Target question

[m bryan]

Went out for a while today and dug a few targets at an old school site. After digging several trash targets I decided to turn the discrimination up to only dimes, quarters and dollars just to see if I could get a hit. Got a good quarter reading so I began to dig. Found the target at seven inches. It was a nail about half inch long......Why would the detector not pass on the nail? I have to run the sensitivity up all the way to get any depth.....factory settings will only go 3" deep.......am I doing something wrong or is my machine inferior? Garrett Ace 300 about 12 years old. Digging trash with the discrimination up all the way.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[njnydigger]

First off, let me clearly state that, I am by no means an expert on the Garrett line. I ran with an Ace 250 very briefly and found it to be an okay machine. Not familiar with the 300 you mentioned, however...

There are certain "issues" that carry over to almost any brand of detector. One of them is junk targets. By raising your discrimination higher, yes, you will be canceling out a lot of the junk. But, not ALL of the junk. Even on my Safari or other top-of-the-line machines I've had over the years, I'm sometimes "fooled" by a bottle cap showing up in the dime/quarter range. So, again, you can certainly X out MOST of the junk targets, but, not ALL of them.

Also, nails tend to be tricky little items. ESPECIALLY if they are older (spikes, square nails, etc.) and even more so if the iron is starting to crumble apart in the hole. They very often come up as coin signals on most machines. Mostly everyone has this problem.

My suggestion would be this...

If your machine has a notch discriminator, try notching that item out completely. Also, you might have a problem where your detector is picking up the nail instead of a good target that is closeby. Best thing in this case would be to try detecting in between the junk with a small shooter or sniper coil. If these things don't work, your only other option would be to clear the entire top layer of the nails in order to get to the deeper and older stuff beneath them. However, me personally, I would only do this if the site is older and you are fairly certain there are some keepers there since it takes a LOT of time and effort

 

[Tom_in_CA]

To start with, yes, that is a lower-end machine (sorry garrett lovers ) But still, a nail shouldn't have come in when in high disc. Some "super hot" machines have that problem of getting fooled by deep bent nails (for example, the CZ6, or 1266) if you're not super aware of tricks to try. But the Garret you have, should not have this problem (as it's anything but super hot )

Questions for you:

1) try the nail now that you have it out of the hole. Does it still come in at high disc. levels? Do ALL nails (try some from your tool box) come in on all the various disc. levels? (because even foil disc. would/should still knock out all small iron like nails). If so, a) you're doing something wrong (like, you're not truly in disc. mode, or you don't know what the h*ck you're supposed to be listening for, or something), or b) the machine is broken.

2) if it's just that one nail that is not getting disc'd out, then I bet it's not an iron nail. There are aluminum roofing nails, or copper nails, like they use in ships, boats, etc..... (to prevent salt water corrosion), and other types of non iron "nails". Perhaps you just happened to find one of those types?

 

[TerryC]

I wouldn't worry about one (or two) nails. If you are picking them up at 7 inches?....... run with that. Your'e doing good. Take one of your favorite spots, String out a section about 10 by 10, and dig EVERYTHING in the all metal mode. Call it a test, challenge, whatever you need to call it but stick to it till ALL targets are dug. UNDER the trash may be the treasure. Moral: if your'e not digging pop-tops, your'e not digging gold! TTC

 

[m bryan]

Thanks for the tips guys.....

 

[Rob66]

Go back that quarter could have been under the nail.

 

[Gunny71]

I have a Garrett GTAX 550, and it likes square nails, they can ring up like solid quarters at times.

 

[Digger]

Deep rusted nails are a problem for most detectors. It has to do with the pointed end causing "wraparound" which causing the nail to sound good. In most cases the nail will only sound good in one direction(parallel to the nail) and not the other. Also, a nail will sound off in one spot(at the pointed end) but pinpoint at the bigger(head) end. So if when you pinpoint you find the target shifts position slightly, chances are it's a piece of iron junk.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Deep rusted nails are a problem for most detectors. It has to do with the pointed end causing "wraparound" which causing the nail to sound good. In most cases the nail will only sound good in one direction(parallel to the nail) and not the other. Also, a nail will sound off in one spot(at the pointed end) but pinpoint at the bigger(head) end. So if when you pinpoint you find the target shifts position slightly, chances are it's a piece of iron junk.

Yes i agree with Digger i use a Fisher CZ-6a very hot machine, but it thinks old rusty nails r silver coins,the old rustys will pinpoint at different places its common for most machines.in 37 years i got enough nails to build a house ....and i got a room full of goodies to prove that...so dig anything that beeps both ways and some that only beep 1 way find a target and walk in a cercle and listen to what the machine is telling you and check the hole before u cover it up i`v gotten nails and good targets side by side!!! Thanks Gary G.A.P.metal