question about swing

ANY distance off the ground will knock off how deep a machine will detect. To answer your question, with a coil that far off the ground he will not find the deeper targets. He is not the first nor the last that will swing like that, walk fast and think he has covered the whole area.

Well a lot of us have news for people like that. They are missing TONS of targets. None of us seasoned guys care though. More for us to find after he has hunted the area out.

maxxkatt said:

I always read that you swing low to ground or sand and an even swing, not an arch.

will a good beach detector and large coil allow you to swing in more of an arch and 3-4 inches off the sand? sometimes my right wrist hurts even with my carpal tunnel wrist brace and this is all I can manage.

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A larger coil typically yields an increase in depth. So let's say his coil has a max depth of 12". If he swing in an arc, the center of his swing may touch the sand and see targets buried up to 12". At the end of his swing his coil may only see targets buried up to 2".

So yes, it will work. But ask yourself, do you want to decrease the depth as you swing left to right? Of course not. You want the max depth as you swing.
So keep your coil close to the ground as you sweep left to right.

maxxkatt said:

I always read that you swing low to ground or sand and an even swing, not an arch.

this guy (captured from a beach hunting video expert?) walks quickly and used a large arc swing.

Does the fact that he has a 15" or 17" coil mean he can do that type of swing on the beach?

View attachment 395225

I did not take a clip of the video, don't wish to identify this beach expert so I just clipped a still image and blurred it.

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No...not if you want to find the most at the end of those arcs.
With any size coil he is doing it wrong.
Keep it level and swing speed can also have a lot to do with success.
For 18 months I did pretty good but finally I slowed down on one hunt and I was shocked at how much more came out if a site I thought I drained.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=78080


Also some detectors like a faster sweep like my Fisher.
I never swung super fast in Kansas dirt but a decent speed found me a ton.
Despite this as well as I did with the thing in great soil out west I found using that same tool in my SE. mineralized and iron infested soil that same sweep speed will not work, so much here is masked that unless I just want to find a lot of bits and pieces of iron I needed to slow down to a very uncomfortable, for me, ultra slow crawl or I can miss the better non ferrous signals that can be extremely short.
I do that now everywhere and many treasures have been dug that I never would have found with even a normal, slower swing speed.

Like everything learning to do the basics correctly and early is way easier than changing up the road and all sites are different so you need to learn to adapt your style to meet any and all challenges and conditions.

Since we all agree the pictured dude is doing it wrong can I pose a new question?

To scrub or not to scrub?

Personally, I always pretty much lightly scrub the beach if detecting in smooth sand. Keep a wide stance, drag the scoop behind and keep it flat from left to right, watching the coil as I swing.

Only problem I see with scrubbing is either you could wear out the coil if you were silly enough not to have a coil cover, and you could get some falsing if you hit little mounds of sand in your swing.

Caribbeanson said:

...drag the scoop behind...

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^^^ dragging the scoop is another topic of interest.

PRO -

• You can visually see where you hunted
• Other detectorists may enter the beach, and go the other way when they see your grid

CON -

• dragging the scoop my collect sand and require more effort than carrying
• Other detectorists may see your lines and know exactly where you haven't hunted

Any large surface like a Sportsfield or a beach...take a wide stance and crouch, swing with the upper body from the hips while advancing..Use momentum and not arm strength....Fully extended shaft, a guy can cover a 12' swath with a wrap around arc equaling over 220 degrees..all the while keeping the coil flat and nearly on the deck...

A great place to practice this method is on a Sportsfield when theres dew on the grass...You can observe your overlap and coverage by the displaced dew...You can cover the 5yd hash marks and do a 10yd section across and back on two passes! This is where towel line dry sand big beach hunting is similar...


A really fast and light rig like an F70 or similar is what I use...Very easy and comfortable letting the momentum carry the coil....upon finding a target, you scoop it and place your foot on the location while turning and doing an ever expanding circle, shaking the scoop as you go...Its a fast and fluid method to hunt large expanses efficiently....gotta keep that coil flat and hovering just off the deck a little bit...But yeah, practice coil control and coverage and speedy retrieval ergonomics...swinging with your body and not your arm...

I dont use a coil cover and am still running the original 11"dd coil for going on 8yrs..snow, sand, grass, dirt, totlots, gravel....

Have an experienced buddy hunt behind you to see what you are missing and why...thats helpful too...fast shallow flat land hunting for fresh drops is what I do, (Quick Broom) Finding the paydirt lanes/drop zones and working them...Your method and style may vary depending on your specific location and gear...

Before i started putting marine epoxy on my coil covers....... i was going thru one once a quarter. Ya i scrub the sand...... wouldnt it be bad to see your buddy pick up that small piece of gold because you were practicing your golf swing. In the wet sand you will notice more falsing form that coil flip as well at the end of your swing. If you detector gets 10" of usable depth on a large piece of gold and you are swinging 4" off the ground ..... do the math, especially if you only get an inch or two on small gold you air tested. Coil control and running down the beach as fast as you can are a couple of undesirable habits you need to break.

Dew

I keep my coil touching the sand when possible. It wears coil covers out but you can't get any closer.

dew & dirty, glad I'm not the only one scrubbing I get a little trippy when I get a bunch of sand pancaked on the coil and try to rinse it off, but I find lightly scrubbing the most efficient

I was given some great gifts by Captain Silver awhile ago.
He sold his F75 but he had a few coils that were not really sellable because of their condition so he saw I just got an F70 and the crazy, generous guy just shipped them to me.
I got three coils and all of them looked like this, two out if three still worked perfectly.
This guy is a scrubber, not just in dirt but on rocky beaches up there in the NE.
Thank god for JB Weld.