Am I not digging deep enough?

[Happa54]

Hello All;

Can I get some feedback from you?

I've had my safari for a couple of months now and go out approx 2 times a week....loving it thus far.

I'm hunting extremely trashy older parks but in my mind I think I'm getting an education to the various sounds.... and there a ton of em.

Here has been my dilemma on more than one occasion.

I hear a faint tone sounding like silver. The safari pinpointer is weak as well. The target depth gauge is at the bottom.

I toss out a silver coin from my pocket and make a pass at it to make sure they both sound alike.

I start digging about 8" or so and then I give up because my White's TRX pinpointer cannot locate anything.

Then I make a pass again with the safari and hear the silver tone again. I scratch my head, cover the hole and move on.

I always carry a pocketful of silver and newer coins and toss em out to acclimate my ears to good sounds. But then there are certain tabs and caps that throw it all off because their tones sound like coins.

I think that this may be one of my problems in thinking that I have to dig deep only to come up with junk can be disappointing.

But overall, I've dug up some good stuff that keeps my imagination going.

I have found some wheaties and older nickels but the image attached is thus far my best find because I used to play at the ballfield in the 70's where I dug this up.

It's a matchbox Wells Fargo armored truck dated 1978 made in England. The white lettering is missing though.

Nostalgic finds like this are far more interesting to me than the wheaties, nickels and quarters.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding my dilemma.

Have a great day!!!

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Well, if your Safari is saying theres silver at 12". I'd sure check to 12". ime, if my Safari gives me the silver tone, it IS silver regardless of depth. There's been a time or 2 that deep silver didn't give me the clear tone, but I knew it was at least a quarter before I dug.

 

[Goldstrike]

If I get a silver tone and a 38-39 and I cannot find anything, you can be pretty confident it's some aluminum trash, a buried aluminum beer can etc, down deeper than you would generally dig. When you go on a beach, you'll find many aluminum soda and beer can's buried deep in the sand because the person is too lazy to take them off the beach or get them in a trash can. It sounds like a great silver target but it's aluminum. All you need to do is to raise your coil up above the ground and if it still sounds strong a foot or more above, it'll probably aluminum.

 

[Prep1957]

If you are in a lot of trash I would not be using the pinpoint on my Safari,Use motion method to pinpoint target.The fact that you are using a whites pinpointer is an issue also it locates using tip only I would recommend using Garrett Carrot or any pinpointer that can locate from its side.The fact that your Whites Pinpointer could not find target when you used it means that your target is in the side of your hole or as stated above you gave up too early I have dug large Crotal Bells at 14 inches that read silver dime all the way until I got it out of hole same with old fruit jar lids.

 

[Happa54]

All great feedback for me.... thank you!!!

I took special note of;

1. Raise coil a foot above ground to determine if it is aluminum.

2. Use motion to pinpoint and get a Garrett Carrot pinpointer (although I was sold on TRX through a youtube video).

I was back out to the park today. Park is huge. Several hundred acres. Tons and tons of coins and trash.

Was out for a couple of hours and got a couple of wheaties, lots of clad dimes/pennies and a few quarters.

Realistically, a person could pay for a small meal for every couple of hours of hunting at this park.

I'm learning the sounds pretty quickly and having a ton of fun.

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Yeah, that Fun comes thru in your posts. And its not only the key to metal detecting, but in Life too imo.

I think learning in a trashy park is a good way for someone new to learn the hobby. It gives you confidence that if you can find good stuff there, you can find it anywhere. Keep it up!

 

[Happa54]

Thanks Champ;

I'll throw in one more response to top off this thread.

Many MD'ers in the forums advise going "All Metal" if possible.

I tried that a couple of times at this park and Holy Cow!!!!!

My control box was like a Vegas slot machine spinning out of control.

ID numbers hitting just about every number (1-40) and sounds too numerous (every few inches) to know what is in the ground.

It is so overwhelming that I switch back to C&J with discrimination in the negative numbers, high teens and twenties.

Are there MD'ers out there that can take on a park like this in AM? I'd love to see it.

I'm gonna stay with this park for awhile since I feel it's a great place to "cut my teeth" with this hobby.

Oh well.... this has been an educational thread for me.... thanks a lot for the feedback.

Back out early morning.

 

[Cos]

Happa54-Some possible suggestions for you-

1. Purchase Andy Sabisch's revised "Quatro and Safari Handbook."

2. Cross save to the Relic Mode to use the conductivity audio mode and also to get rid of the stupid icons.

3. Purchase a smaller coil that will help you identify the good stuff in the trash. My favorite is the SEF 8 x 6 inch coil which I use everywhere 90% of the time.

4. The Lesche digger only gets you to about 6" in depth. When I reach that depth, I then use a large 10 inch screwdriver to work my way down (inch by inch) deeper. Usually my pinpointer starts to chirp when I get to 7 inches. Then I know the "good stuff" is just ahead--or with the Safari it might only be an old, rusted cut nail (which tend to sound like silver when buried deep). However, I like and save old cut nails in addition to old, deep silver coins.

5. In addition, before digging, use the Safari pinpoint mode (which is excellent) and mark it on the ground (with a small screwdriver) before you kneel down. 9 time out of 10 the item pinpointed by the Safari will be right in the center of you excavated hole. If it is off to the side of the hole, it most likely will be a cut nail. piece of wire, etc.

6. Good luck in your metal detecting--The Safari is an awesome machine!

 

[Champ Ferguson]

Happa54, I agree 100% on AM trashy site hunting. All the experts tell us that's the only way to do it, but I'd have quit the hobby long ago if that was the only way to hunt a FBS machine. Sometimes i'll try AM in a trashy site for a while, but my hearing is still good + I don't have the patience of Job. Theres a reason discrimination was invented!

 

[Happa54]

Took your advice Cos.

Went out today and cross saved C&J to Relic and all those crazy sounds seemed a bit subdued...at least I think they were.

I have Sabich's "Quattro/Safari Handbook"...read it twice but will spot read to what's relevant to what/where I'm hunting.

It's amazing how much stuff I can pull out in a little trashy area with overlapping/gridding (per Brandon Neice).

Between yesterday and today I got some cool stuff that excites me very much (in addition to a bunch of clad coinage).

In as much reading and research that I've done for the last couple of months, nothing compares to going out and swinging it as much as I can.

Moving from C&J to relic to AM and cross saving is an experience in sounds and getting to know this safari. And man there is a lot to learn.

Of all the advice and feedback given here, I've taken away something invaluable out of each and every post.

Thank you all.....

Pics: cool stuff yesterday/today. The ring on the inside is stamped "Mexico" on one side and on the other stamped "925 JMG"

 

[Prep1957]

Good job get a 6X8 coil and you will almost suck that park dry.