Vaquero and rusty iron

[Eleven Cents]

I just got a new Vaquero with the 8x11 widescan. Most metals including new steel bottle caps disc out where they should. But even slightly rusty steel caps give a loud clear signal with disc at max. Is this normal?

 

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[HighVDI]

All DD coils seem to fail the rusty bottle cap test. Normal IMO.

 

[KennyD]

With the 8x11 coil you can push the pinpoint button and if sounds off around the edge of the coil, it's probably a cap. Coins only sound off when the center of the coil passes over it.
This check works 99% of the time on my black vaquero w/DD coil

 

[Eleven Cents]

if sounds off around the edge of the coil, it's probably a cap.

I did an air test and I see what you mean. In all metal mode, the cap causes a positive response as it comes near the edge of the coil. A clad dime gives a negative response, diminishing the threshold hum. Great tip, thanks!

 

[jld66]

Get this online book for $10, it's helpful.

 

[Eleven Cents]

I have that book. I don't think it mentions this issue in particular, or KennyD's solution.

Now I'm wondering if you can obtain more information by coming at the target from the send vs. receive side of your coil. More testing is in order!

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Im glad someone posted this as I was dealing alot with this last year alote. Remembering most importantly where you are searching.. it is still important to dig most of your signals as you still don't want to discrimnate out jewerly itmes as gold rings they seem to disguise themselves and like rusty bottle caps from what I have read listening to the outside part of the 11x8 makes ssense as I was trying this technique and wonder how it works on the 5.75 con. I will test in spring with rusty caps with fine gold jewerly between the two coils in soil vs dry to moderately wet sand and note my results.

I will continulely work threshold, sensitivity with re-ground ballancing too, I believe you don't want sensitivity high at all without loosing a certain amount of deepth especialy with the 5.75 coil but more with the 11x8 here. More imoportantly when you are dealing with tot parks, and especially beaches are famous for this.. hoping to turn up the odd ring instead of rusty old bottle cap this year. It is the sand where I get hit alot with rust bottle caps which most detectorist can understand also including high iron in hot rocks and ocassional black sand if you are in different basins or river beds so drop that sensitivity I think and listen more to the tone of the signal still and you will greater your chances hitting jewerly and older clad especially at beaches and tot sandy park areas.

 

[Eleven Cents]

I ran into another mention of bottle caps being a problem for DDs. It seems to be common knowledge among old timers. Now I'm curious about the science behind it. What makes bottle caps (and apparently small rusty nails) act that way, but not other iron? One of my test targets is a big rusty nut, and it discs out like it should. Maybe it's the large mass of metallic iron inside it, where the smaller things are made of a higher percentage of rust.

 

[jld66]

Every spring I hit an area behind a small mall where all the snow from the parking lot is pushed and dumped right after it's melted. A clad and junk jewelry honey hole with just about every kind of trash a detector will hit on. I think it's a real good proving grounds for any detector and coil. The 8x9 coil does an ok job, the 5.75 conc. works really well, and the 8x11 failed miserably with flying colors on my vaquero there. Though i'm no detecting expert but do have a number of hours using all 3 of those coils with a vaquero. I do prefer the concentric coils, the 8x9 and 5.75. I have said before that, with my limited experience compared to some, that the 8x9 coil has hit everything that the 8x11 would have and it does discriminate better. The disc with the 5.75 conc. is just amazing in my opinion. If I had to choose only one coil between those three, it would be the 8x9 though. Just found it to be the better all round coil.

 

[Eleven Cents]

Just wanted to follow up and say you guys were right about this being a DD thing. I just got a 5.75 concentric for park hunting and it discs out those rusty bottle caps no problem.