My First Day

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
1,058
Birmingham, AL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II, Teknetics G2+
Primary Interest:
Other
Hello guys and gals, I've been a Tnet fan for awhile, but just now went the extra step and became a member. My Garrett Ace 250 came in on Wednesday and I couldn't wait for the weekend to go on my very first MD trip.

I had a rough day today as the spots I wanted to hunt were all plagued by tall grass, one of them is a cattle ranch of ours that used to have an old bar on it beside a creek bed. This bar burned down in 1922 and when I went camping as a kid we would check all of the gopher mounds because they would dig down and throw up old coins, and I have a couple of nice IHs and some V-nickels just from gopher holes. My uncle has a Barber dime and some other silver from the gopher mounds. I'm hoping there's big silver down there, as I am quite certain they are a bit too heavy for a gopher. Alas, I couldn't hunt there because the grass is literally 3ft high and thick enough to where your foot will never hit dirt. It's literally killing me that I cannot hunt there right now, I mean, where else can you go hunt old coins where people get inebriated?

I decided to hunt a Catholic church that isn't very old, but every year they have sort of a Homecoming celebration where you pay quarters to play games, etc. I swung the detector for a couple of hours and ended up with all clad (13 quarters, 6 dimes, and 7 pennies.) There were so many pull tabs around the area that I didn't even bother to dig nickel pings. It was a lot of fun, and I'm very happy to have started the hobby. I almost broke into silver with a 1965 Roosevelt dime and hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow as the place I am hunting is many decades older.

Tomorrow I am going to hunt a small town Community center that has a couple of buildings on it from the WW2 era. Best part? It's all dirt, no grass to be seen! I'll keep everyone posted on what I find. I am absolutely certain there is silver out there, and it's been lonely for a long time now.

Oh yeah, one more thing, can anyone who has experience with an Ace 250 tell me what I can expect to see on the reader as far as when I come across old coins? I'm very much used to the tell-tale signs of clad dimes and quarters after today. Can mercury dimes, IH's, etc be expected to produce similar results to modern coins about their size? This is all done on sandy soil, with occasionally some black, loamy sediment present.
 

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DigginThePast

Gold Member
Dec 31, 2008
10,706
86
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome to T-Net.


Someone will be along with experience with the 250 to help you out. Best of luck in your hunts.
 

bsloan

Sr. Member
Jul 3, 2010
345
100
The heart of Aggieland
Detector(s) used
Ace 250
Welcome to T-NET. I can't help you with the tone difference for older coins. My Ace told me I had a dollar at 8 inches. Turned out to be a plow point a little deeper. The nice coin tone it gave at 4 inches, was actually a blasting cap at 6 inches. So I am still trying to learn my machine as well. So be extremely careful digging in this county. If you have access to the right land in Millican, I know a couple of people who have done very well. Good luck, and GIG'EM!!!!

Bill
 

manorman

Full Member
Dec 8, 2008
158
7
try the creek bank and creek bed cose to where the bar was, some things might have worked to the low area.
Mike
 

zaxfire69

Bronze Member
Jun 26, 2008
1,611
404
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 / Fisher F44
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome to T-Net. I can tell you about old coins and the Ace 250. My advice is to dig everything Penny and up if you are looking for silver...I have found some silver coins that ID'ed in the penny range. Most will ID in the dime and up range. The way I do it is I rarely ever skip a good repeatable target. If it is repeatable I will dig it. Meaning if you sweep you coil over it several times and it is there...She is getting dug...NOW also watch your depth guage...ALTHOUGH sometimes it isn't spot on accurate it will get you in the ballpark...Most of your older coins tend to be deeper.. Indian Head pennies on my machine show up one notch below the penny range. They give off a different tone. As far as your tones for Penny and above I can't really notice a difference other than when you have a silver coin under the coil it is a clear crisp tone. Sounds sweet..NOW here is a problem you may have if you DON'T dig those pulltab signals. Gold on my machine shows up in the foil and pulltab range. So I hate to say it , but I dig lots of pulltabs. The best way to dial your Ace in is to get out there and use it. Try it in Jewelry mode for awhile. Switch it up and put it in All Metal mode and go over the same ground you covered. You will be amazed at the Yeller Feller. Sometimes folks want to tell you how it isn't up to snuff compared to the big high dollar detectors. Thats when I go inside and grab my bag full of old silver coins and show them and say now what do you think? It is a Coin Magnet. :thumbsup:
 

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OP
kleinerschmitter

kleinerschmitter

Sr. Member
Aug 21, 2010
438
1,058
Birmingham, AL
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II, Teknetics G2+
Primary Interest:
Other
Thank you all for your advice!

@zaxfire69: Yes, I've dug everything that gives a clear, repeatable signal in the penny on up. The problem I have is that dang nickel ID is right in between foil & iron and pull tab, but if it's a strong nickel sign I dig it, which I had a couple of today and still dug, yet didn't come home with any nickels. Yeah, I never heard any of those clear, crisp tones today. If I were in an area like a park or beach, I would probably have still dug the pull tab signal, however, the area I was digging was right beside a lot of grills for cooking and I know a lot of the guys there pull their tabs off and chunk them right where I was detecting, and I even dug a dozen of them up. You are exactly correct, it is a Coin Magnet, I was never surprised at finding a single coin today, all of the strong signals I have I knew were coming up coins.

@bsloan: Yeah, my depth gauge seems to not be entirely too accurate. I realized that today as since I was digging a lot of relatively recent clad, targets which were less than 1/2" under the ground were registering 4-6" on my detector. I don't have access to any land in Millican, doesn't mean I'm not interested, just that I'm new to MD and my family all lives an hour west of College Station.

@everyone: Anyone have any recommendations on a pinpointer? One thing I have realized from today is that is sure makes it a lot harder if you don't have one. I'm interested in the best one under $125, I'd prefer it significantly cheaper if at all possible. Until I save up some more money I am going to have to do without.

So, didn't find any silver in the ground, but my mom collects dimes to cash in for vacation money. My guess is she's got a couple hundred dollars in dimes saved up and I found a 1964 Roosevelt in her jar!
 

bsloan

Sr. Member
Jul 3, 2010
345
100
The heart of Aggieland
Detector(s) used
Ace 250
You can always try your luck on ebay for a pinpointer. I haven' found any md items in the local pawn shops. I have heard that harbor freight also sells pinpointers, can't remember the price, but I know it's less than 50 bucks. Also can't remember how much they run at KELLYCO. Good luck.

Bill
 

lennon631

Sr. Member
May 3, 2010
425
2
Long Island NY
Detector(s) used
Whites M6, Garrett ProPointer
First of all, WELCOME TO TNET! I am EXTREMELY prejudice toward the Garrett ProPointer. I have played with three different kinds and am sorry I wasted my time and money with ANYthing else but. It's three bucks more then your budget, but you won't be sorry. Ask around on the board, I am SURE you will get the same responses. Good Luck with that old bar sight!!! Paul :hello:
 

B

Bev

Guest
Hi,
I just got a 250 and have been using a 150 but not often enought to get good. I have the same problem where it registers 6 inches and it's a 1/2 inch down.
I order the Harbor Freight pinpointer on line for $15.00 and I'm waiting for it. I dont have a lot of time and didnt want to invest in something too expensive. I read that people liked them though I'm sure it's not as great as the others.
I plan on letting you guys know what I think of it.
Bev
 

m bryan

Hero Member
Jun 12, 2010
691
49
east texas
Detector(s) used
Delta 4000 and Garrett 300 Teknetics T2 Minelab Explorer SE Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Welcome to TNET..........Gig Um Aggies.......
 

steelheadwill

Gold Member
Jan 2, 2010
6,689
715
New Castle NH.
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Brain eyes ears and nose
Primary Interest:
Other
Greetings & Welcome to T-Net !
As far as deciding what hits to dig, I pull out almost everything that doesn't read a steady rock bottom iron, (I'll sometimes pull those too, & have scored items that the iron was hiding), I guess a lot depends on how much trash you have to deal with, most of the areas I hunt yield 10X more keepers than pulltabs.
You can be sure that there are a LOT of coins from that old bar. (I'd weedwhack a couple square yards & see what happens)
Have fun, & keep us posted on your finds! Good Day, Herbie.
 

zaxfire69

Bronze Member
Jun 26, 2008
1,611
404
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 / Fisher F44
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Go ahead and spend the extra couple of bucks and get the Propointer from Garrett. You won't be sorry. It is the best That I have used. I love mine.
 

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