My First Wheat Cent and a Question on Coin Shooting

Bank Runner · Feb 20, 2011

Hi everyone,

I went to a local park today to do some coin shooting, and found my first wheat, a 1942 D. :icon_thumright:

I was pretty happy about that (I am in my 2nd month of MDing). I found a total of 55 coins for $1.80. This was a 3 hour undertaking, where 45 of the coins were 1 cent coins.

My question is, what strategy do you take coinshooting? Do you did all coin signals (including the zinc Lincoln signals), which takes much longer, so in turn you cover a smaller area? Do you only dig the solid nickel, copper Lincoln, dime and quarter signals, thus skipping over all of the zinc Lincoln signals. This would allow you to cover a larger area and potentially find more money even though coin count goes down...

The reason for the question is because many members make posts that acknowledge large clad counts (dollar amount) in short amounts of times. I am just wondering how it is done.

HH,
Bank Runner

Elad · Feb 20, 2011

Personally, I dig just about everything that I think is not lead or iron, however sometimes the lead-like signals can be something good. What kind of machine do you use?

ROMEX · Feb 20, 2011

Dig all the signals you can, especially if the site is old. Because there are layers of coins, remove the New to find the Old. There will be rewards for the procedure, its a fact. You will learn more from your machine for the future hunts.

Bank Runner · Feb 20, 2011

Elad said:
Personally, I dig just about everything that I think is not lead or iron, however sometimes the lead-like signals can be something good. What kind of machine do you use?

I am using a Garrett AT Pro. Thanks for the advice.

Daedalus · Feb 20, 2011

I dig just about everything I get a hit on. And even if it is iron it may be worth the dig as it could be an antique that you will like. Not found many my self that were but it was worth the time to dig.
Also some of these guys have some areas and parks where there are a lot traffic coming in and out for years , they get a whole lot of coins in those areas .
Keep looking and you will find some around where you are and then you will get more targets and coins.

Coin Stalker · Feb 20, 2011

I haven't been metal detecting very long either about 3 months, and I use an ace 250 and when I go coin shooting I usually look for areas that have a lot of people around for sporting events, and then I will hit that park on a day they are not playing sports, When I am out there I will dig every solid signal that comes up, most of the time the hits are coins the other times they are bottle caps, pull tabs, or cans, but you have to dig the trash to get to the treasure, so far my clad totals are $65 and I have 9 wheat cents and 1 silver rosie, Just hang in there and keep at it and it will pay off, and most importantly HAVE FUN DOING IT.... :thumbsup:

Tom Bigbee · Feb 20, 2011

Hello Bank Runner, It just depends on what your personal goals are. When I go coinshooting I am looking strictly for pre-1965 silver. I never hunt a site if I know there was no human activity before the middle 1960's. Since my detectors, which have no visual ID, give the same sounds on a 1980 dime and a 1950 dime I dig all coin signals. Sometimes if I get tired I will ignore surface coin signals and just dig the deeper sounding signals. After 30 years of detecting I still get a thrill when I dig a wheat cent because this is a good sign there is silver there also. Good luck and post your finds!

testing123 · Feb 20, 2011

It's a good idea to dig everything. Sometime those "zincoln" tones can be old worn silver - a couple of those turned out to be a 1/2 real and a CBD for me, so it doesn't hurt to dig everything!

nova · Feb 20, 2011

If I,m just coin shooting for larger denominations then I will pass the bank backs 10 holes equals a dime and probally 15 to 20 minutes of my time. However sometimes I dig it all depends on my mood I guess.

Demon_Wolf · Feb 20, 2011

Depends on what kind of metal detector you have, I have a Garrett GTI 1500 and I use to only dig pennies when they fell under the 1cent icon on the machine and the newer zincon's would fall 1 notch to the left so i would leave them alone. Then one day i was detecting in my brothers front yard and wasn't finding much so i decided to dig one of the zincolns signals and i dug up a .925 silver ring and thought to myself hmm wonder how many of them i have missed

Since then I have always dug the zincolns signals and have found 1 other .925 ring so pretty much dig everything that falls under non-ferrous on your machine and you won't be dissapoited Good Luck And Happy Hunting!!!! P.S Ferrous metal contain iron and non-ferrous metals don't contain iron if you didn't know.

Rickiowa2009 · Feb 20, 2011

Learn your machine, it takes some time, becarfeful, if you choose not to dig penny signals, you may lose a ring or two. After while you can tell which signals are zinc!
The more you dig the better chance to find something. If it is a pavillion in a park I might dig less, if it is a old place or home I dig everything!

colorado14ers · Feb 20, 2011

well, on my M6 silver rings come up as zinc pennies. i dig everything. I found a Tiffany silver ring that came up a a zinc penny. HH!! :hello2:

fishkiller41 · Feb 20, 2011

Demon_Wolf said:
Depends on what kind of metal detector you have, I have a Garrett GTI 1500 and I use to only dig pennies when they fell under the 1cent icon on the machine and the newer zincon's would fall 1 notch to the left so i would leave them alone. Then one day i was detecting in my brothers front yard and wasn't finding much so i decided to dig one of the zincolns signals and i dug up a .925 silver ring and thought to myself hmm wonder how many of them i have missed Since then I have always dug the zincolns signals and have found 1 other .925 ring so pretty much dig everything that falls under non-ferrous on your machine and you won't be dissapoited Good Luck And Happy Hunting!!!! P.S Ferrous metal contain iron and non-ferrous metals don't contain iron if you didn't know.

But can't Gold sound like a ferrous/ low tone,on machine with 4 pitch tones?
I guess this is where you just have to know your specific machine..

Bank Runner · Feb 20, 2011

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I guess the motto is to dig all solid steady signals.

HH,
Bank Runner

pistol perfect · Feb 20, 2011

some parks and schools dont have much coins in them but some do!
I have hunted some schools and it takes me hours to find about 1 dollar in clad.
sometimes you find about 70 to 80 cents an hour. just depends how much the loacation has been hunted!
If you can pinpoint really well you could just carry a flat head screwdriver with you and just pry the coin or object out of the ground! it saves a lot of time! some people say its not a good thing to do because you can scratch a silver coin that way but how often do you find silver? I dont find that much silver at all! 4 silver coins in the last 3 years! depends on what type of machine you have also! I have a e-trac now but If I want to hunt fast and easy without digging much I use my whites prizm 2. it picks up shallow coins and rings and trash mostly and is very easy to use!!! (this is my opinion!)

fistfulladirt · Feb 20, 2011

I'm another one that cherry-picks silver. I like hunting spots at least 50 y.o., my first year with my new detector I dug close to 600 wheats and 60+ silvers. I usually pass up the shallow stuff but sometimes it will suprise ya. At 8-9" depth I have a hard time with wheats/silver because they sound quite alike on my machine.

Cool Hand Fluke · Feb 20, 2011

Tom Bigbee said:
Hello Bank Runner, It just depends on what your personal goals are. When I go coinshooting I am looking strictly for pre-1965 silver. I never hunt a site if I know there was no human activity before the middle 1960's. Since my detectors, which have no visual ID, give the same sounds on a 1980 dime and a 1950 dime I dig all coin signals. Sometimes if I get tired I will ignore surface coin signals and just dig the deeper sounding signals. After 30 years of detecting I still get a thrill when I dig a wheat cent because this is a good sign there is silver there also. Good luck and post your finds!

With all the gopher activity in the S.F. parks I can't ignore the surface coins. Today the barber dime and the silver quarter I dug were both in that 1 to 2 inch depth range, right on top of the mounds. I don't dig many of the zinc readings, but occasionally will. Sometime an Indian Head Penny will come in as zinc. I dig all nickel signals and everything above copper coin. I usually come home with about 20 to 30 pull tabs after a days hunt, but I don't dig them all. (I have had gold items come in as nickel readings) Will dig an occasional foil reading but not that much. Just consentrate on those 4 to 7 inch coin signals. Most of the silver is in that range if those gophers aren't in the area! I average about $1.50 hour in clad when park hunting. Let wheat pennies be your barometer, if there are wheats pennies you have a good chance of finding silver coins. No wheaties? Than you should move on to a different area...

traverdog · Feb 20, 2011

Dig everything in the very old areas that are no longer in use.

CRUSADER · Feb 21, 2011

see my button day, depends how quick your recovery time is :wink:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,373401.0.html
I dig on average 80% of everything that beeps with no disc on. :icon_thumright:

Diggin-N-Dumps · Feb 21, 2011

Theres alot of different anwers to your questions here, but as for me, i usally can find around 4-10 dollars in a 3-4 hour hunt. and its mainly because i dont dig zincs, or nickels, Only copper and clad or SILVER of course..

My Ace only has the Dime, Quarte,r Half, and Dollar settings on..the rest are turned off

Plus the few targets i may be missing..Im digging about 80 percent less trash and no more rotted Zincolns :thumbsup:

Just my Opinion