Ace 250 discrimination question

[Mitzki5]

I am not experienced at detecting. Seems like I was finding a lot of trash. I set my Ace 250 to discriminate all but the top 4 selections. Seems like I am finding mostly newer coins. Am I making a mistake and going to miss a lot of good stuff?

 

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[Pointman]

I will not necessarily discriminate out everything but the top items. Without looking at a machine, you can start losing nickels, gold and possibly some Indian Head pennies and zinc pennies. If you are finding modern coins, then you are doing things correctly. My advice is to find old areas and houses. Learn what/how a coin reacts and also how to distinguish deeper items. For example, today I was able to pull some neat items in a yard that was probably flooded because the modern coins were averaging 5 inches. I read the yard and went to the shallower areas of dirt and listened for the faint targets. i was able to pull 4 wheats and 3 silver as a result.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

You are also skipping over any smaller gold item like women' rings.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[IBdiggin]

Wayne is correct. If you find a round small milk bottle seal which is foil, and check it with your detector you will notice which icon in your display lights up . That signal is very close to what a small gold ring would register at. Lots of jewelry will come in at the nickel and tab range. Just dig solid and reoccurring signals If the icon jumps around and appears to be indecisive it is either junk or nearly out of the depth range of the detector. Also wet ground will allow you to detect deeper since continuity is better when ground is wet. Hope this helps-------IB

 

[Beepndig]

I have ace 350 and would recommend at least coin mode instead of just top signals. I take a close look at anything that beeps more than once when in coin mode . It's a lot of discrimination and you will certainly pass up good targets only digging perfect signals , but you won't dig a ton of trash only digging the perfect signals either. Most jewelry I have have found rings consistently one bar under a nickle. Zinc pennies will ring slightly under the penny mark on the ID and copper pennies will ring as a penny or above. Nickels and bottle caps can be difficult. Nickels will might jump around a little on the ID, and pull tabs will jump all over in depth and I'd. I have also noticed that my machine will sometimes think a tiny piece of foil on the surface is a deeper coin, or a deeper aluminum can is a shallow coin. You can usually pic out the fact that the can is a larger object than a coin with the pin pointer and the shallow foil will jump around on the depth meter..... Hunt in jewelry mode for as long as you have patients for and see what you can learn by digging all your signals. Once your tired and frustrated , switch to coin mode and listen for slot machine ....ding , ding , ding..... For the most part, ace series detectors are meant to simplify things and might not offer a ton of feedback, but you will become more efficient with some time on the machine. I found my first silver dime today, and it rang up in the dime range on the id consistently and depth was spot on. So, that dime would have been detected in coin mode without any special knowledge or metal detecting skills. Just a matter of getting the right target under the coil. Happy hunting and keep diggin.

 

[lookindown]

I am not experienced at detecting. Seems like I was finding a lot of trash. I set my Ace 250 to discriminate all but the top 4 selections. Seems like I am finding mostly newer coins. Am I making a mistake and going to miss a lot of good stuff?

What do you want to find?...gold, silver or both?

 

[sandtrout]

Well, first...make a test garden. No yard? Make one at your local park (indiscreetly) with a hand trowel and measure with a ruler before you bury the coin (or piece of metal). The Ace is a great toy right out of the box but...after 100+ hours it becomes more of a learned tool. Be aware that with the 250 you lose a bit of depth when you discriminate anything but...you only lose that small amount whether you discriminate out on block (there's 12 black blocks) or all of them and just want to dig by sight...you don't lose additional depth. Look up my past posts. There's a chart in one of them that I made for my 250 in MY local conditions and you can use it to make your own. I still use it all the time. My ACE 250 has paid for everything including a Tesoro Vaquero that I use every where else when I'm not at a park but my ACE I still use exclusively for parks as I'm mostly a park hunter. My hunting method today: When I get to a NEW park I put it in the JEWELRY mode but...I ONLY dig the first 2 inches, nothing deeper! Weird, huh? I'm mostly looking for things ON TOP like things freshly fallen like pocket spills and jewelry that may have fallen and been stepped on. In my early days I was digging up what ended up to be a clad (and rusted out) zinc penny while 20 feet to my right 2 kids were walking buy and found a pocket spill...I learned my lesson! So now I look for stuff on top first (or what others can see with their naked eye) then I hunt for things deeper. Then I'll go through and clean-it-out. It can take 2 days the first time through and a couple of weeks the 2nd time through. After that, I'll return a year (or less) later and only hunt the top 2 inches again but never go deeper.
If you're inexperienced then you're going to have to dig everything at first to learn your machine. I use the cheapo Garrett headphones...that "bong-bong" noise is too much of a kid magnet and I want to be left alone. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. It was supposed to be my "starter" machine. It ended up being my only PARK machine...I know it pretty well. The VAQ is for old homesteads, barns, or farms and ranches, hot soils, or when I want to go deeper than 6 - 8 inches. Most of the time, 6" is plenty for me. ALL OF MY JEWELRY has been at 3" or less!!!!!