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Square Nails. concentric or DD coil better?

Fish N Chips

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2013
Messages
74
Location
California
I have started hunting a new spot. It is multiple lava rock foundations built on dirt and lava flow. I am making some good finds but around the structures, the square and even round nails are terrible. I am getting 8-15 hits a swing, it sounds like an arcade even with the discrimination turned way up. It is so riddled with nails my pro-pointer is almost useless. The soil and iron matrix in this area makes the nails ring up to copper or silver on the discrimination until they are dug, then they drop to pull tab or below. It has definitely been my most challenging site to date. I have several more cabins in the same area and am likely to run into the same conditions there.

I am using a Tesoro Eldorado "Umax" with the stock 8x9 coil and a Silver Umax with the 8" coil. I have it ground balanced and am running the sensitivity around 2-3 in the trash which helps a bit. I am wondering if a smaller coil and even more, if a DD coil would help in that environment? Most the area is very detectable. It is just around the house and sheds I am having trouble working through the nails. Even the round nails are ringing high, it must be a reaction in the soil as round nails rarely give me trouble. There are some hot lava rocks to deal with as well. I am considering a 5" DD or a 7" DD, or would a 4-5" concentric be all the help I need? I know there is no cure all, but I definitely want the right tool for the job. It would be nice if a coil change would help the the detector and my ears from being fooled so much by the site. Or do I need to slowly clean the nails out of the way, LOL.

Thanks!

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Any high trash or high iron area a DD coil will perform better, they separate targets better
 
You'll want a DD coil and ALWAYS turn 90 degrees on iffy targets. Sometimes good targets sound awful one way and much better when you turn 90. Ths is because the DD coil may see your target and 3 nails 1 way, but only your target when you turn 90 and sound better.
 
It is an interesting spot. So far my best finds have been iron, but the tools of course are easy to tell apart from the smaller nails. The ranchers who lived in the area were scraping by, so coin finds are likely a remote chance. Buckles, tack and copper implements are likely though. We already found one nice roller buckle.

I will likely get a 5.75 DD to try at the site. I have been considering a gold detector in the future, so maybe an ATgold with the iron audio would help somewhat. I think a lot of it will be the smaller coil, DD, and going very slow and double checking each target. It will just take time to pull the targets through the nails. I think I will work the house site until I get tired of it, and then move off to quieter areas to finish up each hunt. That way I do not burn out on digging nails for hours on end, LOL. I do the same in parks, dig it all until I get tired of it, then turn up the discrimination and cherry pick to finish up the day. I want it to be fun, and not resemble work!

Here are some of my finds so far. Sorry about the poor pic, my good camera is MIA.

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