Explorer Users - Conductive 07 & 08; Pull Tab, or gold?

KirkS

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St Pete FL
I dig every signal that has a mostly solid Co of 06, with allowance for some fluctuation, but there has to be an 06 hit for me to dig it, and when I do, 95% of the time it's a nickel. The other 5% is a broken newer pull tab. I can handle that ratio.

But what about a Co of 07 and 08? Every time I dig an 07 or 08, it's either a pull tab, part of a pull tab, and occasionally a ring pull, or bits of one. The rule of metal detecting is dig the pull tabs, because gold rings the same as a pull tab. But every reference chart I can find doesn't show really any 'good' targets ringing in at 07, except a 10kt woman's class ring, and a 14kt diamond ring (both from Chris Burrough's The Beep Goes On charts for the Exp & e-Trac).

I'm wondering if any of you Explorer users (I have the SE) have pulled gold that rang up as an 07 or 08 on the conductivity scale? If so, what was the Ferrous number (if you remember).
 
I don't hunt gold, but on my Explorer2 nickels more times than not hit at 10-05. Maybe it has to do with settings or differences in dirt...who knows. Gold is just too "all over the place" to nail it down that specifically because of the different compositions of alloys and shapes associated with it. As most everyone will say, gold is more of a "location" thing than anything else. Others can elaborate....
You're a brave SOB hunting gold my man! Good luck, the Explorers will find you many many things, I love mine for sure!
If it's does any good, be aware that you have more tonal difference on an Explorer running Ferrous sounds, you can test this by cranking up the Variability and testing many different coins that normally would hit with the same tone such as a copper penny and a clad dime. Silver dimes and silver quarters will have a slightly different tone also....check it out if you want, just FYI. Many guys use Conductive, many use Ferrous....but Ferrous saves the day in a site with lots of small iron! I try to avoid those places...:lol:
 
I have no clue what the Fe/Co numbers would be for a given target on the Explorer digital screen as I hunt by tones...and only use the Smartfind screen, observing the cursor position/bounce to help determine dig/no dig. I do know crunching numbers will miss you a lot of good targets:yes:
 
I've never used the numbers in my eight years using the Explorer, sorry.
Tones and smartfind for me also.
 
I've never used the numbers in my eight years using the Explorer, sorry.
Tones and smartfind for me also.

This can apply to the E-trac as well, and the CTX, but I don't have either, so I don't know the numbers on those machine for tabs. But pull tabs will come up in certain Fe-Co numbers, and that's one of the reasons we have these more advanced machines, to give us more information about a target, so in conjunction with the smartfind, we are given these numbers.

I'm trying to find out if anyone has found gold where it hit on a solid pull tab number. I use the smartfind screen, but will switch to the digital screen on certain targets to get that additional information. If it reads pull tab numbers, (Co of 07 or 08) in my case, it has never been anything other than a pull tab.

As for others who have found gold, I don't see reports where it rang up as a solid pull tab, and usually the Fe number was a lot lower then the pull tab Fe number. Looking at all the charts out there, including in Andy's book, I see only the two mentioned above that the numbers were close to a pull tab number. But from what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be reports of gold found when the numbers on the machine said 'Pull Tab' (Fe08/Co07).

Machines that don't give as much info (machine that only give Conductivity), sure, I can easily see gold coming in as a pull tab, but that's because they only have half as much info, so digging a pull tab signal on those machines makes tons of sense.

That's why I'm asking Explorer (and I guess e-trac & CTX users) if they have pulled gold that had the same Fe-Co numbers as a pull tab. It seems we're using advanced machines, but still digging what the machine is telling us isn't worth digging. Would I dig a Co07 with a higher Fe number? Probably, and certainly if it shows depth. I'm trying to hunt 'smarter, not harder'.
 
This can apply to the E-trac as well, and the CTX, but I don't have either, so I don't know the numbers on those machine for tabs. But pull tabs will come up in certain Fe-Co numbers, and that's one of the reasons we have these more advanced machines, to give us more information about a target, so in conjunction with the smartfind, we are given these numbers.

I'm trying to find out if anyone has found gold where it hit on a solid pull tab number. I use the smartfind screen, but will switch to the digital screen on certain targets to get that additional information. If it reads pull tab numbers, (Co of 07 or 08) in my case, it has never been anything other than a pull tab.

As for others who have found gold, I don't see reports where it rang up as a solid pull tab, and usually the Fe number was a lot lower then the pull tab Fe number. Looking at all the charts out there, including in Andy's book, I see only the two mentioned above that the numbers were close to a pull tab number. But from what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be reports of gold found when the numbers on the machine said 'Pull Tab' (Fe08/Co07).

Machines that don't give as much info (machine that only give Conductivity), sure, I can easily see gold coming in as a pull tab, but that's because they only have half as much info, so digging a pull tab signal on those machines makes tons of sense.

That's why I'm asking Explorer (and I guess e-trac & CTX users) if they have pulled gold that had the same Fe-Co numbers as a pull tab. It seems we're using advanced machines, but still digging what the machine is telling us isn't worth digging. Would I dig a Co07 with a higher Fe number? Probably, and certainly if it shows depth. I'm trying to hunt 'smarter, not harder'.

As far as "hunting smarter,not harder"...you and I are on the same page my friend. It doesn't seem anyone else is. I can dig signals with my CTX with specific settings that read 44-45 on the CO side ALL DAY LONG, at ANY depth...and never see a silver coin. If I have 50% or better 46-47 CO numbers....it's almost a foregone conclusion that it IS a silver coin, dug 5 with this method on Saturday. Nobody will have it, or at least admit to it. There are some things we all must do to maximize our hunting time, and to enjoy what we do. I'm a silver coin hunter, nothing else. I wouldn't go deer hunting and bring home 3 ducks and call it a success! Why we do it with detecting sometimes is a little out there, but...it's out there!:lol:
I have no answers for gold, other than...I have noticed earlier in my detecting career when I would dig that sort of thing, the few gold rings I've dug had a very abrupt but very short,solid signal. Like a nice coin signal but shorter and more "compact", if that makes any sense. But I've only found 4-5 gold rings so I don't have empirical evidence that it's that way with all gold rings...
Much luck,I completely agree that with the technology that we have it's really quite unsatisfying digging garbage when you knew it was but dug it anyway. That's an individual choice, but nobody will ever convince me that my CTX doesn't know what it's doing.;)
 
You will definitely find gold in the pull tab range, also much lower and much higher. Gold is much harder to identify through ferrous and conductive numbers because every piece rings in different. Silver coins is different, much easier to call before you dig. There's no digging smarter when it comes to gold IMO. The dirt gold game is not easy, your much better off going to the ocean or water in general in search of gold. Chances of gold skyrocket at sites like these. Happy hunting!
 
The problem with finding gold is that there are so many different ways in which 10k, 14k, and 18k gold is alloyed. Some of these alloys are more conductive than others. Add to it that the geometry of the object will have an impact on this as well. Thicker rings will be more conductive than thinner rings.

So, as those above has stated, gold will be all across the board.

Some 14k gold is alloyed with just gold, silver, and copper. Some is alloyed Gold/silver/copper/zinc (this will ring up lower than the gold/silver/copper alloy).

Things get crazier with colored gold (white, green, blue) due to the addition of things like palladium, nickel, iron, aluminum, and lead/cadmium (for real low end stuff).

Red/Rose colored gold is still just gold/copper/silver.
 
You will definitely find gold in the pull tab range, also much lower and much higher. Gold is much harder to identify through ferrous and conductive numbers because every piece rings in different. Silver coins is different, much easier to call before you dig. There's no digging smarter when it comes to gold IMO. The dirt gold game is not easy, your much better off going to the ocean or water in general in search of gold. Chances of gold skyrocket at sites like these. Happy hunting!

where I hunt on land I really don't expect high chances of finding gold jewelry, but I do expect massive amounts of pull tabs. The general philosophy among MD'ers, is to dig pull tabs to find gold. If that weren't the case, nobody would dig signals that were dead-on for pull tabs. But when we have additional info being given to us via the machine in the form of not just a conductive number, but also a ferrous number, and that ferrous number is far off (or off enough) from a pull tab number, then we should dig it. But if the Fe & Co numbers are right on the bull's eye for a pull tab (Fe 09-10 Co 08), should it be dug, or should we trust the machine that it is an undesirable target? That's a personal choice, but if, as in my case, I'm in a park that has heavy pull tab trash, I'm going to trust my machine. That's one of the reasons why we bought the 'advanced technology' of the Exp/E-T/CTX, isn't it? I think if an exp user is only looking at the smartfind screen, they're only using half of what they paid for.

As for beach hunting, I dig everything, no question.


The problem with finding gold is that there are so many different ways in which 10k, 14k, and 18k gold is alloyed. Some of these alloys are more conductive than others. Add to it that the geometry of the object will have an impact on this as well. Thicker rings will be more conductive than thinner rings.

So, as those above has stated, gold will be all across the board.

Some 14k gold is alloyed with just gold, silver, and copper. Some is alloyed Gold/silver/copper/zinc (this will ring up lower than the gold/silver/copper alloy).

Things get crazier with colored gold (white, green, blue) due to the addition of things like palladium, nickel, iron, aluminum, and lead/cadmium (for real low end stuff).

Red/Rose colored gold is still just gold/copper/silver.

I agree that he conductive reading of gold can and will be all over the place, but the conductive is only half of the information when your machine also gives ferrous readings. I'm sure if I had an AT Pro, or any other machine that only provided conductive numbers, I would be more likely to dig a pull tab signal (and more tired). As an example, if machine A reads pull tabs as a '23', and that's the only info available, I agree that in most cases it should be dug because gold could fall anywhere. But when your machine is giving you more information on the target, you can make a more educated decision/guess as to whether or not to dig.

To expand -

Imaginary Machine A has proven that gold can ring up anywhere from 01 to 99 on it's VDI scale, based on numerous factors. Machine A also has always shown that every pull tab of style X has rung up at '23'. But because it's possible for gold to ring in at 23, you still should dig every signal that reads a '23'.

Imaginary Machine B (aka Explorer SE Pro) has shown that it is unlikely that gold will ring at the same Fe & Co numbers as a pull tab. It may have a Co of 07 (although reports show only 2 gold jewlery pieces found with this Co number) the additional ferrous number can be far enough away from a pull tab to warrant digging. Whereas if it rings up as solid pull tab number, why would you dig it? Considering there are probably 100,000 pull tabs (or more) for every piece of lost gold that would/could ring up with both numbers as a pull tab, why would you dig a pull tab number?

I've dug pull tabs that came in at Co 09, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, and even a bit higher/lower, so I'm not saying I never do or will dig tabs, but I'm starting to get the feeling that the benefit to digging tabs is diminishing, now that I'm getting a good grip on all the info my machine is giving me about any given target.

Last night at the beach I used the Explorer, and pulled about 99% of the signals. I tend to run more in the digital mode, rather then the smartfind screen, but I flip back and forth. Using all the information the machine was giving me, I was able to call the target correctly in all but 3 cases (a screw, a copper hose fitting, and a bit of aluminum tubing got me), but it didn't stop me from digging tabs and part tabs, and other crapola.

If I get feedback from other explorer/E-T/CTX users that they have found gold with readings that were solid pull tab numbers, then I may reconsider my theory. But at this point, I'm not seeing that as being the case.
 
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