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Gold ring digital numbers

Ronstar

Well-known member
I have an F5. 925 rings generally run from dime numbers (70s) ip to 50cent range (90s). I have only found one 14k thin ring and it came in at 5cent/foil range (it had been run over by a lawn mower so it was a bit gnarly in shape). Being curious, can you folks shed a little light kn what your F series detectors show on average? Since I’m primarily hunting university ball fields right now I expect more 925 rings from students than gold but I sure have been pulling up nickels and foils with outstanding success. Just want my first intact gold ring but suspect I may have passed some over....
 
Almost all the rings I’ve found are in the 1-2.5 gram, women’s ring size. They read in the foil range #’s 22-27, right under a nickel on the F75. A couple read dead on at nickel 29. I’ve only managed to get 2 bigger Gold rings which read 40 and zinc penny 67.
One trick that works to some extent is watching the meter hold steady over gold whereas it bounces over oddly shaped junk. Also, the sound can be scratchy over junk but gold will be quite clear even on edge of detection.
good luck.
 
I've never been bitten by the "finding the gold" bug, but do average a few pieces annually by digging nickel and cent readings with my F 75. More importantly perhaps then numbers, as almost any can come into play, is as Mike Hilli's states, LOCATIOIN, LOCATION, LOCATION. Up ones odds of finding gold by seeking out locations where gold is more prone to get lost and spots within locations. HH jim tn
 
Gold numbers depend on karat of target, size of target, shape of target, orientation in the ground, depth and masking objects in the vicinity.
What I mean by masking is both my F2 and my F70 up-averages around or near iron...numbers will be higher near iron and will drop to normal after extracting from the soil, something that has happened to me a couple of times.
Also alloys make a difference such as in the case of white gold, if it is alloyed with nickel to make that white color it will read way lower than the exact same ring alloyed with silver.
These two channel wedding rings are similar in shape but the white gold one on the left is larger and heavier than the yellow gold one on the right.
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The targets in the pics below were all found by me in the last 9-10 years in the dirt, (including a few from ballfields), and the numbers and ranges are from either an F2 or an F70.
There are usually only a number of so difference between them in testing like this, (due to frequency differences, I assume), so I suppose the F5 should be close.
All those targets were between 1-6" in depth, every one were extremely solid signals, stable and non jumping with the correct sweep speed and coil manipulation which is exactly why they got dug.
I concentrate and pay the most attention to areas out there are anywhere from the low 20's, the area where tiny can slaw or foil or those hated round foil freshness caps you pull off of drinks or condiment packages come in, up to the zinc area but zinc in the low 50's because I have found 5, 10k larger gold class rings and a couple of other thicker gold rings that all came in from 48-52.rings
Nowadays if I see a very solid, loud, stable, non jumping from all directions 46-54 range target on my screen and in my headphones I tend to get real excited.

I studied that metal for a long time, how it behaves in the ground and in relation to my different detectors and learned to be a successful gold hunter. I believe I have done pretty well, anyway.
To be successful you need some key behavior knowledge about your detector, some logical thinking about site selection and patience...lots of patience.
A bit of luck can come in handy, also.
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Thanks folks! These ball fields are probably 15 acres of manicured grass. One half used to be pasture many many years ago and when they expanded the area they used backfill and trash to level the fields together. It has been used for outdoor concerts, an area to sit and watch the aerial 4 July fireworks and numerous intramural sports etc etc. I have pulled nearly 30 925 rings but nothing in the gold variety. I do dig the solid tones (except what I feel is an actual zinc penny) and pull up more foil seals, pulltabs, pencil butts (metal piece by eraser sounds solid nickel), and exposed more sprinkler heads than the grounds crews knew about. I’m curious now if the F75 would read the same as the F5 etc if tested side by side. Seeing the one example of the recovered ring was zinc makes me cringe as I’ve probably left $10-15 in believed pennies out there. It may well be I need to go back to the starting line and start all over again........ Good thing is that each year a new crop of freshmen arrive and they go out and feed the lawn more metal fodder so its a never ending cycle.
 
Ronstar, I also run the F5, if the target is round & coin size it will give you a clear sound, that helps me weed out a lot of the junk targets.
There's about a 100 reasons why #s jump all over the place on your screen but the two most common reasons are masking & depth.
 
I do know if I’m on the end of the field ghat was leveled I get hits that say 50cents at 2-3” and I quit digging at 8-10” and the pinpointer is still screaming I’m close. They have it recorded that a lot of metal trash was buried when the old housing area was leveled. One good thing is I have pulled some yellow brass plumbing pieces at depths of 6-8” and they sound out high as well. Almost all coins and 925/pendant items are 2-4”. Its a crazy hobby, I feel like I’m interviewing a suspect thats constantly lying to me.......
 
Ronstar, my brother WV62 & myself hunt together all the time and he has the F75 & of course I've got the F5. We like to put flags down when we get a good signal but before digging we'll have the other guy test the target to see what his machine reads, basically they read the same so the answer to your question does the F5 and the F75 read the same on coin targets, Yes.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys! I hate to dig caps/tabs/zincs etc but I realize ya have to get past crap to get the sweet stuff. Maybe I can take Alexa and she can tell me when to dig? Outside the box.........
 
Revier: I took screen shots of your information as a reference. Greatly appreciated your effort to educate me!! BTW, I ordered an electronic scale to weigh my finds, my biggest ring to date was that enormous 925 I recently excavated. It weight 14.95 grams!
 
Revier: I took screen shots of your information as a reference. Greatly appreciated your effort to educate me!! BTW, I ordered an electronic scale to weigh my finds, my biggest ring to date was that enormous 925 I recently excavated. It weight 14.95 grams!
Anytime!
I like your optimistic outlook...you need a scale to weigh all your future gold
now that you know what to look for. :lol:
 
Ok, I have dug whats seems like a paint can full of tabs, pull tops, foil seals, metal cleats, zincolns, and whatevers. All were in the basic digit range as shown on Revier’s post. No gold, nada, zip, zero, nope. Now analysis and Statistics tell us there has to be some gold in this field as hundreds of people are on this field from September until November and again April thru September again. I am approaching 30 .925 rings but no gold. Makes me think......
Would I be better off with a second detector better designed to detect gold? Would my chances increase with such? I’m on a mission to get my first all gold ring. I have found two with both .925 and 10k combined but no all gold prize. I am attaching a google earth shot of the ball fields. The black square in the middle is the concession stand, you can still make out the regulation size ball diamond just across the gravel road to the right. To date I have pulled a half dozen silver coins and a dozen or so 50s wheats from various points. I think I am the only person dirt fishing out here and the history goes back to the 50s for usage.
Thoughts? (Unable to load file too large)
 
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Got it
 
. Now analysis and Statistics tell us there has to be some gold in this field as hundreds of people are on this field from September until November and again April thru September again. I am approaching 30 .925 rings but no gold.
Makes me think......
Would I be better off with a second detector better designed to detect gold?
Thoughts?

Numbers and statistics are fine but if you believe in them 100% you are sure to be disappointed...as you seem to be now.
Maybe there SHOULD be gold hiding there at that site with the history but that doesn't mean there actually IS gold hiding there, although in that site with that history I would assume the same.
Second, would you be better off using another detector thinking it will find gold better...definitely no.

I see you are on a quest for gold and that I understand because in 2013, after finding 3 gold rings in the dirt in parks by March I made the insane goal to find 12 for that year...and I did exactly that.

Also I am nowhere a dig it all hunter, I got tired of doing that long ago, what I am is a dig it all solid signal hunter which means I avoid about 80-85% of all the signals I get out there and mostly just go after the solid, repeating ones no matter where they are...and every one of my golden targets came in super solid over the years no matter which detector I used at the time.
I see what you stated you dug so far to find that gold, was every target a solid one like coins usually are or are you digging just everything in the areas I showed in those pics?
Digging a ton of trash will definitely frustrate you which is why I dig the least trash possible and learned how to do it that way...over time.

Not saying you or anyone else should do it this way but that is the way I choose to do this hobby.

This quest will drive you crazy if you let it and it takes awhile for you to find that first piece of gold, and gold fever gets much more intense AFTER you find your first one, BTW.
Let me try to help of at least explain my point of view about this whole, searching for gold, thing.

The three things you need to actually find gold out there are this...
A site where gold is actually hiding
A competent tool to find it and that means not only the ability to find it but you spending time learning that tool so well if you do ever roll over some you will actually feel inspired to dig it despite it being a trash signal...which most of my gold targets have been.
And three, luck, which you can never discount in this hobby.

Let me explain that luck thing.
You are lucky if you pick a site that has some gold hiding.
You are lucky if you happen to roll your coil over some which if you are into statistics dig this...a gold ring takes up about one square inch in the ground.
Look at the size of your site, any site for that matter and do the math.
To get a small coil over any good target, jewelry or coins, in areas that are bigger than just a few square feet it is remarkable that we can do that at all.
Sure, even a blind squirrel can find a nut here and there but in reality so much can affect the signals we aquire, how we perceive them and how they behave in ways that trigger us to dig them which brings me to that third lucky thing you need to find gold successfully..
You need luck on that day and that moment that you not only roll over it but you came at it from the exact right direction, speed and angle that triggered you to dig it and had decent ground conditions that let you do all that.
Masking issues are huge out there, more than you might realize, and just the littlest piece of foil, aluminum, iron or any other junk in the vicinity can change any signal in one of two ways...for better or worse.
Targets might be different in dry soil vs wet, they can behave differently in mineralized dirt vs clean.
Also shape and condition of the target can change things, smashed rings don't come in like fully formed rings, rings with broken or even just cracked bands can be completely different signals than rings that aren't damaged...and so on.

I say all this because I tend to hunt the same sites over and over and over and I can tell you for sure that at some sites I had hunted and scoured and dug all solid signals as per my rules I still found gold not on my first hunt, second, third of many more but it took closer to 8,9 or 10 or more trips before I happened to find gold.
Oh that day on that hunt I just happened to but that gold target from the exact right way, speed and direction.
My skills didn't change during each hunt, most times I used the same detector and even the same coil but that lucky day it all happened to come together for me to find that precious metal.
This experience was not unique, either, it has happened to me many times over and that is one reason I go back to the same sites and the exact same areas time and time again and a big reason I don't believe any site is ever completely hunted out.
This 22k ring illustrates this point.
This was a small area in front of a picnic pavilion, it is actually a small hill that is perfect for sitting and looking at the lake and I hit it way more than a dozen times and found many coins including about 6 Mexican coins I never found before so over time I targeted this area and hit it hard and dug every solid signal I came across from many directions with more than one detector and type of coil every time I came to this huge park...which was a lot.
Then, one day after a long winter, the sun came out and I came back to this site just to get out and dig after the winter layoff.
The ground was frozen, I could hardly chip out any coins from another area I was at so I came back to hunt this bill because kept was sitting in the sun for awhile so I figured it would be thawed out a tiny bit down to an inch or two, anyway, and I was correct.
I was happy digging anything, coins were great but even foil and tabs were dug, (as long as they were solid), because it was just great to dig anything after sitting it out for weeks.
At this site, on this hill that I had gone over time and time and time again I came across a solid beaver tail tab signal...classic in numbers and tone except it was super solid and repeated from more than one direction.
I should have dug this before considering how many times I had run a coil over this hill but I never did because I guess never got this exact signal before this visit...don't ask me why but if I got this signal before, even from just one direction, I assure you I would have dug it.
Again, luck showed up and on this day on that exact spot on that hill I aquired a signal that was well within my strict digging rules and from no more than 2" deep this ring popped up.
My only 22k ring I ever found and one that I definitely missed so many times before but on this hunt luck was with me.
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Now there are sites where I do literally dig it all but that is only because I have been so shockingly successful doing that.
These aren't huge sites at all, these sites are on the sidelines of volleyball but especially basketball courts.
Again, sometimes I find the good stuff on one of my first hunts and sometimes I find it after many hunts but these kinds of sites are so trashy that you can easily miss something so, over time and with repeated visits, I dig the solid stuff first and eventually even the iffy stuff to get it out of the way to see if masks something better.
At one site like this, a very tiny area between two courts that had been hunted tons of times by a club member that lived in the area and also by myself and another club member friend where he found a very nice silver ring on his first hunt.
After that happened I vowed to go back with a sniper coil on my F2 and target this tiny area and dig it all.
The first hunt with the sniper I found a gold ring with a diamond that I liked so much I had it resized so I could wear it myself.
On the very next hunt I was lucky enough to find 2 more gold rings including another with more diamonds...none of these were anything but trash area targets and all were missed by myself and others for years but in this case digging it all in this tiny but high percentage type of site paid off...big time.

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So basically what I am saying is you need to calm down and not make yourself so crazy.
The area you are hunting is big so take your time and examine the solid signals you get carefully from more than one direction and dig those for sure.
Gold is actually a rare item to find, there are people that have done this hobby for decades and never found any despite wanting to for all those years so making yourself crazy because you hunted an area once or even a few times and still didn't find any is just a fools errand, in my opinion, a big, frustrating waste of time.
Dig solid foil, nickel and tab areas for sure and have patience, lots more patience, because if your experience is going to be anything like my gold hunting experience gold will show up when you least expect it and never when you demand it show up despite how good you think the site you are hunting is.
To paraphrase... "Relax, pay attention and gold will come...eventually".

You have a great tool that can easily find gold and I know this because most of the targets in those pics were found by kept Fisher detectors.
When yours does it can definitely tell you it has...so let it.
 
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Well Revier I will grant you that you are an inspirational motivator!!! Allow me to explain just a bit further on this area......
Since the 50s there have been outdoor concerts, people sitting on the grassy area to watch 4 July fireworks, numerous football/soccer/ lacrosse summer camps, the University baseball teams, winter snowball fights (frats vs dormies), etc etc. It was only recently that the Univ allowed this hobby to coexist with their landscape programs. I believe Im probably the only one doing this in the last 5-7 yrs. I have nearly $400 in clad coins and the nearly 30 silver rings and numerous 925 charms, bracelets, and a few earrings. At first I ignored tabs, foil, zinc, and super low iron tones (as trash metal was used to help fill and level the one side).
I ignored the trash hits not knowing at the time that gold could be in that mix. Sooooo, after your tutorial with the photos and digital numbers I went back to areas where I was most successful with the silver. The areas where the field of play sidelines were (your tennis court photos are prime example of this) and methodically attacked those solid tones as suggested. I got a lot of pull tabs and beavertails, metal shoe cleats, folded up foil Gum wrappers, bottle caps, etc etc. Each hit was accurate digitally and repeatable from different directions. Ok, I understand its a crap shoot to get the elusive gold. But chances are I should have hit at least one.......
I am going nuts with zincolns because apparently thats the coins to lose. Luckily my wife says I have the patience of Job cuz I’m still in this hunt. My ears are tuned to the tones on discrimination which are drastically different than All Metal Mode. In some aspects if I can get a good gold ring then Platinum would be my next step, gotta keep dreaming or ya just sit down and give up. Meanwhile I am following your advise and pictures and not giving up. The question posed was whether a detector more attuned to gold would potentially be better at identifying a gold ring or pendant etc.
That ‘43S Walking Liberty was purely happenstance in an area not expected to give up more than clad so that Unicorn is still at the end of the rainbow......
Thanks for communicating!!!!
 
You are experiencing a typical day in the life of a gold hunter, believe me I know because I have been stuck in this mode for about a decade after just my first gold ring and then I vowed to study this rare metal to the best of my ability and learn all of my detectors as well as I possibly could to increase my chances of finding it...if only a little.
All that time and effort all paid off in the end, it always does.
When I am in a trashy area and dug so many pieces of solid trash I get tired of it I just give up for that hunt and then go after coins or other decent targets.
Just doing that keeps me sane.
I don't get frustrated or upset, I just put it all aside for that hunt knowing I will return fresh with a good attitude and do it all again some other day.
Think of it like the Edison Quote... "I didn't fail at finding gold, I just did the work and got a lot of junk signals out of the way to make it a little easier to find gold on another hunt".
I am telling you it might very well go like this for you someday, and maybe soon.
You bend over one more time to dig some solid trash saying to yourself, "Well, I guess I am going to dig one more piece of foil", or a tab or a piece of can slaw and then you do but that time you will be shocked because it is actually that elusive metal you want so bad, instead.
Check out this vid...
This was back in 2013, the year I went on my great quest for gold.
It was December 3rd and I needed just one more piece of gold to complete that quest and find my #12 for the year, that crazy goal I laughingly set when I found my third piece in March.
I was desperate, this was going to be a short hunt because I bad to go pick up the wife at work in a few hours and bad weather and ice and snow was moving in the next day that probably would have ended my hunting season so chances were I would not hit that goal but my motto is, "Never give up, Never surrender", so I kept going till the very last minute I could and dove into the trashiest part of a park in an area I had hunted more than a dozen times before but never found much except junk and some clad.
Still, there were so many signals here I hadn't dug yet so I went in with a positive attitude and all the optimism I could muster.
Also it was only my fourth hunt with my new F70 and everything was extra super jumpy because I hadn't come close to taming the thing at that point.
I was using a concentric coil and had the thing set to 4H which turns all nickel signals to high tone hoping I could notice them better and it was a good thing I did because I got a target that was sitting very near to some other trash but despite some crazy jumpy numbers I heard a short sweet tone that made me go back and examine that area and tone a little more closely.
I maneuvered the coil around until I got some stable repeating nickel numbers and bent down to dig.
Then this happened...I bet you can hear how excited I was in my voice at the time.



Every gold target I have ever dug shocked me when I dug it because I was always expecting something else.
Every time except one class ring I absolutely knew was big gold before I dug it with a Vaquero because of the unique tone I only heard once before but on that hunt I heard it again.
Calling my shot like that only happened to me once and it hasn't happened since but I still, and always, have hope it will happen again when I swing one of my Tesoros.

You absolutely know there has to be gold at your site because of the history of that site and because of what you have already found but it is driving you crazy because you fully expect to find some and haven't...yet.
All I can say is what I have said before, relax, do your job and do it cheerfully with gusto and optimism and don't let failure drive you nuts.
Not finding gold on any given hunt is not failure because that metal is so rare...getting discouraged and giving up because of that is.
Once you can do that and keep on going through all the trash digging you can consider yourself a true gold hunter.
Once you find some all those frustrating hours you spent digging all that trash will magically fade away and you will consider It all well worth the time and effort.
I know this because it happened to me and also to many others around here.

It sounds like you can go there when you want as much as you want so do it and remember that gold targets are a way less percentage find despite all the silver you have found there...way less.
Let the numbers rule your life like they do mine in this hobby, keep up the good attitude and soon enough, before you know it and probably when you least expect it, gold will show up.
Trust me.
 
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Perhaps, kind Sir, someday I can but you a drink of choice and we can further discuss this crazy obsession !!!
 
Perhaps, kind Sir, someday I can but you a drink of choice and we can further discuss this crazy obsession !!!
Sure, lord knows I have nobody in my real life to talk to about this stuff, my regular lifelong friends don't hunt and my wife just zones out when I try to talk to her.
Luckily I have a few hunting buddies I hang out with from time to time and that helps.

About those zincolns you said that are infesting that site...
I don't dig near as many of those as I used to, I got tired of that long ago but I still dig the slightly lower ones in case they might be Indians.
On both my Fishers a true zinc cent is usually around a 61 so I dig all the solid ones in the mid to high 50's for that reason and also because something else comes in at those mid 50's and slightly higher numbers...3 ring civil war bullets.
Also one more piece of advice about zinc numbers and gold.
I have 5 reasons that make me dig every solid low zinc number I ever come across because the what if's will definitely get me if I dont...I must dig these type of signals, I have no choice in the matter whatsoever.
What are those 5 reasons...here they are, every one came in somewhere between a 48 and 52....every one.
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This by the way is as close as I’ve ever come to all gold. Marked Sterling Silver -10k on top. This area is currently a Forest Service campground but in the 30s40s was a logging camp with a rail system for moving the logs. Had its own store, sleeping cabins, etc. Antique dealer dated it as most likely 40s. Host said lots of people detected in and around the picnic tables, I went out about 100’ and had this 10 minutes into the search!
 

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