I am curious as to what numbers your detectors are putting up for gold rings.. mine is showing mid to high 40's out of 99... This seems on the low side to me, but maybe I am just looking at it wrong...
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
First off all detectors report on the conductivity of the target and gold rings are alloyed with many metals so the numbers are different. Add to this the orientation in the ground, moisture and about what color socks your wearing that day. Most gold rings come in near pull tab but they can also be near foil even iron up to quarter and higher. Best to lay some down and go over them in the Pro mode to learn what they sound like but for true tone ID you need a Excal or Sov GT at $$$ more. Basicilly if it beeps, I dig it.
I have a friendly pawn shop near me and I went in there with my 1350. I asked them to let me wave various gold rings and other items at the coil so I could get the ranges down. On the 1350 the platinum and gold rings that they had on hand rang in at 3.5 to 5.5. They didn't have any gold bars so I couldn't check out the gold cache readings. Maybe you could do the same thing...
Myself i really don't pay any attention to the numbers on a detector . Don't have any on my sovereign...........On the AT Pro i also go by the sound never did worry about what number was what........
No metal detector can indicate gold rings very accurately on the ID scale. Gold rings offer too broad of a range and are too similar to alum trash. Use depth and experience using your ears to pull deep old gold and goodies whilst eliminating needless retrieval of alum trash and such. Dig it all for the full metal detecting lesson.
I know this is provocative. Guys find 100 plus rings a season. I have a hard time finding one a season, and I dig all midrange 4" or deeper with hot machines hoping for the best. Success at gold ring retrieval is an enigma, wrapped up in a mystery, all stuffed deep inside a riddle.
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
I used to find many gold rings a season when I hunted the coast beaches where fingers get slippery. Now with all the competion a lot of the ground has been sifted. We still have the newbies that are almost running along the beach swinging like it was a grass whip and six inches off the ground and wonder why they don't find anything. Many are just using to much disc and improper coil control or a small coil. They have to remember that the field depth at the bottom of the field is maybe only 2" round so if they aren't over lapping a lot they are going to miss a lot of targets. Then too stopping to dig coins wastes time which could be better spent sweeping for the rings.
You should always check the true detection pattern under each coil (Garrett imaging ones are especially interesting).
Many concentrics will detect outside the width of the coil and remain wide at depth (think of a squashed balloon).
Few Double D's do detect at the full width at depth.
Picture is gold rings + a few silver from my trip abroad a few weeks back. Many have cracks where they have been cut down or increased in size and the difference this makes to depth and I.D. is amazing. Better to use pulse or the likes of a Sovereign as conductivity results are so skewed by target size, relationship to the bottom of the coil and the mineralisation of the ground/beach.