Finding bullets at 10" to 12"

[Canewrap]

I think I've figured out the location of a CW Camp and it's my last try to find a site. I have searched about 20 possibilities over the last 8 years and I'm about
done (nothing but trash). The site has a mix of field and woods on it. For the woods I'll be ok with my X-terra and Tesoro, but I've never had any luck searching open fields. I suspect
it's because anything there is probably pretty deep. Anybody with experience hunting open-field CW sites, that can offer suggestions on technique or machines?

-Bill

 

[Mega]

From reading over the years on what folks use on CW site and especially finds of say 3 ring bullits,the most popular machine by far is one of the GPX rannge of Pulse machines from Minelab ie like the mighty GPX5000,that seems too be the machine of choice,also it does have a reasonable amount of discrimination,another option which once again is a Pulse machine is the TDI Pro from Whites.

Of course asking for a suggestion on the best type of machine but without mentioning your budget can/is a very tricky question.

 

[jim tn]

First off, just because it is a open field doesn't mean all desirable targets are a foot deep. If the top layer gets turned (plowed) annually then some will be deep and some won't be. If its like maybe a hay field, then most targets probably won't be 12" deep. You don't mention what kind of ground you have or detector models, but unless you have very bad ground I would use the detectors I have to start off with, anyway. Many relic hunters hunt in all metal, which is the deepest mode on any detector. Good luck! HH jim tn

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... ie like the mighty GPX5000,.....

Ouch. That hurts just reading it.

Yes the O.P. will *effortlessly* get bullets to 1.5 ft. deep, blah blah. Sure. But the GPX5000 has no ability to discriminate out iron. Yes I know that some hardcore CW hunters have gone to this, in order to add multiple inches to their depth. But .... just let the user be aware: The thing is going to "ring the bells of Notre Dame" off of every single staple, pinhead, nail, paper clip, etc....

 

[Confetrit]

I am a relic hunter and use a Whites MXT PRO. I have been a hunter for 30 some plus years now and have used several nice metal detectors. I will say that I have found relics in areas beat to death over the years by not only myself but many others using a variety of different detectors. Most of what we hunt are woods. If you want depth, go to a larger coil. The search coils I have are the 10' DD coil, the 13' Detech search coil, and the 6' Shooter search coil. These have done pretty well for me. The 10' coil will locate Minnie' balls nearly at 12' deep. Best of luck to you.

 

[Canewrap]

I had an MXT years ago and it was probably the best relic hunting machine I've had. It just tore up my shoulder and that's why I traded it in.
I have a 10.5" DD for the X-terra and I've pulled trash at pretty decent depths, so if there's anything there I should eventually find it. For the record,
this is the kind of answer I was looking for. I've got a big area to search, so I'll be making quite a few trips out there. There's woods at the north end
of the search area and soon as it's practical I'm going to search there to see if I can confirm I'm in the right area.

 

[Canewrap]

Yeah, and if you have found a Union CW camp that is going to make it a headache with all the nails you usually find at one of those sites.

 

[Daniel Tn]

You're not exactly correct about the GPX. They do have a form of iron discrimination. It will null on iron. There are however, 2 problems with it. The higher you run the iron disc, you do lose some of the depth, as the unit will start to null out the signal from the really deep non ferrous targets that are giving a weaker signal return. Coil size for coil size it still will be deeper than most all VLFs, even with the iron disc maxxed out The other issue is, that the recovery speed of the null is extremely slow...meaning that in a dense iron target enviroment, it is possible the machine will be in a nearly continuous null. You wouldn't want to take one into a ghost town site for sure. But I have hunted Civil War camps from Georgia up to Northern VA....from camps where they were at just a day or two, to completely dug in winter camps with huts with thousands of troops. A GPX can handle most of those sites with little to no problems with iron unless you want to dig it. New users will occasionally get fooled by deep bent nails, by chasing those iffy sounds hoping for something extremely deep but once you get a few hrs under your belt, you can tell the difference. It has a setting for sweep speed that also helps add a 1-2 knockout punch to iron. I'm guessing you probably havent used one or havent used one much. I'm comfortable using one in MOST situations for Civil War relics. The exception would be extremely specific conditions where a specialty detector would be better....like torn down homesites, sites riddled with tin roof and can pieces, etc. And that's due to just the slow recovery speed; more to do with masking than being plagued digging iron trash.

 

[Confetrit]

Best of Luck to you. I hope you find that right area you are searching for.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You're not exactly correct about the GPX. They do have a form of iron discrimination. It will null on iron. There are however, 2 problems with it. The higher you run the iron disc, you do lose some of the depth, .....

Daniel,

I'm not a nugget guy. I'm in the wrong part of CA, too far from the nugget regions Have only had a few brushes to fiddle with the machine. But have had talks with some Sacramento area nugget guys about the pro's & con's of it. And the way it was explained to me, is that if you intend to try to use the iron reject function, is that the iron-ID reliability goes out the window beyond about 6" deep.

Perhaps you're correct, that a better way to describe it, is that if a person intends to use the iron-ID function, then he can kiss the fabled depth goodbye. Either way, as you can see, the "devil is in the details". And he might be left with only-as-much depth as a standard machine.

"nagging doubts" will send him scurrying to check a bunch "just to be sure". And let's be honest: That is a SQUIRRELLY machine to be trying to use for ANY coin/relic purpose. It was meant to find pinhead nuggets at insane depth. Yes it's true that it will get coins at 1.5 ft. deep too. But the cost of patience you would pay , is going to be very steep .

 

[Canewrap]

Thanks, will need all the good luck I can muster. Stopped doing this 2 years ago because I got tired of just digging
trash. Here's to new beginnings

 

[dan b]

I’ve never hunted civil war sites, as that was not something that involved Canada. However, when I had my Tejon I routinely dug 22’s at a foot deep. All the time. As I was looking for coins, this was more annoying than anything else. Digging a foot with a hand digger is no small task. If I actually was looking for deep lead, the Tejon would be what I would use. You already have a Tesoro, so the learning curve shouldn’t be that bad.

 

[Canewrap]

Yeah, I'm starting to regret selling my Tejon a couple years back. I thought I was out of relic hunting for good, but I have a solid lead on a site and I can't
get it out of my head. Sounds like I need to sell of a few toys and get another one.