BBS and FBS tones on bottle caps

[imalookin2]

I have been watching the 3030 threads and see bottle caps being dug a lot. The Etrac and 3030 are FBS but I see bottle tops shown on their finds. On the Excal and Sovereign many bottle caps are easy to recognize. They make a sound no other target makes. Some will fool you but more often than not I can tell 99.9% it is a beer top. When they rust and crud they break up or null so you know they are trash. Are the tones different on those FBS machines that makes recognizing those beer tops harder? It must be because I see experienced guys like Max at Va Beach and others with Etracs with a lot of bottle caps. It appears the BBS tones for that target are more distinct. Experienced FBS users please tell me the truth. Thanks!

 

[tvr]

I know what you mean about the sound of a bottle cap. I tend to dig them anyway. The ring to the left in the picture I'd guess was about 7 to 8 inches deep and sounded like a bottle cap with the Excal. I started to walk away, but came back and dug it just to be sure. Glad I dug this 10K white gold "bottle cap".
Cheers,
tvr

 

[Jack Flynn]

They definatlely are more distinct with the GT and Excal's. The ETrac's and Explorer type machines use size of the object, diameter, as one of the feeds for an equation for TID. The sound produced and TID is used along a scale for the users info. The makeup of the metal is part of that equation also. That type of recognition of a target is why something maybe the size of a coffee cup saucer at a good bit of depth might read out as a penny or quarter TID wise but be two foot deep and big as a soft ball diameter wise. TID machines will do this a lot where as typical non TID machines, GT, Excal's don't figure that equation. That my friend is why the GT and Excal's are so good and they will find more goods, variety wise. You don't rely on a number to make up your mind. A trap a lot of detectorist fall into. Detectors with TID are not a metallurgy lab. They just take the most probable info and feed it too you. They will dig more cap's like you said.

 

[imalookin2]

They definitely are more distinct with the GT and Excal's. The ETrac's and Explorer type machines use size of the object, diameter, as one of the feeds for an equation for TID. The sound produced and TID is used along a scale for the users info. The makeup of the metal is part of that equation also. That type of recognition of a target is why something maybe the size of a coffee cup saucer at a good bit of depth might read out as a penny or quarter TID wise but be two foot deep and big as a soft ball diameter wise. TID machines will do this a lot where as typical non TID machines, GT, Excal's don't figure that equation. That my friend is why the GT and Excal's are so good and they will find more goods, variety wise. You don't rely on a number to make up your mind. A trap a lot of detectorist fall into. Detectors with TID are not a metallurgy lab. They just take the most probable info and feed it too you. They will dig more cap's like you said.

Well Jack, you said what I thought and with your experience it means a lot. I have not used a FBS machine but I started to go hummm when I saw a lot of 3030 hunters showing bottle caps. I dig everything on my GT that sounds good. So far that has treated me well. Since the GT and Excal only have tones you learn them. They will talk to you. I do not see a display as a great tool. It just slows you down and eats your battery. Bottle caps stink,,, for other hunters.

 

[Critterhunter]

Bottle caps often will null for me, or at least null from one direction and give a bad signal that is pretty easy to tell what they are from the other direction. I've dug a few bottle caps that gave me a good nickle reading. Glad they seem to be rare. If I remember right they are usualy either Mike's Hard Lemonade or they are Corona caps. I suspect they have a metal liner on the bottom of the cap that is of a higher conductivity metal. I have heard that some bottle caps now have a copper line on the bottom and will give a good coin signal. Hope those don't catch on. Doubt they will, as copper ain't cheap.

For screw caps, they gave me fits when I was first learning my GT. I quickly learned they would give a distinct "warble" from one direction even though they can give a good coin signal from another. They also will drop to like 178 or 176 while doing that warble. I only dig those now when I'm in the mood for it because I have dug a few masked coins that acted like that, so if the site isn't loaded with them I'll dig them. Luckily masked coins for me usually don't act this way so it's a rarity anyway that doesn't make me one to take a chance on them unless the site is devoid of a lot of screw caps. About the only screw caps that still fool me are the ones that are crushed, but if you watch the VDI you'll see they will range up and down the scale a bit from like 176 or so to 180 which a coin rarely does.

One thing about BBS...For sure it's got some of the most detailed long drawn out audio of any machine. Never used a machine with such a rich language. One tip is that is the target sounds "round" and warm and smooth then I don't care what the VDI # is I'm digging it. It's hard to put into words but I'm sure people know that distinct sound something round gives like a gold ring or say an old button or something.

One time I was hunting an old site and I got a low foil range signal. I wasn't digging those that day but this one just spoke to me about it being "round" and smooth and such. Sure enough it turned out to be some kind of old coin, or at least it looked like a coin but not sure what it was. It had a man's bust on it and some foreign writing. It was made out of some sort of aluminum and probably another base metal and was a bit smaller than a dime. Unfortunately when I went to strongly wipe the dirt more off it the thing crumbled in my hand.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

having just spent the last week at va beach with max and fellow hunters i can tell you that there were times when the water line was so sparce of targets that bottle caps and junk hoop ear rings were just about the only targets that would give any kind of response,so you end up digging them ,not because they gave an awesome tone but at times they were the only tones.....fortunatly these conditions change somewhat from tide to tide...you are right in that most times a cap is very recognizable but as tvr mentioned and i experienced some deep targets on the fringe will also give a somewhat low tone crackle untilyou take a few inches of sand off and they show there true tone... i chased such a target last thursday night it ended up being a titanium ring 14 inches deep.... the set of gold -grill-teeth i found didnt give a friendly tone either on the first pass.... in the dry sand my whites 5900 hit hard on a few caps and read out at quarter.... for some reason i rarely get fooled by a cap inland hunting but at the beach i dig my fair share.....