New to Metal Detecting. Getting frustrated. Plz help :(

[DiggityDiggity]

Hi there,
I am new to MDing. I have a Garrett ACE 350 and a Garret Propointer. I recently took a trip to an old road that had many old house foundations. The houses ranged from late 1700's to about 1850. Spent two days detecting (after about 10 to 15 hours of training/prepping the week before). It was sooo frustrating. The amount of trash was just incredible. Every swoop of the detector, it would go off the charts! I set my sensitivity to mid range. Still crazy. Set it to low. Still crazy. After digging about 100+ holes, all I found was trash, even in high silver signal (no bouncing) ranges.

Some other notes:
I spent most of my time inside the foundations themselves and within a 10 ft proximity of the perimeter of the foundation. Most trash was iron, even at mid to high level signals (no bouncing). The soil itself seemed pure, with hardly any iron distortions (used my propointer to test uncountable handfuls of soil).

Have you guys experienced this same frustration? Do you have any tips on how to "sift" through these wacky bouncing signals? I know I can find relics at this location. But the signals are so overwhelming. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all! Drewski

 

[vpnavy]

Until member(s) jump in with suggestions - you might consider browsing Forum > Metal Detecting Forum > Brands > Garrett...

 

[Jason in Enid]

It's nothing like you see on tv or youtube videos. There are tons of garbage out there. The oldest spots have the most trash. IF this were easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

It might be easier for you if you start 10-20 feet back from the foundations. When the buildings are torn down or fall down, lots of nails end up in the soil right where the building was. A beginner can concentrate on the areas from the driveway to the front of the house and usually have some success.

There can be a ton of trash on some of these sites, especially if homeless people have occupied the property. Sometimes you have to remove the trash to get the treasure.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[DiggityDiggity]

It might be easier for you if you start 10-20 feet back from the foundations. When the buildings are torn down or fall down, lots of nails end up in the soil right where the building was. A beginner can concentrate on the areas from the driveway to the front of the house and usually have some success.

There can be a ton of trash on some of these sites, especially if homeless people have occupied the property. Sometimes you have to remove the trash to get the treasure.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

Sound advice my friend. I'll try that! In cases like these where signals are going off the charts from trashiness.. do you typically dig these even if the signals are wacky? Or do you just try to go slow and dig when the signals have narrowed down to a solid one or two signal pings? sorry if that's a noob question

 

[cactusrat]

If you are only wanting silver, notch out every thing below a dime. Yes, you more than likely will miss some good targets, but you wont be digging as much trash. After about 100 hours swinging the 350, you will learn what it is telling you. A smaller coil will help pick threw the trash better.

If relic hunting, lots of trash is part of the game.

 

[DiggityDiggity]

If you are only wanting silver, notch out every thing below a dime. Yes, you more than likely will miss some good targets, but you wont be digging as much trash. After about 100 hours swinging the 350, you will learn what it is telling you. A smaller coil will help pick threw the trash better.

If relic hunting, lots of trash is part of the game.

Thank you sir! I have it set to "coin" but maybe I'll customize it to just the high silvers now. I have been practicing the past couple days with deciphering the pin-pointer feature on the MD. After practicing, I found about 15 coins and a pearl-inlayed colonial button in the small backyard of a historical house in town yesterday afternoon. Starting to get the hang of it. (yay!) It's just those darn super trashy areas. So tough to decipher

 

[mangum]

Practice! Practice! Practice! It'll take probably 6 months to a year until you know your machine well. Like someone else said, if it was easy everyone would do it. I also agree about getting away from the foundation. If they dropped coins, buttons etc it would be in the yard. At really old sites I never discriminate out everything but silver, you'll miss a lot. That is unless it is new trash (bottle caps etc). If its just iron infested that's old trash & I wouldn't discriminate anything out but iron.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Drewski
Put a old Square nail on clean ground = no other metal,now disc. it out or till it make a broken sound..this will help you not to pick all the small iron pieces.
Gary

 

[DiggityDiggity]

Drewski
Put a old Square nail on clean ground = no other metal,now disc. it out or till it make a broken sound..this will help you not to pick all the small iron pieces.
Gary

Thanks Gary! It just so happens I detected a square nail yesterday and took it home. I'll try that out tonight! By the way, I see you're from the Glen. I'm from the area too. I frequent Jerlando's a lot. Best garlic knots this side of the of the mississippi!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Hi there,
I am new to MDing. I have a Garrett ACE 350 and a Garret Propointer. I recently took a trip to an old road that had many old house foundations. The houses ranged from late 1700's to about 1850. Spent two days detecting (after about 10 to 15 hours of training/prepping the week before). It was sooo frustrating. The amount of trash was just incredible. Every swoop of the detector, it would go off the charts! I set my sensitivity to mid range. Still crazy. Set it to low. Still crazy. After digging about 100+ holes, all I found was trash, even in high silver signal (no bouncing) ranges.

Some other notes:
I spent most of my time inside the foundations themselves and within a 10 ft proximity of the perimeter of the foundation. Most trash was iron, even at mid to high level signals (no bouncing). The soil itself seemed pure, with hardly any iron distortions (used my propointer to test uncountable handfuls of soil).

Have you guys experienced this same frustration? Do you have any tips on how to "sift" through these wacky bouncing signals? I know I can find relics at this location. But the signals are so overwhelming. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all! Drewski

Not every site is like this. I'd say you just picked a lame site. The only exception would be if the "junk" your talking about, is "old" junk. Ie.: harmonica reeds, pistol balls, clock parts, toe-taps, and other such things that would lead you to believe that ..... while it's still "junk", yet all old. However, if the "junk" you're talking about is modern aluminum cr*p type stuff, then I'd move on.

Not all sites are like that. A buddy of mine for example just posted on another forum of having gotten over 100 coins yesterday, a 1/3 oz. platinum ring, a gold charm, and a silver ring. You know how many junk items he dug to get all that? Perhasp 4 or 5 items (a stray bottle cap, a lead sinker or two, etc...). But besides those few nuisance things, mother nature's swell/tide action had pulled out all the light stuff, leaving only heavy objects behind (coins, sinkers, jewelry, etc...).

So like the real estate slogan goes: Location location location (and I'll add "timing" in there too )

 

[DiggityDiggity]

Not every site is like this. I'd say you just picked a lame site. The only exception would be if the "junk" your talking about, is "old" junk. Ie.: harmonica reeds, pistol balls, clock parts, toe-taps, and other such things that would lead you to believe that ..... while it's still "junk", yet all old. However, if the "junk" you're talking about is modern aluminum cr*p type stuff, then I'd move on.

Not all sites are like that. A buddy of mine for example just posted on another forum of having gotten over 100 coins yesterday, a 1/3 oz. platinum ring, a gold charm, and a silver ring. You know how many junk items he dug to get all that? Perhasp 4 or 5 items (a stray bottle cap, a lead sinker or two, etc...). But besides those few nuisance things, mother nature's swell/tide action had pulled out all the light stuff, leaving only heavy objects behind (coins, sinkers, jewelry, etc...).

So like the real estate slogan goes: Location location location (and I'll add "timing" in there too )

Wow amazing about your friend! How old was the house foundation?

After all this good advice, ya'll gave me the motivation to go back to the site last night. lol I only had an hour before dark unfortunately. Found a lot of junk in the high silver range. Two nails were consistent at the quarter/dollar range. Very disappointing but I guess after years of corrosion I can see how it would false like that. Found a couple old wrenches (early 1900's). Those were pretty neat. All in all, not very successful but I'm still motivated. Gonna take the advice of detecting the yard instead of next to the house and inside the foundation. Hopefully there will be less crapola and more blingbling. The site is a tough hike about a mile in from civilization so I feel confident that it hasn't been detected before. I'll let ya know if I find somethin good

 

[Deleted member 70749]

The hobby is all about patience. Think about fishing. I can't just drop a line in and expect to to catch a fish! You must dig everything to be able to know what your machine is telling you. I've been doing this for over two years now and I can say that the detector and I are connected in a way where I have a very good idea what it is telling me. I have the Minelab Xterra 305 so I'm not too far off from the 350. They can only tell us so much so just have patience and dig everything then recheck your holes.
I've asked for silver tips before because even after two years, I haven't had a glimpse of silver yet and I got a reply that said a man detected a certain area and removed every signal he could so that he can get to the silver. Turns out he pulled out around 15 dimes! So the trash is necessary, it's something we all have to live with. Just don't let it get to you because with dates like that, I know there has to be silver waiting for you. If it gets too frustrating, take a break or search somewhere else. The treasure won't be going anywhere any time soon... Unless I pull it out haha just kidding. Patience though! You'll find that there are more interesting things you may come across while hunting for silver.

 

[justdon]

I have only been detecting for about 2 months myself.I can say frustration is my middle name.Most days if it wasn't for pulltabs/bottle caps and rusty nails i would have no finds.Everybody here gives great advice and i listen.And eventualy i will learn my md and i will have good finds.Many people say location.Thats true.But most important to me and let that be for you.Its called PATIENCE.Good luck with your hunting.And have fun.

 

[CASPER-2]

and if its old dirt road - as old as you say -- hit it too
Ive done well hitting the dirt roads to spots like this - guys rush to the holes themselves
never thinking to hit the roads - people road on horse back - stuff came out of their pockets
you got a road that gets snow or mud - someone back then dropped a coin - it was gone

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

...the longer you detect...the less frustration you will have...Of course its going to be a little difficult at first...the machine will only tell you so much..and its up to you to Learn what it is telling you.

Digging up tons of trash is what i do on the Daily... ive gotten to the point after a few years not to sweat it...The way i look at it...If im digging up all this trash in one spot..than the next time i go out, it only increases my chances of find somethign good.

All this "Trash" is usally masking good objects (coins, jewlery, etc) So if this is a hobby you really want to do for a while, then get used to the Bucket loads of gargbage you will be finding.

 

[gerryk]

What really helped me was when i joined a local club and went out with a couple club members. Find a club or someone i your area to go out with you or take you to one of their places.

 

[Deleted member 70749]

DND has a good point there. Sometimes the trash to treasure ratio will be high and sometimes low. Either way, where there are coins or relics, there will also be trash to sift through.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow amazing about your friend! How old was the house foundation?

It was a beach erosion hunt, not a land hunt.

For land hunting, all the people who come on here and say "don't get discouraged, keep going back and digging junk till your arms fall off "....... I think is bad advice. Well, it depends on the site, of course. But fails to take into account that some sites are simply Lame, while others have better potential. So I think the better advice for someone who is "discouraged" and who is a "newbie" is not: "Go dig junk till your arms fall of", but rather: "Find better sites that aren't so punishing".

 

[BARKER]

HI Diggity; One thing not mentioned is that it is also a matter of RESEARCH. The more you do the better your finds "can" be ok. If no luck therre find another area. i've been digging for 45 years and I still dig trash. just not like I used to.I also don't hunt the junk spots I used ok. Give it time, practice and do your Research ok. I promise if you do those things you WILL make the good finds ok. Good luck. Happy Hunting and let us know how you did ok. PEACE:RONB