How to relic hunt and dig less junk?

[Holly_squirrel]

I'm pretty new to all this. I have a garret ace 250. I notice most relics I find bounce from low to high scale and everywhere Inbetween . I understand that is due to iron and rust recording differently.... But sometimes a nail will resister the same way. How do I avoid wasting time digging up nails and not miss a good relic? I'm almost a scared to not dig up a pretty solid hit that bounces on the lower end with a spike or two at the high end.
But my yard is paying tbe price, looks like I got gophers.
And sometimes I get a nice solid hit towards tbe silver end and soon as I turn back a layer of soul, it's gone... that's with me carefully dissecting the dirt... And seeing nothing... The signal just goes dead .

 

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[WVPapaw]

I am a newby to MD, and I have had same problem with my AT Gold. If I dug every hit, owners would never let me come back no matter how much I tried to cover holes and make it look like I did not dig.

 

[robgwv]

Check out Thread on false signals,I could never explain as well as others, the info helped me a lot

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Check out Thread on false signals,I could never explain as well as others, the info helped me a lot

Thank you much

 

[gunsil]

Most true relic hunters dig all targets since a relic can be made of any metal. Many don't use machines with meters for this reason. As for getting a silver signal and finding nothing make sure you get a solid signal swinging the coil in two directions 90 degrees from one another. If signal is only there from one direction it is likely a bad signal or target. If your coil goes up away from level at the end of your swing it can cause false signals. Also remember that no matter what manufacturers might say or imply there is no detector which can tell pull tabs from gold jewelry. We dig a lot of junk unless we are confidant we aren't missing anything and I don't think most of us with experience are that confidant. As you dig more you will learn more, but if it's relics you hunt you will have to dig a lot of junk

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Thanks for the good advice !

 

[hunter_46356]

I still consider myself new to the MDing thing even though I've been at it for over a year. Living in the mid west and in a town that has been around a couple hundred years, I've done the park thing, old school grounds and all the places we all seem to start. I'm not running the high dollars machines but I think I have learned a lot form what I have. All the above advice I would agree with. If relic hunting is what you want to concentrate on then you might consider a different detector. One that may be better at discrimination of iron such a nails, but if you depend on this I believe you may miss some things you might wish you didn't. I've found in most cases when relic hunting old homes, barns and such the care that is needed in digging here is not what it is a manicured lawn. Now before I get jumped all over I want to say I still remove all trash and cover my holes. My digging tool is much different. I use a modified short handle shovel that make the digging quicker and easier than a hand trowel. Gets me trough the process faster and on to the next hole. My guess is your not in this for relic hunting alone so changing a few things related to what and where you hunt will keep you in the game with the machine you already have. Good Luck.

 

[Iron Patch]

There's not really any short cuts, you just have to keep paying close attention and eventually the subtle changes will start to click in your brain. Definitely don't let yourself get frustrated because it sounds like you're hunting a fairly challenging area, and just a change in venue could easily be the difference from finding nothing good to great success.

 

[gsxraddict]

It comes with experience, learn the tones, you want solid tones.

But the most important thing is to buy a good metal detector, the best are amazing at telling you if it's junk or not before you even dig. The CTX can tell me the difference between a bottle cap and a good target before I even dig. The V3i is a great machine too.

I really suggest a machine with a meter on it, even a Spectrum XLT is a great machine that you can probably pick up for $400 now. I've used an ACE250 before, it's not even comparable with target identification.

 

[treasurehound]

One thing that I can tell you is to forget about the VDI screen. I hunt with a MXT PRO and a TDI. Both machines are great relic machines and all I do is listen for the tones. The MXT will give a nice high tone for bullets, buttons and coins (good soil) and all iron will be low tone. The TDI is probably the best relic machine as it is a pulse machine and is very deep. Makes hunted out sites like new again. I have dug many bullets 18" deep with nice loud tones. And it is a brass magnet. It loves buttons. Brass relics are a nice high tone and all others are low. Like someone said earlier, forget the display and hunt by tones. You are going to dig trash. We all do. A lot of relics will give the same tone as a nail. Some areas have very hot soil like where I hunt a lot in Culpeper, VA and only a few machines will work there. But all bullets and buttons will sound like iron because of the soil. Again best advise is to dig all targets and remember what your machine is telling you. I am not familiar with the Ace 250 as a relic machine but I am sure it will find relics. Just don't pass over signals as you may pass over a plate or buckle.

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Thank you

 

[Brian C.]

Just listen to your detector, it will take some time to figure out the signals, for me it is gut feeling some times and sound. It depends on the make up of the materials used to make the item. Old copper coins have a lot of different sounds, silver as well. Never give up, you will find lots of nice finds, just read some books on local history, find where the house was, nails are always good to start, old broken brick, china and of coarse brken glass, wear gloves for this type of hunting as parks. but never get discouraged.

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Just listen to your detector, it will take some time to figure out the signals, for me it is gut feeling some times and sound. It depends on the make up of the materials used to make the item. Old copper coins have a lot of different sounds, silver as well. Never give up, you will find lots of nice finds, just read some books on local history, find where the house was, nails are always good to start, old broken brick, china and of coarse brken glass, wear gloves for this type of hunting as parks. but never get discouraged.

It's so hard around these parts ...coal and slag is everywhere causing false signals alot. And on my ace250, I have come to trust nothing on that goes off and says it's a nickel... It's always tin of some sort... But that's just me . If it jumps all around tbe scale, it's trash.... Anything else seems to be possible treasure for a relic hunter .

 

[dieselram94]

Holly, very simple. If the target is repeatable, dig it...
A better machine is always desirable as well! LOL!

 

[Dug]

One lesson learned for anyone that is fairly new to the relic side of metal detecting. When I had started into relic digging I used to pass up iron cans and trash that were in the ground. One time we were at a site where we had dug some musket balls. I had dug down into an old rusty can, and I left it and filled in the hole. Later my digging partner came up dug up the same can, and underneath it masked by the can was a Confederate script I button. The can had been masking the button the whole time and i had walked away from it.

Use your judgement on when you should pass on digging trashy signals.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

It's so hard around these parts ...coal and slag is everywhere causing false signals alot. And on my ace250, I have come to trust nothing on that goes off and says it's a nickel... It's always tin of some sort... But that's just me . If it jumps all around tbe scale, it's trash.... Anything else seems to be possible treasure for a relic hunter .

One thing I learned with the Ace 250 was to essentially ignore the screen - both the target ID and depth meter were inaccurate in trashy ground. So I listened to the sounds, always swept in both directions, and ignored signals which were not repeatable. One value I did seen in the screen was that the ID kept jumping around vigorously when it was trash. The Ace 250 is still a good machine, so don't even consider upgrading until you've learned what the ground is saying to you - and of course till your finds have payed for your 250

 

[squiggy]

One thing I learned with the Ace 250 was to essentially ignore the screen - both the target ID and depth meter were inaccurate in trashy ground. So I listened to the sounds, always swept in both directions, and ignored signals which were not repeatable. One value I did seen in the screen was that the ID kept jumping around vigorously when it was trash. The Ace 250 is still a good machine, so don't even consider upgrading until you've learned what the ground is saying to you - and of course till your finds have payed for your 250

I think that's true...I don't trust the screen of my 250 most of the time in most areas..the exception are coins..it is puzzling to me why it is advertised as being accurate. I dig everything but wish I had something better.
Second day I had it I dug an old calderon
and it was deep

 

[Holly_squirrel]

Have you guys noticed if its in the 5 cent range it's always junk? I'll dig if it bounces from iron to tbe higher range.... But if it touches the 5 cent or pull tab icon... I don't bother anymore. I found a cast lead WW1 toy rifleman figure the other day, and that read the highest spot in tbe scale n didn't budge....it's good when you can remember detAils like that. If you have any hints let me know