First time with a metal detector

[tlcro]

I have spent many hours reading everyone's posts and trying to learn things from the huge amount of experience on this site. I was mainly interested in bottles and never thought about metal detecting until I found this site. Anyway, happened to find a cheap md at a yard sale so I picked it up for $10.00 and figured I could at least practice before I put money into something better. Sorry for rambling.. but went out on somefamily land to try it out. Found about 20 nails before I figured out how to eliminate them. Found lots of other trash too. But, I did find a few good things! I found 2 1943 wheat pennies, a 1941 dime, a leatherman wave that must have just been dropped when hay was cut. Even found a few bottles. Anyway, was a lot fun and I just wanted to share. Tried to add pics but getting a system crash error? Looks like one posted...

 

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[tlcro]

Here are the bottles I tried to post before.

 

[sandy shoes]

welcome to our sight and hobby good luck out there

 

[BryanM362]

Pretty darn good finding silver on your first hunt! Congrats!

 

[Terry Soloman]

Welcome and Congratulations on the Silver and Wheats!!!!

 

[JoeB_OH]

Yes, welcome & nice finds on your first hunt! hang on to the bottles also, they are old & some people collect them.

 

[Sandman]

Having fun is what it is about.

 

[tlcro]

Thanks for the responses!

 

[GatorBoy]

You also did real well with purchasing a detector with the ability to discriminate for only $10

 

[The Dig Dig]

Silver on your first time out....with a cheap, used machine... Hats off to you bro, you've now been bitten by the beepen bug. You'll never look at an old piece of land the same, Happy Hunting

 

[GatorBoy]

True.. its like the Mob.
Welcome to the "family"

 

[tlcro]

You also did real well with purchasing a detector with the ability to discriminate for only $10

Yeah, well it doesnt discriminate exactly. It just has the trash eliminator which I didnt want to use because i wanted to make sure i wasnt missing anything, but there are so many nails from multiple barns, etc. So, I just set some of them around and put eliminator as low as I could. The nails made a broken beep but put out some quarters to hear the difference. I still dug some trash because I wasnt confident enough and then may have gotten too confident and passed over some good stuff. Def the advantage of being on land that I can do whenever I want. The md is a Bounty Hunter Gold Digger. Seems to work good but I have nothing to compare it.

 

[tlcro]

Silver on your first time out....with a cheap, used machine... Hats off to you bro, you've now been bitten by the beepen bug. You'll never look at an old piece of land the same, Happy Hunting

Driving in the rural areas today, I couldnt keep my eyes on the road, kept scanning the woods and fields!

 

[tlcro]

Yes, welcome & nice finds on your first hunt! hang on to the bottles also, they are old & some people collect them.

Thanks, and yeah I have been collecting bottles for the last year. I have done a lot of research and have collected quite a few but nothing great, YET!

 

[The Dig Dig]

Driving in the rural areas today, I couldnt keep my eyes on the road, kept scanning the woods and fields!

Told ya :-) its like a disease but a good one :-)

 

[tlcro]

Told ya :-) its like a disease but a good one :-)

Lol... yeah, i am feeling it! Luckily, I have spent the time researching for possible bottle locations so I have been able to find locations of lots of old houses and land. I want to get out there with the md but am trying to be patient so I dont miss stuff until I learn it better or decide to upgrade. May only get one shot at some places so dont want to jump the gun! I do have about 5 acres of family land that I can practice on.

 

[The Dig Dig]

Lol... yeah, i am feeling it! Luckily, I have spent the time researching for possible bottle locations so I have been able to find locations of lots of old houses and land. I want to get out there with the md but am trying to be patient so I dont miss stuff until I learn it better or decide to upgrade. May only get one shot at some places so dont want to jump the gun! I do have about 5 acres of family land that I can practice on.

I'd start and learn on the properties you know you can go back to as often as you like. Save the one timers until you're confident you're good enough to get as much as possible. And practice, I just turned 45, my parents got me into this when I was 14. I've had some multi years breaks but for the most part have always done some hunting and to this day I practice. Find a clear spot in your yard, lay an old tarp or something down and put some targets on it. Clad coins, silver, a gold ring, a nail, pull tab, etc, then just listen and learn the different tones, sound breaks, pitches, etc. it took me two years to find my first silver coin, a standing liberty quarter, 1918 but once I did and learned that sound the flood gates opened.

 

[tlcro]

I'd start and learn on the properties you know you can go back to as often as you like. Save the one timers until you're confident you're good enough to get as much as possible. And practice, I just turned 45, my parents got me into this when I was 14. I've had some multi years breaks but for the most part have always done some hunting and to this day I practice. Find a clear spot in your yard, lay an old tarp or something down and put some targets on it. Clad coins, silver, a gold ring, a nail, pull tab, etc, then just listen and learn the different tones, sound breaks, pitches, etc. it took me two years to find my first silver coin, a standing liberty quarter, 1918 but once I did and learned that sound the flood gates opened.

Thats kindof what I tried to do yesterday. The only problem is I could definitely hear the broken beep of the nails and some aluminum but the pitches of the steel pennies, the dime, a piece of the watch, etc all sound the same to me. I dont know if its because I am deaf in one ear and cant hear things in stereo or if it is just the function of a lower end detector... maybe someone knows the answer to that.

 

[The Dig Dig]

Does your machine have a screen or meter? That's where a reading of the tone comes into play. Because the pennies, dimes, pieces of a watch, etc could all be considered worth digging. If you want to limit those digs you need a screen with digits or a meter so you can see where the reading is at

 

[tlcro]

It has a sensitivity meter with a needle that moves varying degrees...