having trouble identifying between a dime and a penny any pointers?

[DiggerKeith]

I put a zinc penny a copper penny and a clad dime on the ground about a foot apart. the zinc reads a 75 on the vdi, the copper penny reads a 81-83 the dime also reads a 81-83 and both produce the same tone.
Not that there is anything wrong with digging up pennies , but sometimes I want to hunt for only sliver coins. My old BH3300 was 95% spot on when it said there was a dime it was a dime. I use the stock 8.5 x 11 dd
coil. Any suggestions ? I have read where folks would have to send in their machine to Garrett and they would have to re calibrate the coil to the machine form the factory. Thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[daemon1971]

Clad dimes are made of mostly copper .

 

[Texas Ed]

Copper pennies and clad dimes have the same conductivity and will read the same on the VDI.

Texas ED

 

[Liu21]

the other day i dug a silver dime, the reading was 83-84...

 

[digger460]

Yesterday had a solid 82. 1979 penny

 

[Sandman]

This is why I prefer detectors without VDI. So many reasons the numbers can change.

 

[perry2]

My ATP GIVES PENNIES AT 70-MAYBE UP TO 81--any 81-82-90% = A DIME ALWAYS DIG ANY 80 UP pERRY

 

[DiggerKeith]

Thank you everyone for the advice

 

[MTJosh]

For me silver dimes are 83. Have dug a few at 82. Dimes are usually 81. Copper pennies are generally either 80 or 82. Older (60's) around 80. Newer 82. Wheats hit for me at 78-80.
This being said they can all vary. Will never know unless you dig.
If you only want silver coins dig nothing under 83. You might miss a couple but chances for a clad dime or copper penny are low if only digging 83 and higher

 

[DiggerinVA]

The thing is you never "know" what a target is until you dig.....I have dug silver rings and other jewelry that rang up from 74-93; so you just don't know. And I have dug several Indians that I thought forsure were Zincs. Old coins aren't always deep.....just dig it all.....or all you can!

 

[DiggerKeith]

Thank you

 

[Pull tab mcfoilson]

Sometimes you can tell by the size. Like a penny will cover a wider area when you swing your coil. I don't mind digging up cooper pennies but sometimes I do like to guess if it's a dime or a penny.

I do know zinc pennies come in just below the 80s, I don't bother digging those.

 

[daemon1971]

Sometimes you can tell by the size. Like a penny will cover a wider area when you swing your coil. I don't mind digging up cooper pennies but sometimes I do like to guess if it's a dime or a penny.

I do know zinc pennies come in just below the 80s, I don't bother digging those.

Zincs are a pain , but Indian head cents ring up like zincs also....1864-1909 had tin or zinc used in them.

 

[Pull tab mcfoilson]

Zincs are a pain , but Indian head cents ring up like zincs also....1864-1909 had tin or zinc used in them.

Really... I didn't know that I'm going to have to start digging some of those signals. I was pretty happy when I dug a couple wheat pennies. Would be pretty cool to get an Indian head.

 

[cactusman]

A dime tends to pinpoint slightly smaller than a penny, so with some practice you should be able to tell that way.

I still dig zincs, as once I was hitting an out of the way older small park in Tucson and while it had been cleaned out of silver and quarters, and most of the dimes, I was getting penny hits every few feet, mostly copper ones, and several of those were wheat pennies. The nice part was a little later in the day one of those "zinc penny" signals turned out to be a nice large man's gold wedding band.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Use not your eyes, but your ears

 

[david680]

Use not your eyes, but your ears

Yep, yep, yep. I like having VDI but rarely pay attention to it. And I have been grateful for that a number of times.

 

[luvsdux]

I'm often surprised the other way around - expect a penny and get a dime. I've also retrieved several small gold items that read as zinc pennies.
luvsdux

 

[ScubaDetector]

I have no idea why anyone would leave ANY penny in the ground just to get silver. First you are missing tokens, second, you could be missing out on key date wheat cents, and third but not last you are for sure missing out on:

Yes that was a solid zinc penny signal at 5 inches.

However, you detect the way you desire. I just think you might be passing up a find of a life time. Oh and one of my pennies was a 1914D in EF40 condition.

 

[Pull tab mcfoilson]

I have no idea why anyone would leave ANY penny in the ground just to get silver. First you are missing tokens, second, you could be missing out on key date wheat cents, and third but not last you are for sure missing out on:

Yes that was a solid zinc penny signal at 5 inches.

However, you detect the way you desire. I just think you might be passing up a find of a life time. Oh and one of my pennies was a 1914D in EF40 condition.

Well personally if I'm short on time sometimes Ill discriminate a bit more than usual. So I pass up a lot more signals. Other times when I have a few hours to kill I'll dig EVERYTHING.

I also have a few local parks I usually frequent and figure I'll be back and check again.