Beach Pinpointing

[whiteriver23]

I know this has probably been covered a couple hundred times but,
just wondering how many of you beach hunters use a pinpointer?
I noticed the last time out having a terrible time locating a target.
We've got a mixture of sand, clay and gravel, the gravel makes
it hard to dig and the clay sticks to targets making visibility a
shot in the dark.
JP

 

[kiana7]

I do especially if I'm going over a small target & I Can't see it ,love my Garrett PP,net is to get a water proof one,,HH

 

[cdv1]

JP, I normally don't carry mine with me when water hunting but I do have a spot that has conditions like you describe and I do take it with me then. Mostly, I use a floating sifter in that spot and use the pinpointer in the sifter but if you are dealing with waves too, that makes it a little harder to use a sifter. IF you are in the wet sand, the pinpointer works good but when using a scoop in the water, the scoop metal will make a pinpointer next to useless unless you walk the scoop to shore and dump the load.... then it will come in handy. For really small targets in the wet and dry sand, the pinpointer will help but takes more time to use. Most of the really small targets just aren't worth the extra time involved to find them. BB's, small bits of iron and foil is what you probably will find most of the times.... of course you could end up missing a gold stud earring or earring back.

Cliff

 

[hamiddetecting]

Im never use pinpointer in my life detection.

 

[fenixdigger]

We used to take a Frisbee to put the dig in and scan. Earring backs were a pain.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I dont carry one either.... Never had a target that took much time to recover once i got it out of the ground at the beach. I do use one whn I am land hunting, but not when I water hunt...

 

[whiteriver23]

I understand what your saying but, we don't have sand like you find along
the gulf or ocean side. It's a few inches of sand covering red clay & gravel.
Go deep enough & you end up with clay compacted in the scoop with some
gravel mixed in for good measure. Then separate the clay/gravel with your
fingers and hope you stumble across the target. Naturally, 80% of the time
you end up with a pull tab making the whole exercise really frustrating.
That's why I'm thinking about a pinpointer, maybe help me figure out
which wad of clay has the goodies. The other consideration, red clay
has a tendency to discolor whatever it comes in contact with, try looking
for a dirty bronze colored penny in red clay, makes you crazy!
JP

 

[cdv1]

" red clay has a tendency to discolor whatever it comes in contact with, try looking
for a dirty bronze colored penny in red clay, makes you crazy!"

Yup..... I know what you are going through.... nothin like wet clay oozing between your fingers while you try to find the target..

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

I use the side (not the tip) of a Garret Pro Pointer to rapidly retrieve detected shallow objects with a composit (not metal) bend over scoop without even bothering to pin point with my VLF detector while hunting on dry sand at the beach.

I use the tip (not the side) of the same pointer, as a sanity check/back up , when retrieving with a stand up metallic scoop. Mostly, when I encounter deep large items (in dry and wet sand at the beach) which overload my VLF detector. As the tip of the Garret Pro Point will usually alarm over the same area as the saturated VLF detector, I know that it is not an EMI problem, and can rapidly determine that none of the sand removed contained metal while digging to the target.

I do not know if it is the nature of such heavily corroded large metal objects or if my Garrett Pro Pointer is supper sensitive but this pin pointer has alarmed on retrieved objects as deep as three feet ( I can reach to 2 1/2 feet from the prone position, and the Pro Pointer is six to eight inches long) before starting to dig and alarmed all the way down to the target.

 

[dewcon4414]

Have u tried a sifter to dump your targets into? Might be just as fast and can be made with NON metal mesh ect. Several fresh water hunters use them. I only use a PPer when dirt hunting to speed up the process and helps to not do more damage to the spot. Other wise like you said down here in Fl its sand and we just shake it or kick it.

Dew

 

[SusanMN]

I use mine on mucky shorelines. I use a long handle spade to dig, kick it out with my foot and run the Propointer over it if the target isn't evident

 

[whiteriver23]

Dew,
Have not tried a sifter but, I think the clay content would stick to it &
just end up plugging the holes! I've almost convinced myself to get
a pinpointer. Just have to figure out which one. Kinda narrowed it
down to:
Garrett
Fisher
Minelab

JP