New to Detecting could use a few pointers

[lurk]

Hello everyone,
Well the damned youtube got me again and aquachigger sold me on an AT Pro, I have done quite a bit of freedive spearfishing so the underwater application really attracted me. Of course it was late October when I bought it, and I only have summer wetsuits so water is out of the question, but after messing around with it in my front yard and digging 7 or 8 coins I kind of got switched on to coin shooting while I can before the ground freezes.


Alittle bit of background about myself. I am in my mid to late 20s and got my first detector while I was still in elementary school, it was a toys R us metal detector with one tone that took 9v batteries and had two control wheels, power/volume and sensitivity. An older neighbor of mine noticed me messing around with it and lent me his vintage Whites Coinmaster. I dont think I was old enough to properly set up and then learn the sounds of the machine and that thing took ALOT of batteries lol. So I begged the folks for the batteries and detected around a bit with it around my house and a local park, I think i found 3 pennies and maybe one of them was a wheat if remember correctly and alot of foil and a bunch of aluminum, and boy that thing was HEAVY. I was also using a big flat bladed screw driver to dig so that didn't help. I ran the batteries out on it and then returned it and didn't think much about metal detecting since.

Ive had ATP for about two weeks now. I got it off ebay for 395.00 very lightly used almost no coil scratches with headphones. I bought it as a birthday present for myself because I'm sure my girlfriend would have just rolled her eyes. Heres what I've found so far.


Its weird how my methods of detecting are already evolving. At first I simply tried to mimic everything I'd seen on youtube which was a pretty good and fast education that beat the pants off trial and error, and of course watched the instructional video. Now I'm kind of getting frustrated trying to find a good spot that will bear some silver or wondering if its my technique thats bad and I'm leaving faint targets or everything good and old is simply too deep for me to hear. The big copper thing, boyscout medal/pin thingy and the little piece of copper jewelry I dug today trying to hunt faint deep signals. At first I was only digging strong no brainer clean signals but I got tired of digging zinc pennies at 2 inches pretty quick, and now Im just trying not to dig zinc pennies at all and focus on copper ones and especially deeper ones. The ground here is really fickle though, where I live is very close to the watertable with a thick loamy black soil. I have no idea how deep something around 100 years old will sink here and I'm wondering if really good targets are simply out of my reach, I have dug clag to 8 inches, but usually its in the top 4 inches.

If you take a quick glance over my finds I'm sure it will tell you guys with more experience about exactly how I am detecting and maybe you could give me a few pointers. Youll notice I havnt found a nickel yet. I'm trying to get better at picking out the pull tabs but theres no way I'm going to find gold or a nickle without digging a crapload of foil and pulltabs. I still get suckered by a few even signals and dig them and its always a pulltab, I am just too afraid to dig 20 plugs in a nice lawn chasing pull tabs so I havnt even got that far yet pretty much every place I've hunted has been loaded with can scraps so I have just avoided it thus far. Playing with the girlfriends jewelry gold can be anywhere from low 40s up.

I've been able to sneak out about every other day after work but now with daylights savings nonsense my hunting is probably close to over for the year.

Places Ive hunted so far
My yard, yielded clag circa 1930s
My uncles yard yeilded clad and a massive lead doorstop by an old barn foundation circa 1950s
Closed converted elementary school, lots of clad 1 wheatie built late 40s or 50s closed in the 80s
Abandoned homestead and barn turned into a dump from the 1890s, yeilded lots of junk iron hay sickle teeth and the harmonica reed
City park dating to the early 1900s, very little clad, nothing deep, trash
Today back to the closed school, clad everywhere

So basically TLR
Where is the silver why am I not finding it?
How can I get better with mid conductivity signals and targets? I know raise coil, pinpoint for size, approach perpendicularly
Any advice on finding better locations?
How fast does the ground bury things and what is the method of action for the coins sinking?

Sorry for the rambling and I'm sure many typos...hurrying out to dinner.

Thanks everyone! I've already learned so much from here.

 

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[Sandancer]

You have learned a lot in a short time Grasshopper. Keep up the good work. My advice, dig all signals above 40. you never know what is going to come out of the ground. The gold and the silver items I have found have always surprised me and we're always unexpected and at all depths. Another bit of advice, you won't catch fish in dead water. Research likely hot spots. Eventually you will find where the gold and silver lives. Good Luck!

 

[RJGMC]

Welcome to the organized insanity of dirt fishing. About where in the midwest are you? Do not need an address, but maybe a town. I am sure there is some one near you to give a few pointers and try and improve your chances of success. The silver, they are where you find them. Just like bass fishing. If there is none there, you will not find any.

Good Luck!

RJGMC
HI BOB!

 

[Loco-Digger]

It took me almost 2 months to finally swing my coil over a silver coin. Research and site selection are key. Last season I hunted mostly public lands (schools, parks, and such). in 600 hours I only pulled 1 IHP, 1 buffalo nickle, and 20 silvers. This season I am concentrating on permissions of properties that are shown on an 1874 map of the town. I have pulled 45 silvers, 23 IHPs, a couple of Buffaloes, 1 shield nickle, 2 LCs & many old foreign coins. You should go to this site and find the map of your area that shows where all the structures were back in the 1800's and secure some permissions on those properties.

Historic Map Works, Residential Genealogy ?

Metal detectors have been around for a while. Most of the large silvers in my area were cherry picked back in the 70's & 80's. I have only pulled 2 large silvers in my town. The 1st was an 1812 5 Francs coin that was 10" down (too deep for the earlier detectors to hit) and a Franklin half that was found during a street tear out.

There are silver in your area, you just haven't swing your coil over any yet. Dig all zinc signals, IHP's ring in as zinc. Last season I normally ignored zinc signals, thus only 1 IHP dug.

Good luck, there are some sweet finds in your future.

 

[bigfoot1]

brother you havent detected long enough yet.I too swing an atp and silver just isnt everywhere.it happens when it happens.The places you have hunted sure can hold silver coins or jewelery but it wont hop in your pouch.You are gonna have to dig ALOT of trash in the begining,taking note of every signal and learning the trends.
You are doing the right thing as far as seeking knoweledge but you cant ask for expierience.Be patient,stay in training mode,always look for detecting opportunities and most of all....have fun.the silver will find you when its ready.

If it was easy you wouldnt have gotten such a good deal on your machine....95% give up before they become skilled.Think long haul and welcome !!!

 

[digger460]

What Loco and the Sasquatch said.

 

[lurk]

So tonight I had about a half hour of daylight after work and I went over my front yard again. Its only about 30'x40'. I detected this the first time I tried to use my ATP and dug 7 or 8 clad coins...Well within a few minutes I had about 5 targets. I dug 3 before it was dark and ended up with another clad quarter and dime and twisted up small piece of iron that I should have known better about but dug anyways. So I am obviously missing things because I gridded it pretty well I thought, but then again I was only digging really clear no brainer DIG ME DIG ME signals. The original part of my house was built in the 1930s. So I think i should keep digging here for now lol

PS thanks for the map link Loco I already have a few more places now that I should go look.

Thanks everyone