People Think Finding Lots of Pull Tabs Is A Bad Thing... It's Actually a Good Thing

[AusTexDude]

The key is they have to be the 70s pull tabs.

If you are finding lots of these you are in a spot that has not been metal detected much if at all in the past 50 years. Since most people want gold they opt to dig and remove pull tabs.

I am at a spot where I can find dozens of 70s style pull tabs in a 400 foot square area. I have dug so many pull tabs I think I'm going to turn into a pull tab.

BUT GUESS WHAT!

I only have about 20-30 hours of metal detecting experience under my belt, have a cheap Bounty Hunter IV, and yet I have found 6 rings (one gold, 4 silver, and one class ring) several pieces of costume jewelry, about $10 in coin, and almost 100 fishing sinkers.

 

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[SD51]

Agree with you... I know a spot in an old park that I will get three to four pulltab signals for every sweep of the coil. I really need to take a small area and dig every signal and see what surfaces! Glad you have done well with your technique!

 

[Obsessive]

Ookla, I have a plan to travel back in time and delete the man who invents pulltabs. Then, in his place I will convince the beverage container manufacturer's to use gold instead of aluminum to make the pulltab rings. Seems like a win-win situation for all, no?

 

[AusTexDude]

Imagine if 70s type pull tabs never were banned... metal detecting today would be so so so much harder if not damn near impossible.

 

[AusTexDude]

The key is they have to be the 70s pull tabs.

If you are finding lots of these you are in a spot that has not been metal detected much if at all in the past 50 years. Since most people want gold they opt to dig and remove pull tabs.

I am at a spot where I can find dozens of 70s style pull tabs in a 400 foot square area. I have dug so many pull tabs I think I'm going to turn into a pull tab.

BUT GUESS WHAT!

I only have about 20-30 hours of metal detecting experience under my belt, have a cheap Bounty Hunter IV, and yet I have found 6 rings (one gold, 4 silver, and one class ring) several pieces of costume jewelry, about $10 in coin, and almost 100 fishing sinkers.

You have to balance it out. Parts of this park I go to, near the picnic tables, you will get like 50 million hits per every foot.

I am detecting in an area where the water has receded and where when there was water it was just above people's heads. That forces people to tread water. Cold water makes the fingers shrink and shrivel up and in combination with slippery sunblock the rings just float right off.

 

[boogeyman]

My train of thought on tabs over the years is if I'm working an area with a lot of tabs, and dig them, I'll eventually hit all the goodies others passed over due to tabs. It's worked for me a lot of times. No, I'm not insane I'll pass over the areas around picnic tables, you know where it's a solid carpet of them. Slow down and dig the tabs, there's some little whispers below them. They do have value! They have scrap value. Turn em in with your cans.

 

[vpnavy]

Interesting article talking about Pull Tabs...

5 facts about pull tabs, and why you should save them!​

Here are five facts about pull tabs:

• A million tabs would weigh about 800 pounds. It takes more than 1,200 tabs to equal a pound. And about 63,360 pull tabs laid out would be a mile.
• The program in Akron kicked off about five years ago, Skiera said. Ronald McDonald House of Akron uses Metalico Annaco of Akron for its recycling.
• Skiera said the Akron program brings in about $4,000 a year, with a rate of about 55 cents per pound. "That number will fluctuate based on the value of metal," said Skiera, who added the rate floats between 30 and 75 cents.
• Daniel F. Cudzik of Reynolds Metals Co. invented the tab in use today. He received a patent in 1976. His stay-on tab replaced the ring tab, which was invented in 1965. And yes, as long as they are aluminum, the old ring tabs are accepted today, Skiera said.

 

[Megalodon]

At least one of the reference guides to beer can identification shows the evolution of the pulltab. I don't care about the "collectable" beer cans except for the cold ones in my fridge, but I remember what the earliest pulltabs looked like and when dug, I view them as a good indicator to the days when silver still circulated. I remember when clad junk was first introduced and people started to keep them because is was something new. I converted everything I had to silver, including silver dollars for worn silver certificates, and people thought that was just nuts.

 

[PullTabPete]

What's not to like about old pulltabs?

When I was a kid in the 70's those pulltabs were everywhere but silver was not. So a carpet of pulltabs doesn't necessarily mean silver is in the area. It means it is an older party site but may be just clad around.

 

[AusTexDude]

What's not to like about old pulltabs?

When I was a kid in the 70's those pulltabs were everywhere but silver was not. So a carpet of pulltabs doesn't necessarily mean silver is in the area. It means it is an older party site but may be just clad around.

This is a dried up swimming hole and party spot. When there was water there I am finding all the rings in areas where the water would have been typically over chest deep.

 

[Obsessive]

I'm finding these in a few places.

 

[AusTexDude]

I'm finding these in a few places.
View attachment 1598942

Those are zip tops

Zip Tops

 

[Megalodon]

When I find those I also usually find silver. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[PullTabPete]

When I find those I also usually find silver.

Yep those zip tops are definitely silver era.

 

[Obsessive]

This I like. But the OP is ring hunting and doing a good job of it from the sounds of it. Pics are always good too.

But if I recall the zip tops come in lower on the scale than the 70s style beaver tails... depending on how much of it is actually there. Lol.