How to find iron relics in field with lots of junk iron?

Ironman80

Tenderfoot
Jul 17, 2018
6
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey all,

I have the opportunity to hunt a civil war battlefield and am primarily looking for iron relics. I am running an AT Pro and am getting overwhelmed with hunk iron...mostly nails. Is there a good way to isolate desirable iron and to avoid the junk? Do large chunks of iron show up higher in the target ID then the junk?

thanks,
John
 

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Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Dig, dig, dig. There is no way to separate junk iron from less junky iron.
 

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Ironman80

Tenderfoot
Jul 17, 2018
6
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So would I go with 0 discrimination and just go based on the strength and duration of signal to avoid nails and wire?
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Not familiar with the AT Pro, but with the detectors I have used: nails have a "pip" at either end, as does straight lengths of wire. I'd go "all metal" if I was after relics.

Typically I hunt sites that have had lots of farming (and no battles) and I avoid iron of any type.
 

Oct 5, 2014
31,886
35,424
Massachusetts
🥇 Banner finds
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🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
Garrett: AT Pro, AT Gold & Infinium; Minelab: Explorer SE, II; Simplex; Tesoro: Tejon & Outlaw; White's: V3i
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
IMHO: Run the machine in pro-zero (no Disc - sometimes I run Disc to 10) , max sensitivity and dig every repeatable signal even the faint ones. if your in a farm field, usually the digging is easier.

Good Luck; relic hunting means digging a lot of plugs/holes.
 

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Ironman80

Tenderfoot
Jul 17, 2018
6
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
IMHO: Run the machine in pro-zero (no Disc - sometimes I run Disc to 10) , max sensitivity and dig every repeatable signal even the faint ones. if your in a farm field, usually the digging is easier.

Good Luck; relic hunting means digging a lot of plugs/holes.

Thanks all. I generally run Iron Disc at 25 with everything else wide open and use iron audio to verify targets.

I found a big piece of canon ball this summer. If I remember right it showed up as ~70 on the target ID and it was down a good 8". Is that normal for large pieces of iron to show up outside of the iron range? If I am looking for big iron pieces should I be looking 40+?
 

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