Safari Help - Rev War Permission

[scrapmagnet]

I have been working a permission off and on for about 9 months. About 10 acres and loaded with iron. The site has been occupied since the 1730's, has had both Colonial and British military occupation. Although I am very happ with the artifacts that I have found, the earliest coin found was an 1865 (Indian Head). Next oldest 1898 (Quarter). I did find many wheats, two merc dimes, four indian heads, five buffalo nickels, two dandy buttons, a roached pewter button, misc flat buttons and a close group of nine early/mid 1800's buttons. I also found one lead ball and a few pieces of camp lead. There has been a fair bit of ground disturbance around the house.

Not one coin earlier that 1865 has been found (not even a smooth suspect). With the volume of other small items, this just seems odd to me. I am using a Safari. I know that it is an older unit and I have never really measured my deepest find. Pure hits are rare due to hundreds of years of trash and a seemingly endless scattering of corroded iron. A good bit of foil, shotgun shells and copper shards add to the fun.

Could the older coins, being heavier and having more time, sunk below the range of my Safari?
I am getting better at picking up partially masked items (almost all have been) and going by tones, but 99% of what I dig seems to be false due to nearby iron.

Does anyone run a Safari and has a setup or tips that they could share. I have played with the sensitivity (17 seems provide the best results) all of the modes and I swing slow.

 

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[pepperj]

I have been working a permission off and on for about 9 months. About 10 acres and loaded with iron. The site has been occupied since the 1730's, has had both Colonial and British military occupation. Although I am very happ with the artifacts that I have found, the earliest coin found was an 1865 (Indian Head). Next oldest 1898 (Quarter). I did find many wheats, two merc dimes, four indian heads, five buffalo nickels, two dandy buttons, a roached pewter button, misc flat buttons and a close group of nine early/mid 1800's buttons. I also found one lead ball and a few pieces of camp lead. There has been a fair bit of ground disturbance around the house.

Not one coin earlier that 1865 has been found (not even a smooth suspect). With the volume of other small items, this just seems odd to me. I am using a Safari. I know that it is an older unit and I have never really measured my deepest find. Pure hits are rare due to hundreds of years of trash and a seemingly endless scattering of corroded iron. A good bit of foil, shotgun shells and copper shards add to the fun.

Could the older coins, being heavier and having more time, sunk below the range of my Safari?
I am getting better at picking up partially masked items (almost all have been) and going by tones, but 99% of what I dig seems to be false due to nearby iron.

Does anyone run a Safari and has a setup or tips that they could share. I have played with the sensitivity (17 seems provide the best results) all of the modes and I swing slow.

I never used the Safari though the machine is probably like most other Minelab Explorers.
Just in all the Minelabs I ran zero discrimination in the iron patches. Granted I have dug lots of iron, but also lots if keepers.
Between the high tone/VDI# check I decided on what to dig.
In heavy iron the slow swing speed is important. Slow as it counting and shorter swings I found.
12-2 o'clock swing one way speed is 4 seconds 7-8 second complete back to 12 o'clock.
Even shorter if really lots of close targets.

Another trick that has worked is if an iron signal sounded a bit off. Chances were it had a non ferrous target really close.

Once again you're going to be digging out iron.
If the site is available (permission open)
And it's close to you, dig the iron on each trip.
Not to the point of hating it, but thinning the herd.
Go to the edges (4 sides) work back into the heavy iron again.

I have a few sites now that I have worked for 10 yrs. Detect them a few times pre/post planting every year.
Great sites when I upgrade the machines also, I know what I got with the previous model to the point of not digging one keeper.
The depths of the machine is limited to soil moisture, iron content, clay vs sandy, and operator.

 

[sprailroad]

I have a Safari, I do not use it anymore, but I choose to keep it because it is/was such a great detector. I do not have any kind of setting for you to use where you are detecting, except that I ended up always detecting in the "Relic" mode. In that trashy area, a small coil, I really loved that 5x8 S.E.F. coil. The Safari has a rather slow recovery speed, I'm sure you know that, so go slow with a small coil in Relic, and your go to go, it sounds like you are doing really well already at a really good place. You know, taking it down off the wall just now, I like the feel of it, I miss using it, time to load up the 8 AA's fire up my old friend again for a go.

 

[scrapmagnet]

Once again you're going to be digging out iron.
If the site is available (permission open)
And it's close to you, dig the iron on each trip.
Not to the point of hating it, but thinning the herd.
Go to the edges (4 sides) work back into the heavy iron again.

I could probably fill a couple of 5 gallon buckets with iron and have unlimited, solo permission. The site is about 10 minutes away. Honestly, I have been cherry picking since there is so much area to cover and the only spot that I have exhaustively searched is what I call "the laundry". Its where I found the concentration of 1800's buttons. I still hit that spot when I get frustrated and on the last three trips I found another button. I like the idea of working in from the edges. One of the most iron littered areas is 1/3 bordered by a driveway so I can at least work a shorter perimeter. Thanks!

I have a Safari, I do not use it anymore, but I choose to keep it because it is/was such a great detector. I do not have any kind of setting for you to use where you are detecting, except that I ended up always detecting in the "Relic" mode. In that trashy area, a small coil, I really loved that 5x8 S.E.F. coil. The Safari has a rather slow recovery speed, I'm sure you know that, so go slow with a small coil in Relic, and your go to go, it sounds like you are doing really well already at a really good place. You know, taking it down off the wall just now, I like the feel of it, I miss using it, time to load up the 8 AA's fire up my old friend again for a go.

I have been considering a 5x8 coil, but unfortunately, its not in the budget right now. I'm going to spend a solid day in relic and see if there is improvement since I do tend to switch modes to hopefully lessen frustration. I may be just shooting myself in the foot by doing that. I really like this detector as well. I don't really experience any real, physical fatigue other than a sore elbow after a long day. I'm still learning the tones and just when I think that I am gaining ground, out comes a nail haha. I greatly appreciate the info, especially since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of content related to the Safari as there is for other models. I hope that your old friend comes through for you!