Deep Coins??

[outdoorsman]

I have been using a minelab for over a year,had other detectors,but deep does not seem to be in my vocab with the explorer yet.Sure i have made some nice finds, a few mercs, older muzzleloader balls from some of the areas that held forts here in michigan.Most of the older coins mercs and indian heads were in the range that my sons tesoro could have found.I have tried different settings,used the large coiltech,changed sens ,deep on , off, read the manual like at least twice, and watched the cd.Hunted with digital,and sounds.I can usually tell a coin from other rubbish,but deep escapes me.thanks, scott.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Scott,

Took me about a year to really start finding the deepies, and usually only find them in the spring when the ground is really wet and the grass not yet growing.

Nothing magic about it. Some coins sound and ID like they should, only faint. Others have more of a broken up sound that can sound much like iron does. Telling these from the many iron falsing hits is the key and that comes with experience. Even in an air test as you get farther from the coin you will eventually only gets peeps and squeaks of coin sound and the rest of the signal sound like iron. Generally speaking sensitivity is what gives you depth. I'm a firm believer in manual sensitivity pushed almost to unstability, other would argue differently.

The main reason deep coins are hard to find is because of all the trash. Deep coins are more likely to be masked by trash because there is more trash bearing soil between them and the coil.

I've just finished working a construction site near me. I did all the terraces before any digging was done and then kept going back as they removed dirt. I found very little at first, when the grass was still present. The last couple of weeks they have been removing sod and a little topsoil in preperation for resodding. Then the area came alive again, got about 20 IHs and 20 silver coins that I had missed before and a good pile of Wheaties. Having a couple less inches of dirt made all the difference. This is an area in town surrounded by power lines. I could seldom run above 17-20 sensitivity.

And the most important thing is that this is a turn of the century neighborhood, with a few houses somewhat earlier. There should be many more early IHs, barbers, and seated coins. I believe these are still being masked by trash or just out of range of the sensitivities I could run. I've hunted other less trashy, less noisy(no powerlines) areas of similar age and found many older coins.

So..... keep at it. Finding mercs and IHs means that the area hasn't been completely worked out. Any site dating from 1910s and earlier should yield seated coins.

Chris

 

[cachenut]

I think Chris's response was exactly right. But there are things to practice and watch for.

I have little in finding deep coins but here goes. I am just learning.

The other day when I went to the park after a hard rain of about 4 inches my detector started finding all sorts of deep coins. I found a penny at 11 inches and two merc dimes at about 7 inches. It was amazing to me. It was like the first time I used the detector. It was working just as wanted it to. It was the rain. I was using the stock coin discrim pattern w deep and I bumped the gain up to 8 and the sensitivity up to about 22 manual. I was getting very little falsing and it worked soooo good.

It rained hard that day and the next day when I went back I found nothing cause the ground was sooo wet. I dug a hole and it started to fill with water and mud. I waited two days for it to dry and then I was back to not finding much.

So right now the way I hunt for deep coins is to turn deep on, set manual sensitivity on, up the gain to 7 or 8, and raise sensitivity up. I do not use quick or fast at this time. I also do not use ferrous or the other audio signals that make the coin tones longer.

Other here advised me to use only the iron mask on low or to set a reduced discrim pattern since the discrim cuts out deep weak coins. This may be true but it also cuts out the junk signals. When I try it their way I get a coin tone on every other swing where I have been hunting. It is too much work to checkout each of these coin tones and I COVER VERY LITTLE GROUND. But in ground where I have found old coins this method is worth the time or in ground with very few hits it would work for me.

Some people posting here say do it anyway but I spend all my time checking out false targets and it frustrates me. There are ways to get by this like ignoring any targets where the signal does not repeat itself easily or checking it out only if the target gives a good coin number on the digital screen. Then there are ways to eliminate false positives. If the target is shallow but it makes a weak coin response then likely it is not a coin. And the opposite is true a deep coin with a strong coin response. Or in pinpoint mode it has a wide signature on the ground like iron does. I also found it helpful to check it out in discrim mode too since that eliminates junk targets quickly. But it would eliminate deep coins. And the numbers too can be used but I have dug coins with 26 30 and it was a penny at 5 inches so the numbers re not always right.

I try doing some of this on different targets and my pace slows to a crawl. But like I said in an area that delivers old coins it is worth the effort.

One way to use less discrimination might be to look for high coin tones that have none of the bad features such as junk targets next to it, strong response on deep target or weak response on shallow targets, confusing or changing numbers, or not immediately repeatable. What some might look for are weak, deep, and separate targets that repeat the coin tone well. And then they check these out further.

It seems possible to find deep targets but you need to wade thru a lot of phit to do it or wait for the rain.

Some also use ferrous instead of conductivity.

I would suggest deciding how you want to set the detector and then try to learn what false targets act like to eliminate them and also what good coin targets sound like to dig them. Why not write it down to be sure you know exactly what you want to do. My changes to setting seem to result in more or less false positives and I want to start with a small number until I get good at deciding, then I can adjust for a larger number of false positives thus letting in more deep coins.

Yesterday was the first time I was able to even use the iron mask for regular hunting. I came upon an area with few targets and took it all the way to -14 for a while and hunted with it. Then when I got too many false hits I reduced it to -12 and so on until I got to -6 and then changed to discrim pattern mode.

When I was using discrim patter in a popular spot I found a 1954 quarter and a 1902 half dollar right next to other targets but it was still hard to tell what I found or where it was but the detector kept indicating coin coin so I dug till I found it.

 

[todd9146]

chris just said it 100% correct. spring time i was killing deepies and then the 3 month drought came and my finds went down to about 4 or 5 inches max.i was having second thought that i was using it correctly so i went to the beach and i couldn't go more than a yard without finding a coin,deep too.there is no detector made yet that will really find all coins (like they would like to have you believe) so you have to learn to ace the explorer and get what you can! at least thats my opinion

 

[Jim-IN]

Join the club! Have had the Explorer II for 10 months and if I hunt virgin sites I can find a few coins if they are shallow. But, I can honestly say when it comes to depth this thing sucks big time. Couln't find a car hood at 6 inches. Have been reading the posts and trying every setup recommended to me and the performance seems to be getting worse. Made some good finds at virgin sites but hunting at past favorite sites is a total waste of time. Am beginning to think the unit I have is not the same one everyone is talking about in the posts. If you figure it out please let me know.

 

[Guvner]

Set it on Iron Mask smart screen after you have set iron mask to -12. Put it on semi-auto at 28 to just get somewhere in the middle. Kick your gain up to 10 and use your depth meter instead of your ears in case you're getting deaf. If you really think you're missing something I would say to have someone else call you over whenever they have a deep hit. I never had a problem with a 9 inch dime with the Sovereign and the Explorer is much better. Something's up. You're in Indiana. Go find Keith Cearlock. He's in Frankfort.

Something's up. Not listening to the machine or you have a bad one. Get someone to hunt with you...

Guvner..

 

[cachenut]

Well I set the gain at 8, use the coin discrim pattern, set deep on, and then set the sensitivity at about 22 manual and this seems to work well for me. I find 8 inch coins with this. And deeper if it is wet enough.

Below that I use iron amsk at about -12 down to -14 and use less sensitivity and gain as required. This does not work so well in trashy areas. Too many high tones.

You also need to be skilled in deciding what to dig.

I dig most deep high tones at a good site.

 

[AK in KY]

Scott

What part of IN are you in?

AK in KY

 

[Jim-IN]

East central Indiana near Hagerstown.

 

[outdoorsman]

Used to belong to another site,someone else bought it,changed it some,and now it's dead,really do appreciate the comaradarie here.Great bunch of people.thanks again,scott.

 

[Phil]

I don't live that far from you. I'm in Randolph Co. east of Winchester. Been an Explorer user for 4yrs and haven't found a better detector for old coin hunting. Here's an IH my Explorer found last week about 7in deep. I was afraid to clean it any more since the fellas at SilverTowne said the detail was at Very Fine to Extra Fine. If you want to get together, just let me know and we'll work something out.