Advice on finding nickels

[Murray8144]

I hunt in northern NJ, and all the sites I hit are very trashy, and have been hit hard over the years. But i'm thinking it's much more likely for folks to have pulled high tones, leaving the nickels. Problem is that i've about pulled a million pull tabs, a few clad nickels, no silver.

Is there a trick to differentiating between tabs and nickels?

 

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[MasonRoberson]

I used to rarely find nickels but as soon as I got the AT Pro I found tons of nickels.

 

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[park pirate]

I hunt in northern NJ (parks, occasionally schools), and all the sites I hit are very trashy, and have been hit hard over the years. But i'm thinking it's much more likely for folks to have pulled high tones, leaving the nickels. Problem is that i've about pulled a million pull tabs, a few clad nickels, no silver.

Is there a trick to differentiating between tabs and nickels?

pulltabs come in higher then nickels, i have found hundreds of old nickels over the years, the best way is to do an air test run a nickel over the coil and make a mental note where it comes up on the screen, its not a full proof , you will dig beaver tails, and other things that come in like nickels, but you will better your chances, and a much better chance of finding gold...

 

[icemncmth]

I was with a friend yesterday and he has more money than brains. He has a V3i and proably hasn't spend any time learning how to use the darn thing. We went to a park by his house for an hour. (about all the time he wants to spend doing anything) He passed up all sorts of tones and only dug a few things. Came up with a few pennies. I was right behind him about 10 yards and hit the same spots. I came up with several nickels and a couple quarters. He kept saying...I only dig up pure tones. I was getting very good tones and dug what he didn't. Now I dug up several pull tabs but way more coins than he did. He said he has never found a nickel. I dig up a lot of junk but really I'm having fun so who cares how many pull tabs I dig up. It is that one silver dollar that makes it all worth while.

 

[clv]

Well on my MX5 a nickle is always 20 on the vdi and the pull is always 22 .... so far.... this last 10 months

 

[cudamark]

I hunt in northern NJ (parks, occasionally schools), and all the sites I hit are very trashy, and have been hit hard over the years. But i'm thinking it's much more likely for folks to have pulled high tones, leaving the nickels. Problem is that i've about pulled a million pull tabs, a few clad nickels, no silver.

Is there a trick to differentiating between tabs and nickels?

It's best not to even try, assuming you want to find gold rings and older coins. If you're trying to do this in a trashy park, I salute you! Unless I know there are old coins there, I tend to ignore low conductors. I'd rather hunt more gold productive areas like a swimming beach, than clean the trash from a modern park on the off chance I get a gold ring. Now, if the park is OLD, and you want to find Buffs, V's and Shields, you're going to have to dig tons of tabs. The only advice I can give on that is to start by digging only deep signals.....depths where other old coins are being found.

 

[GA_Boy]

Pulltabs on my A T are usually 53 but sometimes are 51 to 55. Nickels are almost always a steady 52 .

OK, now you can tell a nickel from a pull tab------------where does gold and silver rings fit in? By not digging the 53,54,and 55 are you missing any rings? Just curious.
Marvin

 

[CladMoonRising]

In addition to the challenges of discrimination, I'll bet fewer nickels are lost in the first place. If you kept enough change in your pocket to pay exact change on any amount, you'd have 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 4 pennies . . . and only 1 nickel. So when you dig your car keys out of your pocket and a coin accidentally falls out, there's only a 1 in 10 chance it's a nickel.

BTW, last week I found my oldest nickel -- a 1900 Liberty V. It rang in the "gold" (& pull tab) range on my E-Trac so I dug it and was pleasantly surprised!

 

[RobRieman]

In addition to the challenges of discrimination, I'll bet fewer nickels are lost in the first place. If you kept enough change in your pocket to pay exact change on any amount, you'd have 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 4 pennies . . . and only 1 nickel. So when you dig your car keys out of your pocket and a coin accidentally falls out, there's only a 1 in 10 chance it's a nickel.

BTW, last week I found my oldest nickel -- a 1900 Liberty V. It rang in the "gold" (& pull tab) range on my E-Trac so I dug it and was pleasantly surprised!

Who keeps exact change in their pocket to make change? The only change I have is what is giving to me from paper money given to me that day. What do you do with all the extra nickels then?

 

[CladMoonRising]

Who keeps exact change in their pocket to make change?

Nobody, ha, ha. But if a cashier gave you change for breaking a dollar, he'd only give you one nickel max. He wouldn't give you two nickels because he'd give you a dime instead. Conversely, he might give you up to 3 quarters, 2 dimes and 4 pennies. Obviously I need to spend more time looking for nickels than justifying why I'm not finding many :-)

 

[RobRieman]

Nobody, ha, ha. But if a cashier gave you change for breaking a dollar, he'd only give you one nickel max. He wouldn't give you two nickels because he'd give you a dime instead. Conversely, he might give you up to 3 quarters, 2 dimes and 4 pennies. Obviously I need to spend more time looking for nickels than justifying why I'm not finding many :-)

Now that makes much better sense!
I really do think the reason is exactly what you said in the last sentence. People just don't go looking for nickels and pennies for that matter. They want to find that nice shiny piece of silver that's worth so much more and who could blame them. Try it sometime if you can stand it, go to a school and look for nickels. It is unreal how many you can find and how little gold you will find too

 

[Backstrap80]

There are machines that are 95% accurate on pulltabs to nickels. The xterra 705 can be seen doing it on youtube by Gerrys detectors. I say 95% as folded or non flat ones will produce a lower #. My Xterra can ID nickels to 3-4" at 12 or 14 depending on the mineralization and pulltabs (newer ones) will bounce 12-14 or 14-16. I used the gold coil. any deeper and you have to use some skill. However, in my personal experience, nickels and gold are under the bottle caps and pull tabs. clean em up..

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Well on my MX5 a nickle is always 20 on the vdi and the pull is always 22 .... so far.... this last 10 months

Same on the M6, a nickel is 20 or less and a pull tab is above 20. But the metal pencile eraser tops read The same as a nickel.

 

[Pinball]

I went out to a park today that I have hit a couple of times before and told myself that I would dig everything 45 and above on my AT Pro. I thought I could tell a nickel from a pulltab 95% of the time...boy was I wrong! I missed lots of nickels and other small items. I have had the AT Pro for almost a full year now and I guess I just don't know as much as I thought I did. Those display numbers are nice but I think thay have made me a little digging lazy. I am going to try and remember to dig even the iffy targets when spring gets here so that I can find that first gold ring...and a pocket full of nickels. DIG EVERYTHING DIG EVERYTHING DIG EVERYTHING ... now I should remember it.

 

[cudamark]

If you're going to dig everything in an park, I salute you! You have way more dedication than I do!

 

[RobRieman]

If you're going to dig everything in an park, I salute you! You have way more dedication than I do!

At least he won't have to worry about ever finding another site to hunt.


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[xr7ator]

Nickels come in as low as 40 on my at pro. I dug a buffalo at only 3 inches that was hitting solid 40 both directions in a clean spot. (no trash around it)
Also, with 15 war nickels in my pile this year, I can tell you that they hit higher and often up to 60.

Yea...I dig some pull tabs, for sure.

HH ALL

 

[Escape]

If you're going to dig everything in an park, I salute you! You have way more dedication than I do!

It takes more then dedication. Strong knees and back required.

 

[T.C.]

Same on the M6, a nickel is 20 or less and a pull tab is above 20. But the metal pencile eraser tops read The same as a nickel.

My M6 is the same way Msbeepbeep. I spank my partner in the nickel count...and he's got a V3i!!