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Hunting area with TONS of brass....

Vermonster

Elite Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
9,477
Good morning. Have a couple places I have located, which have old foundations, and are on public land. However, just eyeballing them without the detector, like any rural public area in SoCal, they are loaded with brass cartridges. All sides, types, etc., not to mention all the led being flung around.

Any advice for hunting without telling me to dig, dig, dig.? I don't mind digging a lot in certain areas, but I would dig 1,000 holes in an hour here. I only have a basic starter model BH IV, so I am guessing that will be the only answer to my question. I can tell the difference in the brass (sharp then growl) and the coins (always sharp). However, my gold ring hits like the brass, so I don't want to omit those. Short of having a more expensive detector with a digital display, am I out of luck?

Thanks......
 
Good morning. Have a couple places I have located, which have old foundations, and are on public land. However, just eyeballing them without the detector, like any rural public area in SoCal, they are loaded with brass cartridges. All sides, types, etc., not to mention all the led being flung around.

Any advice for hunting without telling me to dig, dig, dig.? I don't mind digging a lot in certain areas, but I would dig 1,000 holes in an hour here. I only have a basic starter model BH IV, so I am guessing that will be the only answer to my question. I can tell the difference in the brass (sharp then growl) and the coins (always sharp). However, my gold ring hits like the brass, so I don't want to omit those. Short of having a more expensive detector with a digital display, am I out of luck?

Thanks......

Unfortunately, to not miss anything, yes, you're out of luck. However, even with a more expensive detector, you'd still be out of luck. About the only thing a more expensive machine might let you do would be to notch out the brass signals, however, not all signals for brass are going to remain constant, so you'd inevitably be missing something by Notching out these items anyway and gold jewelry has a very broad spectrum ranging from low foil signals all the way up to zinc Lincolns depending on size, shape, and Karat. Trashy areas are tough, so you can either cherry pick the high signals or dig it all. I find I tend to cherry pick as I get tired of constantly digging pull tabs and trash. This is due in part to my hunts being limited on time. Maybe in later years if things slow down (kids, work, etc.) I will feel less pressure and dig more trash signals in those heavy target areas, but for now I'm mainly hunting clad and silver when it comes to those places.
 
Thanks. So you cherry pick the clad and silver, which are both steady sharp tones, right?
 
Thanks. So you cherry pick the clad and silver, which are both steady sharp tones, right?

Yes, most of the time. Trashy areas can even make that tough, but still doable. I've pulled a lot of clad and silver out from among heavy pull tab infestation with the Tracker IV. You'll still miss some due to masking, but that will occur with most machines.
 
You'll still miss some due to masking, but that will occur with most machines.

That's the thing I am worried most about. The brass all seems to be in the top 2 inches or so, thinking that if there is anything good, it'd be underneath......
 
That's the thing I am worried most about. The brass all seems to be in the top 2 inches or so, thinking that if there is anything good, it'd be underneath......

Welcome to the wonderful world of metal detecting! :laughing:

You can either drive yourself insane digging every target in the effort to get what may lie beneath or you can drive yourself insane wondering what you may be missing by not digging every target.
The only other option is to go find someplace else to dig that has less trash and try to forget about the other place. :snapoutofit:
 
My opinion for what it's worth

I would scoff all those old casing Brass shell casings. They can be worth a lot more than the melt. Reluseable brass has a market. Let someone who reloads weigh in.
 
I would scoff all those old casing Brass shell casings. They can be worth a lot more than the melt. Reluseable brass has a market. Let someone who reloads weigh in.

Thought about that, but a lot of it is 50 years old. Not sure if it's been in the ground that long, can it be used or not.....
 
The composition of brass casings deteriorates if it is left in or on the ground for extended periods. My understanding is that the zinc used to alloy the brass leaches out leaving it unsuitable to reload.

I save all my brass finds and scrap them. It isn't gold but it's worth more than aluminum!
 
Personally I wouldn't reload brass that has been in the ground, not even for a year....let alone 50 or more. Yes there are tumblers and polishing methods to clean the brass, but brittle or corroded brass is unsafe and in my opinion unusable.

No real good answer for you as to your original question. With a V3i you can determine pretty closely what the metal type is by the way it hits on specific frequencies....but that's a V3i....you have a bounty hunter and it doesn't have that technology. Your best bet is to find a place that isnt littered with brass casings and keep on enjoying the hobby.

LittleJohn
 
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