Coinshooting - OLD coin method

[JOE(USA)]

I learned this back in the 1970s (I started metal detecting in 1967) IF you find an OLD coin - - - - - - try this! Turn your discriminator OFF! If you have one of the newer detectors that always has SOME discrimination then you have the WRONG detector. Then start detecting again exactly where you found the old coin. But did I hear you say that "now I'm going to find a lot of JUNK." thats right! Remember this, the junk that your discriminator eliminates is also MASKING the good targets! If the coins are on the same depth level and separated by several inches, perhaps not, But that is a senario that I don't want to subscribe to. Dig the junk, when you are in a good spot, and you will find more old coins after you remove it. Joe

 

[hollowpointred]

good advise!

 

[BuckleBoy]

You're right about that one! I turned my disc. way down below iron and bagged a nice eagle button from a Civil War campsite that was surrounded by nails. Ultimately in trashy areas this technique is a must if any good finds have come up from the site.

-Buckleboy

 

[NorCal 6er]

I would do that with my Fisher 1220 and 1225x got alot of junk but would pay off in the end.

I like your banner
GL HH
Joe

 

[bazinga]

I've got some old parks here in town that are each 100 years old. I welcome you to come and try that no discrimination method and dig everything. You won't travel 100 feet during the whole day.

 

[dahut]

I hear what you are saying Sco, and I agree. I think what HE is saying is that once you come across what you consider a good spot (mostly through the luck of actually hitting something good through whatever may be already there)... well, then plan to stay there and work it till you've dug the mother from the earth. That's exactly what you hit on, from a different angle. You will not get far, if you follow this advice. And that's not a bad thing - after all what's the rush?

Surely you know about your instrument's 'detection cone'? Even your Minelab has one. If you arent able to do what he suggests, you will in fact never get your "2 inches of detection" down to where the good old coins may be lying. The one caveat is just what YOU bring up: the trash will have to go first.

Use what I call the Tiered Approach. There are layers of soil/trash beneath your feet - I think of them sort of like a parfait dessert, if you will. If you want that yummy chocolate coated cookie at the bottom of the glass, then you are forced to work through each layer, from the top down. Only when you have cleared one tier can you move to the ones below it.

 

[ClonedSIM]

I hear what you are saying Sco, and I agree. I think what HE is saying is that once you come across what you consider a good spot (mostly through the luck of actually hitting something good through whatever may be already there)... well, then plan to stay there and work it till you've dug the mother from the earth. THat's hwat you hit on, from a different angle. You will not get far if you follow this advice. Here's why.

Surely you know about detection cones? If you arent able to do what he suggests, you will in fact never get your "2 inches of detection" down to where the good old coins may be lying. The one caveat is just what YOU bring up: the trash will have to go first.

Use what I call the Tiered Approach. There are layers of soil/trash beneath your feet - I think of them sort of like a parfait dessert, if you will. If you want that yummy chocolate coated cookie at the bottom of the glass, then you are forced to work through each layer, from the top down. Only when you have cleared one tier can you move to the ones below it.

Bravo! I see my desserts...um...parks...the same way. I just like to tell myself, at the end of the day, that the pouchful of trash is that much less to dig through on the next trip. They can't all be pop-tabs, right?

 

[bazinga]

I'm sure this method worked great back in the day, but these days you can't really do that. You would never get off your hands and knees in the parks around here and I bet you wouldn't have more than maybe one wheat penny to show for your efforts at the end of the day, if that.

You shouldn't have to turn off all discrimination if you know your machine.

Some days I will have 10 old coins in my pouch and less then 10 pieces of trash while my hunting partners will have 30 pieces of trash and no old coins. Why? Because I know my machine and they don't know theirs.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Good comment JOE.

I too go back to the old BFO and TR days. My first machines were all-metal only but I learned to listen for certain sounds. I dug lots of old coins and rings in those days.

Then when the discriminators came along I got lazy like everybody else. I started trusting the electronics instead of my ears and brain and my finds dropped way off.

I know what you're saying Joe. You're not talking about walking a whole park digging everything. You're saying when a good target is dug, work that one small area and dig everything. This is an old trick and it always worked for us in the old days.

How many times on here I've read the comments of finders who write: "I dug this large cent near the place where I dug that large cent last year" (or words to this affect). It happens all the time. Often there are reasons why even just one old coin is where it is.

I'm now using a machine that has an excellent all-metal mode (few do today) and I'm using it by itself more and more. I'm gradually getting more back to the old ways. They won't work everywhere due to tremendous trash but they work great at more sites than one might first think.

Don't be discouraged Joe and keep posting. We need your kind here.

Badge

 

[dahut]

Man you have some sort of good sites, then Sco! ANd I bet they arent tapped yet, either. Try this tomorrow with a silver dime:

1. On clean ground, place a gooder coin UNDER a screwcap, large foil wad, hunk of roof flashing or piece of iron pipe; whatever common trash your friends are finding. Then tell how your detector reports that combined target.

2. Next, stack some books about 5" high. Place some more hunks of that trash near the edge of the books and just below it, place another good coin flat on the ground. And then tell how that combination was reported.

Your results may very well determine what I buy NEXT season. Thanks, man.

 

[bazinga]

Man you have some sort of good sites, then Sco! ANd I bet they arent tapped yet, either. Try this tomorrow with a silver dime:

1. On clean ground, place a gooder coin UNDER a screwcap, large foil wad, hunk of roof flashing or piece of iron pipe; whatever common trash your friends are finding. Then tell how your detector reports that combined target.

2. Next, stack some books about 5" high. Place some more hunks of that trash near the edge of the books and just below it, place another good coin flat on the ground. And then tell how that combination was reported.

Your results may very well determine what I buy NEXT season. Thanks, man.

If you put a coin underneath a piece of trash it is probably going to find the piece of trash and not combine the two signals at all.

As for #2, it will read the trash as one signal and the coin as another signal. I've dug LOTS of coins next to trash and nails. Usually at least once per trip out I make a good find of a coin in the same hole with one or more nails. And these have all been coins that other metal detectors could not find either because the trash told them it was a bad signal or it was simply too deep for their machines to see.

 

[ClonedSIM]

I used to use an Explorer XS and I can back bscofield up on this one. I once due a wheat from almost 9 inches down with the XS. An iron nail was sitting across the coin and actually damaged the cent enough to leave a depression in the face of the coin, but it still rang out well enough I felt comfortable digging 9 inches to see what it was.

 

[dahut]

Ive done the same, dug a coin in the hole with trash.

What Im suggesting in my #2, is to stagger the targets vertically, with the trash in the predominant position.
Most old, deep coins which are in trashy sites are BELOW the heavy modern trash level, masked if you will by the surface trash.

My point in all this "experimentation" is to carry that to extreme, illustrating the need to clear off the surface trash to see what lies beneath. If you are finding deep gooders in such an environment, I suspect its due to gaps, or "funnels" between the trash, which allow you to get your 2" onto the target.

Obviously youre gonna need some good target separation, or a small coil, too, but we'll go there another time.

 

[bazinga]

Clearing out the surface trash in 100+ acre parks just isn't possible.

 

[dahut]

I gotta agree with you Sco. Youre sorta left to funnel pick, I guess. I have a fairgrounds here I hunt week after week and its onyl 5-8 acres!
But do you think you might go ahead and try my staggered book test with your Minelab? Id like to hear the results. By the way, thanks for all your input.

 

[bazinga]

Well if the items are staggered but not directly on top of each other then the minelab will pick out each target differently. That's because an explorer uses a double d coil and not a cone shaped one. It detects down the center of the coil for the length of it.

But of course that only works if you hit the targets from the correct angle and why if you are in a good spot you should grid it from each direction.

But when I am in smaller areas that are producing some nice old coins then I do a lot more junk digging.

Just this past week I hunted the same 20x15' area on 3 different days using different settings each day. 2 other inexperienced explorer users went over it and dug some wheats and tokens and a garret gti1500 went over it without finding a single coin.

I got 7 indian heads, 15+ wheats, mercury dime, silver war nickel, v nickel, token, and some modern clad.

 

[dahut]

I may need to look at the Minelab!

 

[Dick from IA]

Great thread, Joe. Thanks for starting it.

I've only been at it for less than 2 years and have already become "discrimation dependent", and as a result my good finds have dropped significantly.

I can see where the Tesoro "tones only hunters" are coming from. The visuals on my machines end up dominating my time and control decision making. When I first began I dug most everything out of curiosity and actually did better.

Think I need to use my ears more than my eyes

DFIU

 

[kd8hf]

What a great thread, thanks for posting this.

It sure is funny what we do or don't do after a while, I had forgotten all about this.

 

[JOE(USA)]

You Guys,

Thanks for all the good words about my thread. (Always someone that has to find fault!) I am always thinking about angles to doing better detecting. Using different machines (which I love to do) makes It harder. The way I look at it is all aspects of detecting are fun not just what I find. Joe