Nickels and E-Trac

[Buellride]

So...I am a noobie on the E-Trac, had it for about 1 month. Love the machine but the 705, before I sold it, I was picking up silver nickels, dimes, and buffs.....now all I hit is silver dimes and quarters (4 so far) with the E-Trac, no nickels. I am using the stock coin mode on the E-Trac....tried to program the TTF but I cannot figure it out from the standpoint of the 0-31(?) ,Goes4Ever????, null out. Regardless, do any of you pick up nickels in the stock program or is it just me...Probably me

Thanks in advance.

Buellride

[Thatsit]

Yes on the Etrac the clad nickels will ring in at 12-13 almost everytime....you should be able to find them with the stock program...I havent found any silver nickels but they should ring up....Im sure more will chime in on those...but clads for sure at 12-13.

[Pa Hunter]

with the etrac if u wont nickels u gona dig some pulltabs i have gotten nickels as low as 09-08 up to 13-15 most the time its in the 12-13 range

[goes4ever]

Nickels especially old ones really bounce a lot, if you want to find them you need to open up the coin mode around the nickel area to help you get them, today I dug a 1925 buff about 7 inches deep and it bounced from 01-12 to 08-14....07-11, etc.....deep nickels are never
12-12.... Now shallow modern nickels are almost always 12-12 or 12-13

[Jressman]

Here's my technique, most of the time nickles ring in at 12-13 to 12-14 range. It's all about tone though. You will get to learn that punchy bassy tone that the Etrac makes at the 13-14 conductive line. Sweep the coil over the target and hear it repeat time and time again, now turn 90 degrees and sweep, does the tone change even 1 pitch?? It should remain the same because nickles are round so they sound identical from any direction. Beaver tail pull tabs will sound like a Nickle from only 1 side and when you turn 90 degrees on it the tone will change pitch a little. Sounds nit-picky, but it works. I dig far more nickles than tabs now.


Depth can throw the numbers off a little since the Etrac is not so hot on low conductors such as nickles and gold at depths, but the tone will always be the same.

War nickles are in a legue of their own. They ring in from 12-13 to 12-41 if they are an S mint mark coin. Here's a video of a 1945 S Nickle and a P mint Nickle and how it sounds on my Etrac. I thought I had a wheat cent. First Nickle is a 1943 P and the really high one is a 1945 S

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11.../warnickle.mp4

[goes4ever]

oh and I forgot I also dug a war nickel today 12-15 from one way and 11-17 from 90 degree turn

90% of the war nickels I dig are in this range, most common numbers I see for them are 12-17

and as said above, tone is more important that numbers for nickels, if you rely solely on numbers you will miss a ton of old nickels trust me, once I learned how they bounced and opened up my disc pattern to allow for that, my nickel count skyrocketed

[Buellride]

Thanks a ton guys....you are all awesome!!! I will try some of the techniques you mention....I need to start playing with the setting some more. Getting surgery on my knee on Wednesday and will be out for a few days, hopefully I can get back up and operational 5 or so days after Wednesday...Thanks.

Buellride