The Introduction. It was hot all night and naturally still hot this morning. 91 out now and humid. I had a few errands to do and figured I could add a 1 hour hunt to my list of chores. I decided to try a site I have hit hard with my Bounty Hunter, Ace 250, and GTI 2500 with stock coil. This field is a good silver producer and best of all only about two miles from home. A lot of other detectorists hunt here and I have discovered two small plots of ground where I have found the most silver. One is where a company store was located a while back. I have never seen another THer in one of these small out of the way areas. I went out with only my 12.5 inch coil and left my stock coil home alone.
The Process. The first silver location was un-huntable with the big coil. Too much trash. It was a dump many years ago and has produced Mercs, SLQs, and newer silver coins in the past. I took a spin out into a field and meandered toward silver site 2. Picked up a dozen or so modern coins along the way and I was sweating profusely. I got to silver site 2 (the old store, which is long gone BTW) and my first hit was a 1959 Rosie right in an area that I had previously "cleaned out." I hunted a grid and got a few deep clad coins and then a very deep 1935 Wheat. On my third pass I got the 1964 Rosie about two feet from the first dime. I have been over this area thoroughly at least 3 or 4 times in the past but that big coil sniffed out two more silver coins from this "hunted out" square of ground. The second dime was in the bottom of my flap and on edge four inches down. It isn't easy finding dimes on edge and it gave only a brief one way signal. In all metal it was a much stronger signal and I was 75 percent sure it was a silver coin before I dug it.
The Results. In the last 1000 coins I've dug I've nabbed 13 silver coins. 4 Mercs, 8 Rosies, and 1 Barber quarter. During that period I've found about 50 Wheats too. That is a pretty good ratio of silver to clad, at least it's good enough for me. I have had many stretches where I found no silver coins in 1000 or even 2000 clad coins recovered when I was primarily looking for rings and clad.
The Conclusion. That big coil, as John simply stated, "ROCKS!" That 4 inch dime was well within range of all my other detectors and coils but because it was on edge I missed it many times. The big coil was the right tool for that job. The other dime was roughly 8 inches down. It was deeper than the guard on my Lesche which is around 7 inches. The 12.5 incher was the right tool for that job too.
The Moral. Get your big coil installed and head to that site where you've found sliver in the past, and I bet you find more. That's not really a moral is it? OK, the moral is he (or she) who hunts with only his stock coil misses the silver.
Chris
Thanks to the posters who inspired me to look outside the box I had placed myself in. This forum always inspires me to improve.
The Process. The first silver location was un-huntable with the big coil. Too much trash. It was a dump many years ago and has produced Mercs, SLQs, and newer silver coins in the past. I took a spin out into a field and meandered toward silver site 2. Picked up a dozen or so modern coins along the way and I was sweating profusely. I got to silver site 2 (the old store, which is long gone BTW) and my first hit was a 1959 Rosie right in an area that I had previously "cleaned out." I hunted a grid and got a few deep clad coins and then a very deep 1935 Wheat. On my third pass I got the 1964 Rosie about two feet from the first dime. I have been over this area thoroughly at least 3 or 4 times in the past but that big coil sniffed out two more silver coins from this "hunted out" square of ground. The second dime was in the bottom of my flap and on edge four inches down. It isn't easy finding dimes on edge and it gave only a brief one way signal. In all metal it was a much stronger signal and I was 75 percent sure it was a silver coin before I dug it.
The Results. In the last 1000 coins I've dug I've nabbed 13 silver coins. 4 Mercs, 8 Rosies, and 1 Barber quarter. During that period I've found about 50 Wheats too. That is a pretty good ratio of silver to clad, at least it's good enough for me. I have had many stretches where I found no silver coins in 1000 or even 2000 clad coins recovered when I was primarily looking for rings and clad.
The Conclusion. That big coil, as John simply stated, "ROCKS!" That 4 inch dime was well within range of all my other detectors and coils but because it was on edge I missed it many times. The big coil was the right tool for that job. The other dime was roughly 8 inches down. It was deeper than the guard on my Lesche which is around 7 inches. The 12.5 incher was the right tool for that job too.
The Moral. Get your big coil installed and head to that site where you've found sliver in the past, and I bet you find more. That's not really a moral is it? OK, the moral is he (or she) who hunts with only his stock coil misses the silver.
Chris
Thanks to the posters who inspired me to look outside the box I had placed myself in. This forum always inspires me to improve.
it"s a hard gig to regully find old silver coins & it looks like doing it very well.