Finds from Saturday

[JT in Virginia]

I dressed in layers and went out metal detecting on Saturday. Found 2 bullets and a button. The button has the Virginia state seal on it. It says "Virginia" and "Sic Semper Tyrannis" on the front. A little hard to see in the pictures. So far, thats one of the coolest things I've found with the Quattro. I looked hard for any other buttons in that area, but couldn't find anything else. I'll try again next Saturday.

 

[beachguy777]

That's a great button, JT. Don't know what it stands form but looks very intriguing. Marc. Trainor

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Your button dates to somewhere in the range of 1830 to 1858...check the backmark against this list: http://pw1.netcom.com/~jimyce/bm.html

Nice find!

I just dug one the other day that was from 1834 to 1843, verified on the same list.

Here was mine...dug with my Explorer SE on Sunday.
[attachment 47626 Feb4e.jpg]

[attachment 47627 Feb4c.jpg]

 

[JT in Virginia]

Mike, that button you found is a beauty. Thanks for the link for the button backmarks. You are finding great stuff in the summer and in the winter! This is my first winter relic hunting and I have to say it's just as exciting and thrilling to find a Civil War button or miniball as it is to find a nice gold ring on the beach. What a great hobby this is! The amazing thing is that the areas I'm searching have already been searched by other guys with other detectors, and the Minelab still finds good stuff the others have missed. Thank you Minelab for making great metal detectors!

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I'm with you man...I never get tired of the thrill of unearthing a 100+ year old button or nice coin. But I DO love the diamond rings too! Either way, we have the great hobby!

Check this: http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,473727,473881#msg-473881

 

[Golden]

n/t

 

[beachguy777]

JT, I can feel your excitement. I love the fact that Mike "crosses over" once in a while to this site to compare finds. To me that adds to this truly exciting field we call "metal detecting", (in other words), not just a certain type of detector, but the actual finds that are shown here that have some correlation with each other, besides the fact that "hey", we're all in the same "game" anyway, even though we may be using different detectors, but by the way, I feel the same as you. I love Minelab and what they've done for the detector industry. Marc Trainor.

 

[JT in Virginia]

n/t

 

[JT in Virginia]

Marc,
Do you do any beach hunting? Mike's beach posts are some my favorite posts to read because he finds such great stuff and he's very informative about beach hunting techniques. I've learned a lot from all you guys. I have an Excal 1000 for the beach but I never thought I would have so much fun with my Quattro during the winter. Its really cool to know that there are other people who are obsessed with finding stuff like I am.
Jeff

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Thanks, JT...my wife hasn't taken the first one off of her finger since I got it except to have it sized. She "retired" her original to the jewelry box.

The other one I sold to a guy at work for $300. I was going to "retire" mine and wear that one but the VERY SAME WEEKEND...and this is a matter of forum record, or *I* might not even believe it...I found THIS one, which is what I wear now. The Excal has been very good to me!
[attachment 47769 BadassRing1.jpg]

 

[beachguy777]

You bet, JT. I haven't been getting out there as much as I like but thank God, I live near the beach, so it's out there, and being in San Diego, California, we have our share of tourists, that lose stuff. I have to admit, I'm one of Mike's biggest fans. I kid him about that, but it's true. He really has had great success every where he seems to go and the beach is no exception. I know he has an Excal, an Explorer SE, some other detectors, and he used to own a Quatro, so I think he can relate to us. I'm only embarrassed that I haven't found any gold or silver yet, but I still think it isn't over till it's over, so I'm just trying to gear up for it. I love your enthusiasm. It's truly contagious. That's one of the real pluses of this forum. For the most part, most everyone on it is enthusiastic about this great sport. Marc Trainor.

 

[beachguy777]

Mike, your scaring me as usual!:|That's such a beautiful ring. Maybe this is an inapprobriate question, but did you find any where near as many rings with the Quatro as you do with the Excal? The reason I'm asking that is I know you can go out further into the water with the Excal, where you probably couldn't with the Quatro. Just being nosy. :|and wondering if you find most of your rings in the water or on the beach. That could be a "trade secret", and I'd respect you if you declined to answer it. Marc Trainor.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Marc, I found ONE RING with the Quattro. But that's only because I only took the Quattro to the beach a few times. I do all my beach hunting with my Excal due to the fact that if you drop a Quattro or Explorer in the water, it's done. But a buddy of mine borrowed my Quattro and took it to the beach and found a 14K white gold heavy band on his VERY FIRST target recovery with it. He's an experienced detectorist who has a Fisher CZ-7a Pro and who also has some past Minelab experience, having owned an Explorer XS and a Sovereign XS2-a Pro as well. But I can say without a doubt that the Quattro is one of the deepest machines I have ever seen at the beach and is easily deeper than the Excal. My buddy had a signal that read a broken but repeatable 38 on the Quattro, set at sens 17 manual and I ran my Excal (which was running manual as well and cranked up) over it and got NOTHING...not even a null. He dug up a quarter. I was using it another time and did the same trick with a dime and a quarter while TWO of my buddies with CZ's got NO SIGNAL on them. So the machine is MOST capable.

By the way, I no longer have my Quattro...I sold it to a buddy and he is coming out with me now and starting to learn the machine. So far, clad and wheaties only for him, but we hope to change that on Sunday when we hit a field where I dug up a Large Cent and an 1830's button last weekend. So right now I have the Explorer SE, the Quattro, and the Fisher CZ-70. And I don't see that changing anytime soon...if EVER.

Now as to your beach question, I HAVE done SOME hunting IN the water...and by "IN the water" I mean waste-deep or better. And my success there has been limited. And I have also done SOME dry sand hunting...same results...some nice finds, but not a lot of volume. Where I have repeatedly had MAJOR success...year after year, with too many rings to count at this point (and I've told you this before) is in the WET SAND, at the WATER'S EDGE at LOW TIDE. That is STRICTLY my formula. I go out every Friday and Saturday NIGHT, two hours before low tide, and I hunt the wet sand at the water's edge from then until two hours AFTER low tide. So a FOUR hour hunt. The theory being that the tide is ALMOST all the way out at two hours prior and stays ALMOST all the way out until about two hours after. At which time it's coming back in pretty good. And during my 4 hour hunt "window", I comb the wet sand from the water's edge up to maybe 3/4's of the way up to the dry sand...looking for the "coin line". When I find the coin line, I follow it. If I am having trouble finding it I will go down a little further into the shallow water or up a little higher into the upper wet sand area. Usually the coins shake out by WEIGHT, like pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters...and when you start finding the heavier coins then you start finding the rings. NEVER run ANY discrimination. Gold rings and aluminum trash are ONE AND THE SAME to ANY detector. No machine made can accurately tell a pulltab from a gold ring or a piece of foil from a nice fine gold/diamond ring or a chain. With experience you may have a high degree of certainty but you are never SURE. So if you are running any disc, you are screwing up.

At low tide, the wet sand by the water is where I find the best and most stuff at my beaches. The reason is that at HIGH TIDE, that water is between knee-deep and chest-deep...roughly average of waist-deep. Where during the day, there are THOUSANDS of people standing RIGHT THERE, swimming, playing, body surfing, LOSING GOLD, etc. So it's no surprise to me as to why I find all the good stuff there. Going out into the deeper water is WAY overrated in my view. And since I found a dozen diamond rings, more that that in gold bands, several chains, and hundreds of dollars in coins...JUST THIS PAST SUMMER ALONE, I think I feel good staying right where I have been hunting...in the wet sand and shallow water.

Now you know everything I know. So PLEASE get out there and find some gold!!!

 

[beachguy777]

Mike, thank you for sharing your utmost stratigeis live and in person. I've been looking in the low tide area on and off for some time now, without any real success, except there's one factor that I think is important. I havn't been doing it at a "tourist infested" beach. I think that could be a considerable consideration. The beaches that I've been hunting are mainly local areas that are designated "dog beaches", and I go there because I have a dog, but I don't think the tourists go there so I'm gonna set my sights on the tourist beaches, which I know we have and I know where they are. I'm a little surprised you don't find more stuff in the deeper water with the Excal, but then again, I'm kind of thankful because, I know the Quatro is toast in any kind of deeper water where the housing could get wet,so......, I'm gonna head for the tourist beaches, and try what your saying, and I hope I can finally, some day soon, I hope, share some "real" beach finds on the net here. Thanks for the great info and the encourgament too. That puts you way up the ladder on my "happy person list", in my eyes. I know that's valuable information you just shared, and I think your a big man to share that with us. Thanks again, Mike, for being so generous. Marc
Trainor. :|

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Marc, glad to help.

The heavily-used tourist beaches would be the place to start, for sure. It's different everywhere, depending on the beach in question. At Virginia Beach, the waves are always pounding away, visibility is ZERO, and the bottom drops pretty quick. So if I want to go in the water, by the time I get past the waves it's too deep to stand so unless I want to dive...with all the gear that entails...then I'm standing out there up to my neck trying not to drown while I try to recover what few targets there are. You say you're surprised I don't find more out there. I couldn't POSSIBLY find more out there than I do in the wet sand because you can hardly go 10 feet without digging a target in the summer and I've found more rings than I know what to do with, so why would I WANT to go "out there"? No desire at all.

Now, if there WAS more stuff out there, I would go. But every time I try it, I find little to nothing and when I head back in, BAM...targets. Now sometimes, if the wet sand isn't giving it up, and if the waves are a little tame for a change, I will venture out to maybe knee to waste deep. And sometimes, due to maybe a tide cycle that's a little weak...maybe it doesn't go out that far or perhaps the currents are different, sometimes there IS more stuff in the deeper water. And those times, I work it. You have to be like a bloodhound and sniff it out...that's what it takes.

As for other beaches, some have little to no wave action...like maybe the leeward side of an island...say Bermuda or the Bahamas. Or a cove or lagoon...or places that are somehow protected. And maybe people snorkel there, or you find swimmers and waders going further out because there's very little drop as you go out...or sandbars come into play. In that case, there very well may be more stuff in the water than in the wet sand. And maybe there's a white sandy bottom with super visibility. In that case, the wet sand ares would probably be dead...because there wouldn't be any pounding surf and heavy incoming tide to drop all the stuff there. I've been to places like that. And that would be a waste of time in the wet sand. Other beaches, there may well be more stuff in the dry sand...where there are maybe far more people sunbathing than there are frolicking in the shallow water or swimming.

Bottom line: Go to where the PEOPLE ARE! Find out how they use their beach. Where on that particular beach are the MOST popular spots? Remember, I hunt at night...ALWAYS. But sometimes during the day I will go to the beach to run or rollerblade on the boardwalk and I'll use that opportunity to "case the joint" and see where the big volleyball tournament is. Where the are show was today. Where the heaviest concentrations of people are in the water. And when I come back that night, I work THOSE areas. It's a science, to be a successful beach hunter. Beach usage. Tides and currents. Reading the beach...cuts, and slope...that kind of thing. And then it also helps to have a great machine and some plain old dumb luck. Oh, and ONE MORE THING...and this one applies directly to YOU my friend. You have to GET OUT THERE, and put in the SWING TIME!

It's like the lottery...you can't WIN if you don't BUY A TICKET.

 

[beachguy777]

Mike, my head is hangin low bro!:|I'm saying that, because I know your right! I read and re-read that post, and again, it makes just too much sense to ignore. It is a "crap-shoot" to a certain point, but you and me too, if I'll just "get smart" about things, can narrow that gap down quite a bit, by your methodical, scientific, reading the lay of the land, the habits of the tourists, is there wave action, etc. I was pissing and moaning just last week because I was out at a pretty rich, fairly popular tourist area called Del Mar, where they used to run the race horses on the beach, and they had some volleyball posts, but you know what? I don't know how long since they've been playing there, because I haven't done my homework, by scoping out the area during prime times, so I really hear what your saying on that. I didn't even find any clad money, but, I know there's many other beaches with other volleyball courts, etc. Most of our beaches don't drop off too fast, at least the tourist beaches, but like you said, Why break your neck and have to wear all that gear, (especially in winter), just to dive down and dig underwater, which is a bitch, if you don't have to? Your making tons of sense here. I guess the reason I probably said that about going into the deeper water is one of the gals at Kelly co, tried to kind of talk me into getting an excal because I could dive down and stuff. I don't hold that against her, but, maybe I won't have to go that far. The other thing here is we have a lot of surfers, but I wonder if they really lose much stuff or not. I wouldn't think so, and we're talking diving in pretty deep water to even look for it, so back to what you said about looking where the people hang out, makes the most sense of all.
I think you hit it on the head when you said that and combined with knowing the tides, noticing where the people are wading at high tide and then going there at low tide, seeing where they're the most active, and the last and most important aspect. I "ain't gonna find nothin'", if I don't go out and put in some "serious" swing time. I'm so guilty of that. Probably the most time I've spent at one time was 2 to 3 hours, and that wasn't that often. I also need to give up the discrimination when I'm at the beach and just be a "man about it" and use all metal. I'll bet I've missed some rings, because I was using a little bit of disc., instead of going all metal. It still makes sense, because our beaches are pretty clean so I wouldn't' have to dig too much stuff, even in all metal. Mike, thanks again for even more detailed info, and I'll really try and take this to heart and put in some serious time and effort. Thanks, again, Marc Trainor.

 

[Rockfshr]

Mike can I be your buddy too....