet to run over the plastic scoop which holds the target. I just found lead bullets and brass casings, old rellics ect. the brass peices at first I thought was a nugget in the mix until I cleaned the bunch up later. I just shown a miner friend who sells gold ore my metal piece of melted metal "Slag" and he said it is gold mixed with other metal and offered to buy it. it is not lead and is non magnetic and heavy. I may have to have it melted to refine the gold out... But it is Better than gettin "Skunked" like when I first started out with a cheep machine.
Good luck hunting friend and a bright 2012. 8)

[leenie]

the minelab explorer & e-trac handbook by andy sabisch. this is a very good book to learn alot about these two detectors. it explains the settings and programs. gold. lead. nickels. all in about the same place. good luck and have fun. dave

[Treasure_Hunter]

I have the Safari, a dumb down version of the ETrac, stilll have to dig the pulltabs if you dont want to be skipping gold...

[Sandman]

All metal detectors respond to the conductivity of the item, regardless what the screen says. Gold is alloyed with different metals and amounts so the tones and number are always different even if the item is on an angle in the ground. Most of the yellow gold rings are in the same range as many pull tabs with a few ladies white gold rings being in the foil or even iron range regardless of the value of the ring. We just need to learn the machine we are using to learn what it is telling us which only comes with practice.

[okdiggermark]

Are you finding any Nickles? If I'm not finding nickels, I'm getting nervous I may be missing rings!

[Sandman]

Are you finding any Nickles? If I'm not finding nickels, I'm getting nervous I may be missing rings!

Does it respond to nickles on the surface? If not back off the disc a bit more. Everyone should test their detector against targets as not all detectors and controls are created equal.

[okdiggermark]

Are you finding any Nickles? If I'm not finding nickels, I'm getting nervous I may be missing rings!

Does it respond to nickles on the surface? If not back off the disc a bit more. Everyone should test their detector against targets as not all detectors and controls are created equal.

Good advice!!!!

[Tom_in_CA]

A percentage of gold rings (perhaps 20%?) will read right in the pull-tab range. But there's a lot that read below tab, and some that read above tab. So if you wanted, you could nix out commonly recurring tabs (assuming un-broken, flat, tabs, with full ring and beaver tail), and you would not be missing too many gold rings. And sure, you can play with the left/right axis if you want ...... believing that aluminum behaves one way, and gold behaves another way.

But the bottom line is, gold and aluminum share the same conductive ranges. It all depends on the shape of the item. 'Cuz bent up tabs, can shrapnel, and foil wads come in infinate sizes/shapes/angles/depths. And so too do gold rings come in infinate sizes, shapes, angles in the ground, depths, carots, etc....

So the bottom line is, if you're talking perfect tabs (full ring and beaver tail, or perhaps just ring alone, etc...) and can memorize *just* that cross-hair for *just* that item, you would not miss many gold rings. But the problem is, in real life hunt situations, tabs just come in all over the place, depending on their angle, how they're bent, etc.... If anyone tries to tell you differently, do this: quickly take them down to the nearest blighted junky park, and see how many gold rings they find, while leaving aluminum behind

[Treasure_Hunter]

Problem is there is no telling what those 20% are and what they contain. Are they diamond rings, antique rings with emerald and or rubys in them?

Personally I would rather dig every pulltab, then walk away from a $10,000+ ring containing a perfect 2 ct diamond in it because it is in the pulltab range........ Im greedy, I want every ring my coil passes over....

[okdiggermark]

Problem is there is no telling what those 20% are and what they contain. Are they diamond rings, antique rings with emerald and or rubys in them?

Personally I would rather dig every pulltab, then walk away from a $10,000+ ring containing a perfect 2 ct diamond in it because it is in the pulltab range........ Im greedy, I want every ring my coil passes over....

That's just the reality of it. One of those things we have to accept & expect with no exceptions. Lol

[TheRockDoc]

Are you finding any Nickles? If I'm not finding nickels, I'm getting nervous I may be missing rings!

I am glad you asked, because just the other day I dug my first nickel, and it did sound very similiar to a pulltab.... I have been using my etrac in standard coin mode, with multi-tone. I have only been detecting for a couple months now, and have been focusing on listening and getting familiar with the tones a target gives oppossed to the conduct/ferrous numberss on the screen. Obviously there are many factors that affect how an item sounds/rings up... But I am starting to feel very good about my ability to determine the target before I dig, as far as if it is a copper/zinc or even a wheat penny, (which it seems to me that a wheat penny sounds more like a dime than a pre-82 copper). Or if the target is a dime, or a quarter... Pulltabs are the easiest to tell by sound, as they are low, unattractive tone... I guess I will just make sure Im digging them until I have mastered my machine over and over and then over again.... A couple years and I figure I will be speakin Etrac lingo... Which, that makes me wonder... Where is darn "rosetta stone" for learnin the "etrac" language?

Thanks guys..

Happy hunting.

[Jason in Enid]

AS was already stated, there is a percentage of rings that will ring up as "pulltab". The problem is that most pulltabs won't register under the exact pultab mark. Bent, broken, new style, old style, rings, tails.... they all read different and cover a wider area than what you get if you go scan a pulltab off a can right now.

If you want gold rings, you have to dig everything above iron. This means foil, nickel, tabs, caps, all the way up to zinc penny could possible be a gold ring!

[TheRockDoc]

AS was already stated, there is a percentage of rings that will ring up as "pulltab". The problem is that most pulltabs won't register under the exact pultab mark. Bent, broken, new style, old style, rings, tails.... they all read different and cover a wider area than what you get if you go scan a pulltab off a can right now.

If you want gold rings, you have to dig everything above iron. This means foil, nickel, tabs, caps, all the way up to zinc penny could possible be a gold ring!

Thank you again Jason, that helps make it as simple as it can be..... It sounds like different rings,(type, style, shape, and PM content will all affect the signal), I will dig it all and post results when I find that gold ring I have probably already passed over... thinking it was just another pull tab, damn newbies.

[Goes4ever]

I have only dug two gold rings with my etrac, both were almost exactly same signal as the old style pultabs

[Born2Dtect]

I start out digging the 12 line + or minus1. Gold Ranges from 12-03 to 12-45 depending on the other metals in the gold object, the purity (karat), and size. Pull tabs, nickels also ring in on the 12 line. Once you get a little time in on the machine you will learn a few tricks like how to size an object, recognizing a solid tone, and guessing based on tone and sound quality with multiple passes from different directions.

Ed D.

[tmanfromtexas]

Ive never dug a gold ring while using my etrac. Mostly because, the places I hunt have a ton of pull tabs and I am looking for old silver. (just my thing I guess) However, when I was using the F75, I received a strong quarter signal (75-77 if I recall) at about 7 inches in an old park in Indiana. I dug down thinking I was going to get an old silver and out popped a late 1800s 18k gold ring. I was shocked. I checked it once it was out of the ground and it still rang up in the quarter range. So the karat make up and size also affects what the metal detector can "see" in the ground and will reflect in tone and numbers. TMAN...