How low of VDI do you dig when relic hunting?

[ASE]

I'm new to all of this and will be detecting on a piece of land that hasn't been built on nor heavily used. I'm mostly looking for Civil War and Indian artifacts so I was curious how low of a VDI should I dig and should I only dig on good, solid signals or any little iron blip? There shouldn't be many (if any) nails, cans, tabs, etc...but who knows.

Any tips are appreciated!

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

If you're digging for relics ground balance and dig any repeating hit.

 

[relic nut]

The only way to learn what your machine is telling you is to dig every single. The VDI will be different on the same object at different depths and it depends on what is near it or the way it lays. I listen to the sounds mostly. If you are at a good place and are relic hunting you need to dig it all. That's the only way to learn and be sure. It takes time to learn the language. I'd rather dig trash than miss a small/deep eagle button. I discrimanat some but it depends on were I'm hunting. If I were you I would learn the whole language first. But that's just me.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

There's a lot of relicky sites I hunt, where I pass very small flitty foil-type signals. I just depends , of course, because if it's a super deeep signal, then it could be something that's just a factor of not locking on (TID's start to wain on very deep targets). But if it's a shallow sure-fire flitty birdshot pellet sized fleck, that I'm certain is gonna be a wadded gum-wrapper at best, then I often pass them.

For the beach, I dig them, because they can be wadded up chains or an earing stud, etc...

 

[CoilyGirl]

I use to rely on VDI numbers when I first started metal detecting but then decided to go all metal mode most of the time because VDI numbers don't mean much necessarily unless you're solely coin shooting. I think you should dig everything.

 

[ASE]

I've got an AT Pro that I set to Pro Zero (no discrim)...I ground balance and go from there. My biggest concern is the birdshot pellets like Tom_in_CA mentioned. I've already found some shotgun shells..so I'm sure those pellets are eager to waste my time out there. lol

 

[OWK]

most every site I relic hunt is nail-infested, so I dig from 25 on up.

If it's big iron, I get a higher VDI anyway.

 

[Tedyoh]

most every site I relic hunt is nail-infested, so I dig from 25 on up.

I dug a shield nickel that rang up 28 on my ATP, it had (at least one) a square nail in the hole with it.