setup for civil war relics

[vabuckhunter]

What's the best program and setup for bullets and buttons? I hunted with a buddy using an at gold the other day and he dug over a dozen bullets and I didn't dig the first one. There could be a bunch of reasons but when he would get a good I'd try and hear it but couldn't. I tried many different settings and programs but wouldn't hit any of them. Is the etrac not good for bullets?

 

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[DiggerinVA]

I bet he already had them bullets in his pocket. ;-)

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

You should have no problem finding bullets if they are there. Bullets are lead, unless your discriminating them out you should see them...

 

[vabuckhunter]

I have thought about that on a few different occasions diggerinva

 

[Pointman]

I almost always carry my CTX and it has been awhile since I've dug really old bullets. Seems like they ring in around 12.30-12.40. Somewhere in that range. The Etrac would be similar in the readings. If you are able to find zinc pennies with the Etrac, then you should also be finding bullets.

 

[DiggerinVA]

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I almost always carry my CTX and it has been awhile since I've dug really old bullets. Seems like they ring in around 12.30-12.40. Somewhere in that range. The Etrac would be similar in the readings. If you are able to find zinc pennies with the Etrac, then you should also be finding bullets.

The fact is that in this particular field, i dont know if it would find a penny because it was only giving a iron grunt on these bullets. The mineralization of the soil is pretty nasty as the AT pro acted very similar. And my AT gold would only find these bullets in the all-metal mode. Average depth of these bullets was around 8" with some being a little deeper....but the soil is nasty.

 

[XL-PRO PRO]

Red dirt is basically iron rich.This really skews the fe numbers on the Etrac.What I've found is to run relic mode,watch the cursor and pay more attention to the lower conductive numbers.Nails seem to ring in at 35/45,so I'll dig any lower conductive numbers and check the cursor.If you get co of 10-36,dig it.I still dig an occasional rusty or oddly shaped piece of iron,but I am making a few good finds from this well hunted field.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Red dirt is basically iron rich.This really skews the fe numbers on the Etrac.What I've found is to run relic mode,watch the cursor and pay more attention to the lower conductive numbers.Nails seem to ring in at 35/45,so I'll dig any lower conductive numbers and check the cursor.If you get co of 10-36,dig it.I still dig an occasional rusty or oddly shaped piece of iron,but I am making a few good finds from this well hunted field.

Agreed but not all red dirt is highly mineralized. We have some here in OK that is not. Minelab Metal Detectors generally do a great job handling the mineralization. Where did you have your discrimination setup? I would open it up more in an open filed.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

I'm thinking your issues were entirely due to the hot soils of VA. In years past when I only had the Etrac in my arsenal I tried it in that hot soil.... in some areas beyond about 5" it didn't hear it at all...as in no signal!.... Then later I'd move about 100 yards from that spot it found them at 10". That didn't matter if it was an open screen, auto sensitivitiy, manual sensitivity... that spot (like many in the area) was just too mineralized. In the hotest of soils the auto sensitivity dropped to a 7!

I've also seen the AT Gold in person hit a 10" bullet really hard in the nasty Culpeper soil (different spot) - but it read a "00" on the screen! It was a strong signal on my GPX and a friend wanted to see what a bullet sounded like.... To be honest I was shocked he could hear it. Unfortunately for him he dug all of those signals and found about 20 nails and one bullet at that depth....

It seems that the FBS machines don't take to those specific VA hot soils as well as some other locations in the country... I've dug bullets at 12-14" depths with ease in other places with the Etrac.

 

[DiggerinVA]

All I know is I couldn't be happier with my new AT gold....thanks again Keith.

 

[Mach1Pilot]

Glad to be of help!