BEACH HUNTING IN MYRTLE BEACH, SC

[Swanie1]

My Wife and I will be vacationing in Myrtle Beach in October, 2010, and I plan to try my luck at detecting on the beach.
I will be using an older Garrett Seahunter XL500, pulse unit. I'm trying to figure out which size coil to use for the wet and dry sand and not in the water. I have the small 8" and large 13" coils. What are some suggestions as to which coil I should hunt with? I have not done much salt beach hunting and need some good advice. :?:

 

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[petersra]

Take a sampling of your and your wife's nicest gold jewelry (thin band with diamonds or other stones, heavy wedding band or other heavy ring like a class ring, gold chains of various link sizes, etc.) out side and air test both coils or bury them and pour salt water over the dirt and let it settle. Every detector is different, so only you can decide which coil is best. However, you may find that the bigger coil will find the bigger gold at greater distance from the coil than the smaller coil, but that larger coil may not see the thin diamond ring as deeply as the smaller coil will. If that is what you determine, then you will have to decide which targets your are most interested in and pick the coil that worked the best for those targets. I use a White's Dual Field PI unit with an 11" coil most of the time. I did accidentally find a small gold earring when I was digging up a steel nut with that coil. However, I almost thru it away thinking it was plastic when the coil almost had to touch the earring to make any sound at all. However, when I got home I found a 14k marking on the earring and I tried my 10" Tiger Shark detector. The Tiger Shark saw the earring at 8" and I was blown away. I am sure I am missing lots of loot with my PI unit with 11" coil, but then I will never know what I missed, so I don't worry about it too much. Just make a decision on which coil to use based on the best information you can come up with and enjoy the hunt. I would definitely take both coils with me on the trip. Ralph