Your definition of a "good" target

[Pinball]

I have been getting some hours on my AT Pro and just wanted to see what peoples definition for a good target was. I try to dig all solid tones above 40 but I also have been digging a lot of what I would call "poor" targets for fear they might be something good The "poor" ones bounce around a lot but have a solid tone. An example would be one that bounced from 47 to 56 but had a solid tone. Will a gold ring or item like that bounce around that much or can you just mark it off as trash and move on? I always try to guess what is in the hole before I did and I am getting better...but far from even being correct 70% of the time. I have walked away from a "poor" target before only to come back a couple minutes later and dig it because I didn't want to pass over something good. I feel I could be more productive on my hunts it I could learn to pass some of these "poor" targets up without regrets. Thanks for the help.

 

[vilechild]

Truth is you really never know till you dig it up, I usually go through and cherry pick all the solid tones as in the number doesn't jump around. Then I go back for the iffy tones and nickel's, I always sav that for last. But the way I am I don't cover ground quickly, my idea is, its not going anywhere so why hurry.

 

[gollum]

The one I am still excited about after I dig it up!

Mike

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

Ive had various coins bounce around by as much as 8 points however that could be due to their orientation. Also as you walk around and change sweeping angles if the coin isnt flat and parallel with the coil it can cause variations.

 

[RW]

If I am hunting in a sea of pulltabs or rusty screw caps then a good signal is anything different than the dominant trash signal in that location. Will probably still come home with a pocket of pulltabs and rusty screw caps but there was probably something different about them that got me to dig. When time is short or you just need to get on the board with silver I am all for cherry picking but try not to make it a habit. Often times cherry picking does lead to a hot spot where you can slow down and take a closer look.

 

[T.C.]

....sometimes that trash masks something good also!! When in doubt....DIG IT!!

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

I was recently hunting a park for clad and coins. Plenty of pull tabs and foil of course. Got a hit on what came up at the high end of foil. Decided to dig this one even though id dug many others like it that were indeed foil. Sure enough it was a lead round ball. Still need to weigh it but interesting nonetheless and I wouldve missed it had i gone by the target value and skipped over it.

 

[Pinball]

Thanks for the help. It looks like I will just keep digging what I have been as it sounds like they have all been "good" enough to dig.

 

[relic nut]

The not knowing will drive me nuts! If it is a solid sound, 40 or above and I don't dig it, I cant constraint on the next target. Last weekend we where at a site that was loaded with iron junk. I started digging only high tones and still didn't find much and was worried about what I was missing. I went back to my normal way of digging and started to find good targets with the junk. To me it is all about having a good time and knowing that I covered the area well. If you don't dig it you'll never know. All part of the game. Some of my best finds have been bad signals, go with your gut!!!

 

[DigIron2]

Never had a machine that reads numbers,but for me,If it sounds good both ways on a swing,It would be considered text book to dig,But sometimes targets won't sound off good at first,some people might call it a choppy sound.breaker breaker.I don't think that there is anyone out there that has mastered a machines sound and readings,but can only get better with experience.All I can say is take your time and use your judgment,and when in doubt dig it anyway

 

[jeepGold]

My rule of thumb is.. If it's a solid, repeatable target and it's in the range of clad or gold, I PULL IT. Sore quads and 60 tabs with 40 pennies is better than discriminating to strictly and then having some other guy steal your ring that you walked past. You're at your destination to dig so take your time and dig. Come back 2 or 3 times but make sure you clean where you've walked.
I have two machines. An AT Gold and an Excal for the beach. I treat both some what the same. The beach I go more for faints though. Parks I listen for solid hard hitting tones that I know are gonna produce. 46 to 55 are gold rings of the 10 and 14k type. They are also tabs. LOTS OF TABS. 70 to 80 are pennies or 18k. LOTS OF PENNIES. anything above is dimes, quarters.. and silver. If you go to a destination thinking you're gonna learn your machine enough to be able to discrim a solid tone that's in the valuable zone, then your crazy... The sounds to discrim are the gritty, growly, broken up sounds of liter. And even then it can be argued. Diamond ear ring on a stud etc
.
The beach is a lot easier, just more walking. With the Pro, you won't dig to deep and you wont really need to cover your holes much.
My Excal on the beach, it's more strategy. Timing is huge!

 

[Carolina Tom]

As stated by others, a good target might not always give a good sound for a number of reason, co-located trash, orientation, depth.

I had a spot last year that initially produced only modern coins and modern trash... the third time I went there, I slowed down and 2 Mercs came to light. I really slowed down then, and dug every signal. Ended up with 10 silver coins. Six of them were faint, but sounded like coins, the other 4 were bad signals, scratchy, jumpy, wrong number etc, I would not have dug them at any place else, but did at this site because nice relics and coins were appearing. The moral of the story is that not all "not good" signals are trash... 40% of the silver coins would have been missed, if I did not dig all of the signals.

Last weekend, I hunted Todd Lipe's "Trash Lot". Over a dozen silver coins have been recovered at the site, but it is covered with modern trash. I dug a bad signal, it was too big, jumpy, scratchy and wrong numbers. Turns out there was a Merc and a war nickel in the hole together. If I had waited for a good signal, I would have gone home empty handed!

 

[IDXMonster]

As stated by others, a good target might not always give a good sound for a number of reason, co-located trash, orientation, depth.

I had a spot last year that initially produced only modern coins and modern trash... the third time I went there, I slowed down and 2 Mercs came to light. I really slowed down then, and dug every signal. Ended up with 10 silver coins. Six of them were faint, but sounded like coins, the other 4 were bad signals, scratchy, jumpy, wrong number etc, I would not have dug them at any place else, but did at this site because nice relics and coins were appearing. The moral of the story is that not all "not good" signals are trash... 40% of the silver coins would have been missed, if I did not dig all of the signals.

Last weekend, I hunted Todd Lipe's "Trash Lot". Over a dozen silver coins have been recovered at the site, but it is covered with modern trash. I dug a bad signal, it was too big, jumpy, scratchy and wrong numbers. Turns out there was a Merc and a war nickel in the hole together. If I had waited for a good signal, I would have gone home empty handed!

Going REALLY SLOW,to me,means advancing the coil forward and overlapping sweeps by no more than 30%,and knowing the optimum swing speed for your machine. That's where some in ground testing pays off in the field. A four filter machine won't necessarily do as well as a two filter when targets are really close,as a rule I'm told...I have opened up ALL of my hunting grounds once again and I'm finding better,older targets by going slow and using NO DISCRIMINATION. You have to hear everything that's in the ground to determine either through sound,sound quality,TID/number quality,etc. whether or not it's worth a second look. I use concentric coils which SEEM to be less affected by sweep ANGLE. My buddy uses DD coils and sweep angle with his is very important apparently. Maybe brand has something to do with it,not sure.
NO DISC
GO SLOW
LISTEN/LOOK FOR REPEATABLE GOOD SOUND/NUMBERS/INDICATIONS

 

[Randyg12]

For me it all comes down where I'm detecting, the tones I'm listening for and the depth of the target. It took me a ton of hours of detecting to learn my machine and to learn what tones I listen for. I learned the tones by digging a ton of targets. I always go by tone first. Then I use the numbers and depth of the target to help me decide if I want to dig it. Do I still dig trash, you bet I do I'm not a big fan of digging clad, nothing wrong with clad if that's your goal, my goal is oldies so in parks I'm always passing up those 4 to 5 inch dime hits that come in loud and clear because they are usually clad (I do pop the quarter hits). I'm moving low and slow listening for my deeper iffy tones that stops me dead in my tracks. It's a tone I've learned to listen for over time. There is no way to explain the tone, the best way to learn those tones is by trail and error or go detect with someone that is willing to let you listen to some of those iffy hits. In dirt lots, old fields, etc, I set my detector to relic mode and I dig everything that doesn't grunt iron. As far as gold rings in parks I'll dig about 20 to 25 pull tabs hits trying to get lucky but after that I'm cherry picking for oldies. At the beaches I'm in all metal and dig everything that doesn't grunt iron. HH