Nickels at the beach...

[Copperhead]

I’ve been Mding at a few local town beaches lately due to the frozen ground…..my Ace250 seems to perform pretty well in the dry or wet sand running at default sensitivity setting and I’ve found 1 small silver toe ring...Despite not having seen any other MD’ers….I’m sure these beaches are hunted..The only strange thing is I seem to find a more nickels than any other coins especially in the wet sand areas…..Could there be any technical reason for this or just coincidental?.... Also, if I’m finding nickels, is that a good sign that I should be able to detect gold too?…I’m hunting in all metal mode and pretty much dig everything…thanks for your thoughts…

 

[rsc]

Nickles are a good sign. Much better than zinkers or pull tabs. If you dig nickles and pull tabs, you will find GOLD. Keep up the good work.
HH Gayle

 

[DaChief]

Ditto to the post by RSC. If you are finding nickels, that means that there is a good probability that if the beach has been hunted before you, the persons doing the hunting had their discrimination set too high. The other probability is that they are using a machine that can ID a nickel without doubt and they just left them there. That is not a very high probability. I would say that if you are finding nickels, you are doing everything you need to to find the gold if it is there. Of course there is less gold that nickels so you will have to work hard at it to find that rare gold item but you are on the right track!

I find, on average, 50 to 100, junk items, nickels, zincs, etc., to every good jewelry keeper find that I make. Those may not be rings but include small earrings, pendants, etc., along with an occasional ring. That may not be true every day but on average, that would be it. Some folks have 10 plus ring days but that is a rarity in itself. I am happy to walk off the beach at the end of the day with one good find although I don't resign myself to that. I hunt like every swing of the detector is going to produce a gold ring.

Good luck and glad to hear that your 250 is so proficient. I believe that is the best machines on the market for the price.

DaChief!

 

[ivan salis]

if your hitting nickles then you should hit gold if there any there -- gold often rings up in the nickle /pulltab area on a ace 250

 

[Sandman]

The others before me told you true. Since you are hunting in all metal, the gold will come if you get the coil over it. Make sure you are overlaping your sweeps by at least 50% to not miss anything.

Pic is what happens when you don't overlap with a concentric coil like is on most detectors.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[Jason in TN]

Only reason I can think of that you would be getting more nickels than other coins is maybe other hunters are only digging the high coin readings and leaving the nickles. Very bad idea on the beach as you will miss the gold rings.

Jason

 

[Copperhead]

Thanks for the replies….I almost didn’t post this because I know that the opinions of lots of members(with much more experience than me) is that the Ace isn’t any good at the beach except in the dry sand…but in my limited experience, unless I actually dunk it in the salt water, I really haven’t noticed much of any difference in performance or falsing compared to regular soil…maybe it's just the conditions where I am hunting..

I thought about the discrimination or cherry picking too...whatever the reason, it does give me hope of finding something good....

I appreciate all of your assurance of getting the gold…if it’s actually there…and thanks too Sandman for the reminder of overlapping….my biggest problem beach hunting is looking at all the area to cover and wanting to try and hit it all…if I am fortunate enough to actually find some gold I’ll be sure to let you know…