Please help a newbee out

[toad400]

I just got an ace 250 because it seemed as it would be a good entry level machine. Hope I am not wrong.

I own an old farm house and went out this evening and started on all metals like the instructions suggested and after digging up tabs, cans and nails I set it to coin mode thinking this would keep me from digging up so much litter. Well it didn't work still in coin mode I dug up allot of trash and 3 current pennies.

I am not a guy that expects to get rich doing this but the history buff in me does want to find old coins and stuff.

Is finding trash even in coin mode as common as it seems after my first night out?

If anyone has advise for me it would be great. Did I buy the wrong machine? or do I need to be doing something different to read my machine better?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Montauk3]

DON'T get discouraged is step one!
Persistence is step two.

Have patience.

 

[m bryan]

I would dig all signals........Most machines will lie to you. Nails and aluminum will show up as quarters at times. Older pennies sometimes reads dimes......Keep at it and and learn your md. The 250 is a great first md......the more you use it the more you will get accquainted with it.......bury some coins (pennies, dimes quarters)at different depths. Bury some scrap and junk and learn how your md reacts.......dig all signals because you might miss something good. Just stay at it and dont get discouraged. It's not the machine it's the user. Also you might want to buy a couple good "how to" books to help you along.

 

[TerryC]

NO md can lie to you.... you just have to stick with it till you learn what it's telling you. Try this...... Stake out a ten by ten area using 1/4 " chord and non-metallic pegs. Dig EVERYTHING in all metal mode. EVERYTHING. Don't stop till you get no signals. If it's a nice piece off ground and you have to give it a break, so be it, but you are not done till everything is out. THEN tell me you can't find anything. TTC

 

[toad400]

Thanks for the advise guys, I was hoping this is normal.

 

[toad400]

thanks again for your help . I spent the day between customers playing with my MD and for the life of me I cant distinguish different tones for junk and coins, should I be able to?

I have my ace set on coin mode and have found a number of clad (just found out what "clad" means I feel like a pro already) coins including a half, a couple dimes, and a few cents. but I cant tell that the detector is sounding any different between junk and coins.

I have just hunted my property and am convinced that a litter bug owned the land well before me. I have drunken many cans of pop and never left the tabs let alone complete cans lay around.


I know i am a begin er and am probably asking some common dumb questions but I am just really questioning myself as to wheather I am holding the right machine.

I have dug every tone and it mostly seems to be trash. do I just need to find somewhere else to try hunting? any suggestions ?

Has anyone ever hunted in creek beds? The family farm is old and is rich in arrow heads and has a large cerek running thru it and I thought about checking the creek bed.

I would love to detect around the house since it is 150-200 years old but I really don't think my father would like his perfect yard dug up.

Thanks again guys

 

[Iron Patch]

I have dug every tone and it mostly seems to be trash. do I just need to find somewhere else to try hunting?

Yes! For success in the terms you describe, to fnd coins and better items you have to find an older site that predates the trash, or just doesn't have much of it... like an old picnic ground, early house site etc.. That having been sai, you are always going to find lots of trash, that's just the way it goes, but when your junk is old, and you get a keeper every now and again, it keeps you motivated. Right now you are battling being new to the detector as well as a tough site, which is common for many starting out and why they never last. All you have to do is look at the finds posted here to know "treasure" is possible basically anywhere if you put in the time, and more important the brain power to get yourself some worthy sites. Where you're digging your holes right now isn't all bad because it does take many hours (companies like to use the number 100) to get to know your detector. I agree with the commrnt about patience and it's funny because for most things I have very little, but I know what works for this hobby and because of that my patience can be extreme. (usually it's not wanting to give up on a good site that is very quiet)

 

[turtlefoot13]

Has anyone ever hunted in creek beds? The family farm is old and is rich in arrow heads and has a large cerek running thru it and I thought about checking the creek bed.

I love to hunt creek beds, especially seasonal ones. I live in an area that had a lot of logging activity and have found a lot of relics in the creek beds including axe heads, shotgun brass, horse shoes, cook pot lids, etc.

Keep at it and you will start finding "the good stuff". I don't own an Ace but I have heard a lot of great things about it.

 

[ah....nuthin]

I agree with the other posters: Don't be discouraged, It is easy enough to do when starting out. BE persistent! That is the key. Here's a true story for you. I had just bought my first metal detector ( bounty hunter quick draw) back in the 90's. I took it into my parents backyard to try it out and get a feel for it. My first coin found was a 1884 Indian head cent! Talk about lucky and does that get the blood going. The point I make in mentioning this is that my parents house was a track house in Southern Ca built in the 80's. Last place you would think to find 100 year + old coins, right? Sounds to me like you have a great hunting site in the making right in your own yard. I envy your old farm site! Anyway, I also dug a couple of 12 packs worth of aluminum cans, too many nails to count, seems like 100 yards of chicken wire( used as mesh for stucco siding) and pull tabs, pull tabs, and more pull tabs from the same area because construction sites generate a lot of trash. Do some research ( if you haven't already) about your farm and the town if possible might could lead to some more sites to search or it might reveal some things about your own property to help encourage you search and to dig like a madman. I know this is a bit of a long winded post but I did some research about my town and found that the local Jr high was built on the same land as the first high school. Found a merc dime from 1918 there for my trouble. I would love to hear of your finds on the farm and good luck

 

[TerryC]

Toad, I can't tell from your posts where you live, big city or small. One of the places I watch for is where they scrape the topsoil away to rebuild. It is an EPA thing. You automatically get 4 or 5 inches further into the "old dirt" when they do that! There are also some good books on the subject. GL. TTC

 

[scrubber]

What you experience at first is a strong "treasure anticipation" excitement with every signal. That's part of the enjoyment of MDing but unless you're very lucky with your early finds, it can cause quick burnout. You will learn to just go into a mental "zone" while detecting, where you're simply enjoying the hunt when all of a sudden there it will be!! Your best find yet!! I actually believe that I would tire of the hobby quickly if I found something special with every dig. It would stop being special.

Like others have been saying, develop patience, and put your focus into learning your machine.

Good luck -- you will have it with perseverance.

 

[toad400]

Thanks guys, I really look forward to exploring more areas.
I live in a small town in north central Ohio. I live in an older farm house (not sure what the date is probably 1940's) my parents farm where I grew up is just down the road and the house is shown on an 1868 atlas. My wife's family also owns an abandoned farm in north east Ky with 200 acres. The house looks to be late 1800's, it has no running water and the outhouse still stands in the back yard. up on the mountain is an old mine. I assume its coal. it is filled with water and is defiantly not safe to go in but I bet I could find some old iron outside the entrance and around the watter trough that is fed by a natural spring coming off the hill side.

I just need to find a less trashy place to learn on. The more I read here the more I think I would be better off with a detector that has a more variable sound instead of fixed tones for whatever its looking at.

Thanks again for all your help.