b1dearm,
I don't do the "wiggle" quite the same as Cherry Picker does, nor for an identical reason (it seems he utilizes it at least to some degree for pinpointing, and for testing to see if a target will near the tip of the coil, as a "check" to see if it is trash). What Cherry Picker describes IS a way to pinpoint, and IS a way to "check" a target (if it "breaks up" or sounds otherwise "crappy," near the tip of the coil, it often IS junk). I'm not knocking what was said, but that use of wiggling the coil over the target while also gradually drawing the coil back toward your feet, with the target gradually moving toward the front edge of the coil, is not what I mean when I talk about the "Minelab wiggle."
When I talk about the "Minelab wiggle," what I mean is when I'm detecting and hear a target that needs to be explored further, I shorten up my swing to very short, left-to-right sweeps (maybe 6" or so width of sweep) over the center of the target. I listely carefully as I begin the "wiggle," and allow my "ears" to help get me centered directly over the target. If I CAN'T get centered (i.e. get a repeatable hit in one location), it's either junk (usually iron), OR multiple targets under the coil. BUT, when I CAN "zero in" and find the center of the target using the wiggle, then I continue to make these very short (4 to 6") sweeps back and forth over the top dead center of the target, as I rotate my body slowly around the target (while continuing these short sweeps over the center of the target), all the way around, 360 degrees.
These short sweeps allow the machine's algorithms to get a really good look at the target, and thus give the best ID possible for the target (i.e. you are giving the machine multiple, repeated "reads" of the target). And doing so as you rotate lets the machine see it from the entire 360 degrees. Again, this allows the machine to use its ID algorithms to the fullest...
I am sure this works with other machines, but with the Minelab units, I especially feel that you are maximizing these SMF machines' ability to really "interrogate" the tartget, as the information from these short, repeated sweeps is fed through the ID algorithms to give the best ID possible.
What you'll notice, is that there are times that the wiggle allows a target to really "clean up," over several seconds worth of "wiggling" it, and will give an increasingly good, solid report and ID with time. That's usually a good target. Other times, doing the "wiggle" causes the target to gradually "degrade," audibly, i.e. "sound worse," as you do the "wiggle" repeatedly...OR, sometimes you "lose" the target at some angles -- i.e. it seems to "move" a few inches). This is obviously, much of the time, indicative of trash.
Hopefully that helps...
Steve