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how long did it take to find your 1st civil war relic?

M

maxxkatt

New member
How long did it take you in an estimate of hours did it take you to find your first civil war bullet?

Or any other civil war relic?

I am using an Nox 800 and have adjusted my tone breaks to make bullets ring out loud and clear.

How much research do you do of areas near civil war battle fields?

I have done a lot of research and found some areas near the battle fields that I have permissions. I figure now it is just a matter of putting in the time and careful searching since I know I am hunting where some of the battles actually took place in 1864. I plan to devote my summer searching the easier places and in the fall and winter hunt the areas that are 1-2 feet high in weeds.
 
I was lucky. I had old diggers take me when I first got into relic hunting. I had no idea what I was doing either. I mean I was put on prime spots & couldn't find anything but nails. My first civil war relic was a US belt plate. It's been one hell of a trip since then. I did start finding bullets & buttons after that. Stay at it read about what happened in your area. Relics will turn up. The hardest thing is finding the first bullet after that it gets lots easier. After thousands it's like almost easy. Not saying it is but I've been very fortunate to live in a civil war rich area. Good luck & happy hunting.
 
Thanks for the info. I live in North Atlanta so 40 minutes from Peachtree Creek battle area, about same for Lake Alatoona area, Pickets mill area and from there up to Chattanooga anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. So I have the places to go if I get the right research done and get my butt out there hunting.

John
 
I was 15 years old. It was 1986 and I had a radio shack special. I dug a finial, then some how a group of dropped items. All bullets! I was hooked. 32 dropped bullets, then also the balls, it was buck and balls!
 
Probably within minutes after getting to my aunt and uncle's property up in Chancellorsville. I used a rental Fisher detector and found a complete Schenkle shell. Many relics came out before they passed. I was bitten real hard by the relic bug. The old property is now The Battlefield Country Store.
 
My grandparents would sometimes find bullets on the family farm that I now own and I have the two cannon balls that my grandfather plowed up. When I became old enough to go out and drive in the milk cows, I too would find bullets in cow paths and where the hogs had been rooting. I had never heard of a metal detector. When I bought my first as a young adult I was immediately hooked. I found over 400 bullets there, and have even found relics in my yard at the old house. My relatives owned the surrounding farms which gave me about 700 more acres to hunt. My wife and I finished off a 12’ X 21’ room at the house we own in town to display the things I have since dug up at various places. Here there are over eight thousand bullets plus buckles, buttons, cannon balls, etc. Also, have two crates of items under the house of unidentified or things deemed not good enough to display. Now our farm and the surrounding areas have been made into a National Historical Site for the Civil War action there. I have a letter from the Dept. of Interior stating that my land will not be restricted for my use. I still occasionally find relics there.
 
I love this topic and cant wait for all the responses....

When I was about 14 years old in 1978, I was plowing a field with a JD 4020 in Louisiana. Yep, we worked back then. No Xbox or Playstation ! I remember I had gotten some barbed wire caught up in the disks and was stopped to cut it out. As i was kneeling to get the mess out of the plow, I saw what appeared to be an old bottle cap in the dirt next to me. I curiously flipped it over, wasnt sure what it was, rubbed dirt away with my finger and could read eventually read CSA on the front of the button. I really didnt know what it meant. I showed it to my dad and the rest is history.

There is a CW battle site less than one mile away from where i was.

CCH.
 
TH'er said:
My grandparents would sometimes find bullets on the family farm that I now own and I have the two cannon balls that my grandfather plowed up. When I became old enough to go out and drive in the milk cows, I too would find bullets in cow paths and where the hogs had been rooting. I had never heard of a metal detector. When I bought my first as a young adult I was immediately hooked. I found over 400 bullets there, and have even found relics in my yard at the old house. My relatives owned the surrounding farms which gave me about 700 more acres to hunt. My wife and I finished off a 12’ X 21’ room at the house we own in town to display the things I have since dug up at various places. Here there are over eight thousand bullets plus buckles, buttons, cannon balls, etc. Also, have two crates of items under the house of unidentified or things deemed not good enough to display. Now our farm and the surrounding areas have been made into a National Historical Site for the Civil War action there. I have a letter from the Dept. of Interior stating that my land will not be restricted for my use. I still occasionally find relics there.
Click to expand...

Sure would enjoy seeing a pic of your display area
 
An acquaintance at work kept telling me about all the relic hunting he and his brothers were doing and all the success they were having. So one day he told me he was going to sell one of his detectors and would I be interested. I said I would buy it under one condition and that was that he take me out and help me find a CW relic. He said of course and after work he took me to a site less than 5 minutes from where we worked. We weren't hunting 10 minutes and I got a nice signal and dug a whittled Enfield bullet with an L stamp in the base!
That's been about 30 years ago with a Tesoro Bandito and I still have it.
 
I have to share one more story about a friend of mine. He bought a Fisher unit one afternoon and took it to a construction site on his very first relic hunting venture. His FIRST relic popped out of a dozer track mark...a beautiful US oval buckle with complete hooks! He had brought his wife with him and she was burning up in the car so he took his oval and left. The very next day after work he went to the same location and his SECOND relic was a .....OVM breastplate!! He didn't dig his first bullet until nearly and year later! God's truth!!
 
I coin hunted mostly before the early 90's
But in 1992 with the help of Rich Green
Professional Recovery Tools in Indiana
Came down and showed me the how too's
of Relic Hunting.We hunted quiet a bit together,
I remember the first civil war bullet I found was
In a Tobacco Field in 1992 with a Fisher 1266x
From then on I was hooked and found many
Civil War Relics since then.Im still Relic Hunting
Today,I reckon it's just in my blood.Good Memories
 
I started with a conquistador coin master {mfg. by whites} it was way more than I could handle as a grade schooler, I found lots of iron and pull tabs lol
Fast foreword 90's I was borrowing a friends 6000 and was learning the machine in a yard in town and out poped this plate the last thing I expected to find from a 1900's yard. I was sure glad the kids lost grandpa's buckle, hope they didn't get their arses blistered to bad.

It's amazing the amount of yankee relics my wife and I have dug here in North Missouri. Our area was settled by civil war veterans homesteading injun territory.
That is a half dime for size comparison.

Jeff
 
It took me two years as a coinshooter before I happened to pop out my first bullet. I found it in the front yard of an old school house, thought I was digging an Indian penny at first. I held the dropped .58 in my hand and was in so much awe. It was way more exciting to dig one of those than a silver modern dime. That was the point that my focus shifted from coinshooting to relic hunting. A few months later, I found a breastplate and almost tossed it at first because I thought it was a mason jar lid! Thank goodness I saw the eagle on my way to chuck it in the trash.
 
I'm still waiting. Not much CW stuff in central Florida. I hope to travel to better ground one day. Been detecting since the 70's and I have found lots of stuff but no civil war items. I'm jealous !
 
It took me almost no time to find my first relic. I began detecting 30 years ago while stationed in Charleston, SC. Fantastic right? Wrong, I had no idea what I was finding. I was looking for coins and had almost no knowledge of CW relics. "Why do these buttons have a letter on it?" Oh well I tossed it to the side.
A few years later ( and more educated ) I got the opportunity to revisit those sites in the hopes of finding what I discarded. No luck. Some lucky hunter picked them up.
I always try to stress to new hunters the need to educate yourself.
 
Good point EWTaylor....
 
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