Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Newbie question on what to dig

JimR_TN

JimR_TN

Elite Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
872
Location
Middle TN
I've been MD for about 3 months now, most of the time with a Fisher F2. Great machine but it just wet my appetite so I upgraded a couple of weeks ago to a Fisher F75.

Wow, great detector! Been having a blast with it around a few local schools. Mainly using the default settings, no EMI issues, just learning the machine. Still looking for my first silver but I'm getting tons of clad, lots of quarters in my 1-2 hour hunts in the heat.

As a newbie it took a bit of time to realize I should be searching with my ears first and the VDI display second. I'm getting good at picking out targets and shallow quarters are VERY obvious.

I just setup a test garden in my backyard. Pretty basic 4 coins at 6 inches and was surprised that the detector hits on all of them but the tones and VDI were off. Looking at a few videos of people using their Fisher F75s in their test gardens this seems to be normal.

This leaves me a bit confused on how to tell a good target from trash. I've been digging targets that have a good tone both ways and consistent VDI. This has gotten me lots of shallow clad reduced the amount of trash I'm digging (important for an old guy in the heat) but now I realize I'm probably passing right by deeper coins including that elusive silver.

So how does everyone decide what targets to dig? If I "dig everything" I'm going to dig lots of trash and will be digging lots of plugs at these school. But I don't want to keep passing up that possible deeper silver coin.
 
I don’t use the f75, but I was going to say dig everything until you have learned the tones even more definitively. The truth is that some things sound differently depending on soil conditions, moisture of ground, whether they are on their side or flat, and how long they have been in the ground.
Happy Hunting!
 
If you don't want to dig everything, try just digging signals where the VDI doesn't bounce around 30 or 40 points on an item.
 
To dig or not to dig that is the question🙊
After a few hundred holes and watching how the vdi jumps around on some targets and the sounds pop on others it will all just start to click.
 
Last edited:
Hunt slow and listen for repeatable signals. Practice in your test garden. You also need to hunt where there are old coins.
 
goodmore said:
Hunt slow and listen for repeatable signals. Practice in your test garden. You also need to hunt where there are old coins.
Click to expand...

OP....read the last sentence of this post over and over and over. Too many people go hunting in places that simply MIGHT have an old coin, but have NO conceivable reason to have any viable number of them. An old ball field from the 30’s at least HAD older coins because there was activity there at the time these coins were circulating....and there might be some left very deep or very masked. That new “Veterans Park” in town that was built on a swamp with truck loads of old construction materials? There is NO reason for an appreciable number of old coins being in there, if any. It doesn’t matter how “good” your machine might be if the coin ISNT THERE and more importantly, has no reason to be.
 
Thanks all! I had been digging only those targets where the VDI didn't bounce more than a few points.... which is probably why I've had such luck with clad quarters. I'll widen my criteria and see how it goes. The schools I'm hitting were built in the 1960s, and with plenty of clad I'm guessing they haven't been hit too much. My guess is many of the signals that bounced more than a few points that I passed over were deeper coins.
 
For finding some silver, those schools built in the 1960's have a pretty slim chance of producing a silver coin for you. 1964 was the last year silver dimes and quarters were minted, and they were pulled out of circulation fast as they were replaced by the clad copper and nickel versions we use now. I would recommend early 1950's and older locations for a better chance of finding silver. As a few posters have stated above, date of location and activity are keys to getting the old stuff, good luck in your hunts!
 
JimR_TN said:
Thanks all! I had been digging only those targets where the VDI didn't bounce more than a few points.... which is probably why I've had such luck with clad quarters. I'll widen my criteria and see how it goes. The schools I'm hitting were built in the 1960s, and with plenty of clad I'm guessing they haven't been hit too much. My guess is many of the signals that bounced more than a few points that I passed over were deeper coins.
Click to expand...
Schools built in the early 1960's would possibly have a few silver coins back then but most likely have been dug by detectorists years ago. The fact that you're digging a lot of clad just means that no one has detected there RECENTLY. Bouncy signals are most likely JUNK targets but dig some of them to find out what your detector is telling you.
 
When I got my first “real” detector, I went to the beach and dug every repeatable signal with a sand scoop. Much easier than digging plugs on your knees and you can get a very good handle on what you machine is telling you. It’s like a giant test garden with bikinis.
 
I never used the F75. But I’ll say that whatever machine you use, especially as a novice, dig everything and pay close attention to the patterns of sounds, soil, depth, types of metal etc. Eventually, as you learn a particular unit you will realize that its talking to you and it has a lot to say, all you have to do is listen.
 
All good advice. I recently covered a plot of ground in the coin mode and picked up a few pennies. I put the ATPro in all metal zero mode and went back over the same area and picked up more pennies that I had missed the first time. Scan it, dig it, learn it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Does the Nokta LG24 have any advantages over stock coil?
Replies
5
Views
43
Tony-Ok
Tony-Ok
S
Minelab Sale
Replies
10
Views
457
Beachhunt1
B
J
Xcal coil question
Replies
0
Views
89
jimsvillage
J
Digging Prayers
Legend 1.14 Beast Mode Downgrad Problem.
Replies
4
Views
276
Digging Prayers
Digging Prayers
S
Excalibur II question - False signals in salt water waves
Replies
5
Views
148
jimsvillage
J
Back
Top Bottom