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Minelab xterra 305 question

JIM BL

JIM BL

Full Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
168
Location
NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY
Ive been detecting with the 305,since last december. I used it on the beach of south texas,during the winter. Found alot of coins in the dry sand,but it doesn't do well in the wet sand or water. (numbers jump all over). I'm back in kentucky now. Installed the 7.5 hz 10.5 inch double d coil.seems to have better depth and separates junk from good targets.better. I discriminate out -4,4,16 and 20.( this seems to get rid of most nails,foil and junk). This leaves 8 and 12 for nickels ,27 and 32 for penney's and 36,40 and 44 for dimes,quarters etc.
I've been hitting ball fields,tot lots and school yards. I find alot of penney's,dimes and quarters,but very few nickels. I have found 1 silver dime at a old house. Deepest coins have been 8 inches,but dug smashed cans at least 15 inches.( don't you hate that??!)

i know this sounds like a detector review. I wonder from some of you with alot of experience, could tell me if i'm getting what i should from this detector. I would really appreciate your comments and advice!!
Thanks ,jim
 
Ryanchappell comented on my picture I put up below of my clad count for the first 10 months in this hobby...3 with a Bounty hunter, 7 with a 14 KHZ Vaquero.

He was running a 305 at the time with the standard coil, and he was not finding many nickels, either.
He seemed impressed with my stacks.
Keep in mind on any detector I use I hunt all signals from foil on up.
Sometime all metal.

1. The higher frequency machines, or in your case, coils, will pick these up a little better than the coil you are using now.

2. Someone mentioned in a post that he thought he read somewhere that they just don't make as many nickels as the other coins.

The second one might be true, the first definitely is.

The machines that will pick up gold a little better, (higher frequency units), will also pick up nickels easier.

Look for an area that has a lot of gold, dig it and get it out of the way, and you will have a better chance of finding those nickels!:D
 

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I have a 305 and 705 and mainly use the 305 for tot lots.. I use the factory Coin/Jewelry program and find my share is nickels but what i have found is that the TONE on a nickel is scratchy opposed the TONE on a pull tab whic is more cleaner. Both will give you a solid 12 reading but the tonal difference helps me.. Of course ii dig them both becuase it could be GOLD too:lol:... I really enjoy the 305 it is really lite and i get pretty close to the metal poles of the playground equipment...
 
Xterra

Was using the 705 today with the HF elliptical DD coil. Usually pass up the targets that bounce in the 10, 12, 16, 18 range figuring they're pull tabs but today figured I'd dig some to remove them so they're not there later. 2 pull tabs and 3 nickels. All were in the 1 to 3 inch range. Won't know 'til you dig it.
 
I run mine in all metal. I have found plenty of nickels. I think you may be disciriminating them away. just notice that the numbers for nickels dont bounce around, pull tabs do. If a nickel is flat it will read a 12, but on edge it reads a 16. well, the tabs bounce around about 50% of the time. I did find more nickels with my etrac...
 
I used to have a Xterra 305 and didn't find many nickels with it, no nickels means fewer rings & jewelry. You can get a kigh frequency coil for the 305 but Minelab coils cost an arm and a leg.
 
SkiWhiz said:
I used to have a Xterra 305 and didn't find many nickels with it, no nickels means fewer rings & jewelry. You can get a kigh frequency coil for the 305 but Minelab coils cost an arm and a leg.
Click to expand...

there is a 5x10 18.75 dd on treasuredepot forum for 89 dollars.
 
JIM BL said:
Ive been detecting with the 305,since last december. I used it on the beach of south texas,during the winter. Found alot of coins in the dry sand,but it doesn't do well in the wet sand or water. (numbers jump all over). I'm back in kentucky now. Installed the 7.5 hz 10.5 inch double d coil.seems to have better depth and separates junk from good targets.better. I discriminate out -4,4,16 and 20.( this seems to get rid of most nails,foil and junk). This leaves 8 and 12 for nickels ,27 and 32 for penney's and 36,40 and 44 for dimes,quarters etc.
I've been hitting ball fields,tot lots and school yards. I find alot of penney's,dimes and quarters,but very few nickels. I have found 1 silver dime at a old house. Deepest coins have been 8 inches,but dug smashed cans at least 15 inches.( don't you hate that??!)

i know this sounds like a detector review. I wonder from some of you with alot of experience, could tell me if i'm getting what i should from this detector. I would really appreciate your comments and advice!!
Thanks ,jim
Click to expand...

Seems like they did come up 16 some times. I found a lot of lead at 16 too!

My 18.75khz 6in DD coil on the 305 finds more nickels too, as does the E-Trac. The bouncing around thing for nickels, works on the E-Trac too.

When I found the 14kt gold engagement ring, the first week I had the 305, I was actually trying to dig as many pulltabs and pull rings as I could, to try to find gold, and it worked.
 
frhamlet said:
I was out hunting for a lost diamond ring...had to dig ever pull tab, still no find...
Click to expand...

Women's tiffany style diamond solitaire's usually come up 8 on the 305. Did you dig foil? It might come up 4 or -4 if it is buried?

They come up 12-05 on the E-Trac.
 
RyanChappell said:
Women's tiffany style diamond solitaire's usually come up 8 on the 305. Did you dig foil? It might come up 4 or -4 if it is buried?

They come up 12-05 on the E-Trac.
Click to expand...
Thats bad the thing about some of the metered detectors, sometimes you have to run them into "iron mode" (-4) to find jewelry.
 
The best thing to do is to get some small gold jewelry and do some testing with your detector. It surprised me at how much gold jewelry hit around the foil and nickel range. Keep in mind that more small gold jewelry is lost than larger gold jewelry.

beephead
 
Thanks guys, for the ideas and comments. Please keep this going,as i feel we can all learn a lot!! From a minelab site video,i have learned that if the numbers jump more than 2 numbers(like 27,32 36) ,most likely this i is not a coin. I have found this to be true. Usually a 8-12 reading is foil or small aluminum. To possibly be missing gold rings, i will start digging these numbers too. I feel the xterra 305 is a great detector. Love to hear from other 305 owners!!
 
RyanChappell said:
Women's tiffany style diamond solitaire's usually come up 8 on the 305. Did you dig foil? It might come up 4 or -4 if it is buried?

They come up 12-05 on the E-Trac.
Click to expand...

I was looking with the etrac, I think the ring was stolen, not lost. It was a ring with multiple diamonds, worth about 5k. Was left laying on a bench. I was out one day with the etrac, got a strange reading that was bouncing all over it was like 19 32 to 14 18 real weird. started not to dig but changed my mind. It was a man's gold ring. Glad I dug it
 
I've got a 305 and I think it is a great machine. I was going to get one of those high frequency coils but they are so expensive. Instead of getting a higher frequency coil I would rather just get a Tesoro Compadre. They cost about the same as one of the coils. It would be a good backup detector too.
 
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