Guess I'm gonna have to start digging everything...

DiamondDan · Oct 17, 2016

I was beginning to wonder why 9 times out of ten the coins I dig are 3-4 inches only. I have heard of tones dropping quite drastically with deeper targets, but after a bit of experimenting yesterday, let's just say I'm pretty shocked.

I buried several coins deeper than six inches, and while I could tell they were deep, I did not expect them to ring up in the iron range, and very iffy, at that. We have very hot soil here, and maybe that has something to do with it, but there's no doubt I have been missing a lot by digging solid mid and high tones most of the time. You learn something new every day I guess.

Crappy-sounding iron tones, here I come! :laughing7:

Tommybuckets · Oct 17, 2016

Yes its a dicey game when you are breaking the 8-10 inch mark. Tones and ID numbers are useless. The silhouette or amount of bleed into the surrounding ground should help a little with deciding to dig. In all metal its the way the target ramps up and drops off. Short tiny "hard" responses are what I go for. Its more time consuming and less productive but its how you find something unique. Good luck n happy hunting

beerguy · Oct 17, 2016

I remember when I realized that deep targets on my XLT were not iron as advertised.

I had to go over past sites all over again.

My CTX is very good at IDing the deep stuff, but I still take it with a grain of salt.

Old habits die hard.

nsdq · Oct 17, 2016

Nail the shallow stuff then go back hit the deep stuff is what i end up doing , IHP some times end up riging up as iron

Carolina Tom · Oct 17, 2016

The more holes you dig the more stuff you will get.

At first, I only dug the "good" signals. Hit in both directions, and made a good number. You do really well, but miss the deeper (older) stuff. If it repeats, dig it up is the best rule. If you go to modern trashy places this can backfire, as you will only dig trash, but at older places, dig it all. Every once in a while, you will remove something from the hole, only to discover something good hiding behind it. My one and only SLQ was hidden behind a couple of nails, it DID NOT sound like a coin, just a squeak, until I removed the big rusty nails from the hole!

MrMikeJackie · Oct 17, 2016

I started with an M6. Never found any coins over 4-5 inches myself. When I brought a guy to one of my spots and he started pulling silver 8-10 inches with his Etrac, I made the switch and never looked back.

DiamondDan · Oct 17, 2016

MrMikeJackie said:
I started with an M6. Never found any coins over 4-5 inches myself. When I brought a guy to one of my spots and he started pulling silver 8-10 inches with his Etrac, I made the switch and never looked back.

If only I had the disposable income....

I'm not dissatisfied with the depth performance of the M6, as it solidly pulled in a coin that I had buried at 8 inches, although advertising it with the incorrect tone lol. Now that I know what to expect from deep coins on this machine, I'm looking forward to digging everything I missed! Thanks for the comment.

MrMikeJackie · Oct 17, 2016

DiamondDan said:
If only I had the disposable income....

I'm not dissatisfied with the depth performance of the M6, as it solidly pulled in a coin that I had buried at 8 inches, although advertising it with the incorrect tone lol. Now that I know what to expect from deep coins on this machine, I'm looking forward to digging everything I missed! Thanks for the comment.

Are you using the standard 960 coil? If so try the Super 12. Much deeper.

DiamondDan · Oct 17, 2016

Tommybuckets said:
Yes its a dicey game when you are breaking the 8-10 inch mark. Tones and ID numbers are useless. The silhouette or amount of bleed into the surrounding ground should help a little with deciding to dig. In all metal its the way the target ramps up and drops off. Short tiny "hard" responses are what I go for. Its more time consuming and less productive but its how you find something unique. Good luck n happy hunting

Your advice about the "hard" responses makes perfect sense. That's what I'll listen for on my next hunt. Thanks!

Liu21 · Oct 18, 2016

Sometimes buying a bigger coil really helps with the deeper stuff..

DiamondDan · Oct 18, 2016

Liu21 said:
Sometimes buying a bigger coil really helps with the deeper stuff..

I'm using the stock 950 coil and it seems plenty deep. I can work around the innacurate readings on deeper targets; just have to dig the junky-sounding faint ones. I was actually considering getting some sort of smaller DD coil, as the locations I frequently hunt are incredibly trashy and the ground here is very mineralized. Thanks for the comment.

CASPER-2 · Oct 29, 2016

hunt in all metal and you will get deeper stuff - dig it all
I been in this hobby since 1975 age 12 ---when I was a kid I had a few cheap starter machines
all metal - no discrim. I would follow the guys with the expensive machines with top notch discriminators
and find deeper stuff behind them all the time ---im primarily known as a water hunter now but same applies
I hunt in all metal and go behind guys with expensive discrim. machines and get deep coins and old gold behind them all the time
because I hunt in all metal and try to get it all - ive had diamonds rings come up as iron and white gold come up as pulltabs
ive pulled a lot of goodies under junk too. - you'll find an article I wrote on finding stuff under trash here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/
best way to learn any machine is to use it in all metal

Liu21 said:
Sometimes buying a bigger coil really helps with the deeper stuff..

TheCaribbeanDigger · Oct 29, 2016

I have been in this hobby for 5 years now. This is interesting stuff. I read all comments and looks like this is something that happens to everyone. I have a lot of sites that I passed iffy high tones mixed with iron tones also. Looks like I'll be doing a lot of digging back on my "all hunted out sites". It's been almost 3 weeks since I got my F75 LTD and I have passed many tones that hit a high tone but when I move 90' it sounds as Iron. I have dug many tones like this but all of them where 3-4" bent rusty nails. But generally speaking I'm a dig it all type of guy. I just can't imagine me passing any type of tone without finding out what it is! HH to all!!!

Deft Tones · Oct 29, 2016

LOL, it's an eye opener for sure.

I found an IHP a couple years ago at the park. I burried it at 5 inches in my back yard 10 feet from the house corner and 10 feet from a fence post. Did some tree trimming the next week and compacted the soil running over the IHP location with the aerial lift.

There is no signal from that penny any more. Not a peep of iron even with any detector I own. That was shocking!

Escape · Nov 1, 2016

CASPER-2 said:
hunt in all metal and you will get deeper stuff - dig it all
I been in this hobby since 1975 age 12 ---when I was a kid I had a few cheap starter machines
all metal - no discrim. I would follow the guys with the expensive machines with top notch discriminators
and find deeper stuff behind them all the time ---im primarily known as a water hunter now but same applies
I hunt in all metal and go behind guys with expensive discrim. machines and get deep coins and old gold behind them all the time
because I hunt in all metal and try to get it all - ive had diamonds rings come up as iron and white gold come up as pulltabs
ive pulled a lot of goodies under junk too. - you'll find an article I wrote on finding stuff under trash here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casper-2/
best way to learn any machine is to use it in all metal

Hi Casper. What are your thoughts on PI detectors? Why do you prefer a machine that also discriminates when your digging everything? Just curious. I have a cz21 and I just prefer having the option of discriminating.

Charlie P. (NY) · Nov 3, 2016

If you are in a spot where jewelry is lost you will find LOTS more by digging the iffy signals.

When I first got my F-75 I was thrilled with the notch feature and the ability to just dig coins. But I stopped finding rings and gold chains. Now I only use it in trashy sights with a specific item I want to avoid (bottle caps, for instance). I would much rather hear everything and use "X"ing and sweeping while lifting and lowering the coil to evaluate hits. And I still dig them all some days because there are some pleasant surprises that way. Like three cent silvers.

I used to hit a local park at lunch-break and I found nickles that the local detectorists either ignored or notched out. I don't mind a good handful of nickels for an hour's exercise.

jonnied1 · Nov 10, 2016

I like finding nickels, the next one might just be a ring, or a pull tab.

WhiteTornado · Nov 10, 2016

My only silver quarter find was a Washie that I found with my AT Pro. It rang at VDI of 60, with the corresponding mid-tone. This was probably because soon thereafter, I found a small piece of foil that was nearby. It was masking the true sound/VDI number of the Washie. That same hunt, I also found a gold-plated sterling silver earring that rang up as a VDI of 40.

To the OP, I would imagine your local mineralized/hot soil is also a factor. Some of the modern areas that I hunt where I live have soil that is about half clay, half dirt, and the numbers and tones don't always come up as expected. Hotter weather seems to exacerbate this problem.

DiamondDan · Nov 10, 2016

WhiteTornado said:
My only silver quarter find was a Washie that I found with my AT Pro. It rang at VDI of 60, with the corresponding mid-tone. This was probably because soon thereafter, I found a small piece of foil that was nearby. It was masking the true sound/VDI number of the Washie. That same hunt, I also found a gold-plated sterling silver earring that rang up as a VDI of 40.

To the OP, I would imagine your local mineralized/hot soil is also a factor. Some of the modern areas that I hunt where I live have soil that is about half clay, half dirt, and the numbers and tones don't always come up as expected. Hotter weather seems to exacerbate this problem.

Yep, I think the soil is most of the problem. I just got the Eclipse 6X10 in the mail yesterday as an upgrade to the stock concentric, and ran it around in the yard a bit, and what a difference. The machine is way more stable and targets just seem to hit harder, overall. Gonna give her the real test after work today. I'm looking forward to it.