Pull Tab Education 101

[msareborn]

My picture of today's "Pull tab" finds, (on the right) tells me, much about the area I'm hunting. First let's clear the air. I dig all signals, and because I like the gold rings so much, I therefore dig all the pull tabs. But have you ever wondered how old they were?
I've included a picture, (on the left) I borrowed off the Internet to show the four tabs were most likely to encounter, and give us an Idea just what era they come from. I was surprised to find out the tabs are not that old. The first tabs were Zip top tabs, (first on the left of four pictured). Their from the early 60's, and didn't last very long.
The second one from the left is the 70's, and the third is the push button but it didn't last too long either, too bad! If it had we might not be bending over as much! Then the last one on the right is the most familiar to us today and are still being made.
Hope this helps, because if your finding the first two on the left, your also going to find the silver coins. Most coins are in circulation for about 20-25 years.
So if you want to find the gold and the silver, the pull tabs are your friend ! Go get you some!

 

[Dancer]

msborn , This has been a good help. Thanks for the info. I've been running into a lot of the 70's pull tabs this year. Especially where I water detect. Party boat tie up, loads of tabs , little change silver, but no gold yet.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

n/t

 

[msareborn]

Chris;
You probably don't want to hear the pull tab/gold ring ratio we have here in Idaho. I get gold about every 45 days on the average for the year. That's probably about 300 pull tabs per gold. North Idaho has a very mixed population with plenty of low income residents using the beaches and parks. So gold rings and jewelry are in my humble opinion fewer and far between. As opposed to many Miami beach or Pismo beach, where the jewelry is a bit more spendy. But with that said, I found my highest karat gold, (Pictured below) this year in the hunted out park while digging an iffy pull tab signal. I also find a lot of V nickels. Who knows what we all pass up when we think we know exactly what something is and pass it up as junk. Watch this you tube video, where I dig a nice turquoise/silver ring and it came in at a zinc penny signal. I say dig it all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djci7LPJKxM[/url] Hope this helps.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Here are just a few of my "pulltabs"

 

[msareborn]

Larry;
A picture is worth a thousand words, or thousands of dollars! Love it!

 

[CKY]

Nice! Thats why we dig them....

 

[timwied]

I dig them hoping to find gold, but also next time I go there, there's not as many!

 

[msareborn]

Tim;
I do the same thing. It gets easier and easier to find the gold if you pick em all up. If you do ring returns like I do, it makes your job a lot quicker.

 

[Dancer]

Have you guys found that the newer tabs that are colored blue/gold, really are the fake out artists ! Especially if bent or broken. Cut a good sounding plug other day, caught a glimpse of gold, :'+## gold tab. !!!

 

[KinTN]

If the ratio where I hunt was 300 tabs to a gold ring, I'd have WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more gold rings.

 

[hodr]

If the ratio where I hunt was 300 tabs to a gold ring, I'd have WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more gold rings.

Same here. Been digging the parks near my current location for 6 years. Probably 20-30 pulltabs per outing, 2-3 outings per month, and only found one gold toe ring.

Puts me in the 4500 to 1 range.

 

[sandbandit]

I have learned through the years that pull tabs come in a very wide spectrum of conductivity. Many factors affect their "signal" - surface corrosion from the soil, tab shape, partial tab, bent tab, new vs. old tab, you name it. In my experience, if you aren't digging pull tabs and/or nickels, you simply aren't going to find the gold items that fall within the same signal range. The upside of digging pull tabs is there will be less of them the next time you hunt that particular area, which makes it easier to distinguish a real gold target. I employ "grooming" techniques to my favorite hunting grounds - each subsequent trip is more productive from a gold-finding perspective, and I have a collection of favorite spots much like a "pool route". I try to hit each spot at least once a year, which gets me out in the field every couple weeks. Here is an example of what "grooming" has done for me - these 4 gold pieces came out of the grass on a soccer field within an hour and a half of hunting the chair lines.

 

[plidn1]

I found this earring this morning. Marked 14 K
It rang up as a pull tab and was in someone else's hole!

 

[mcb613]

Good post, and we all know about digging tabs to get gold. The question is... How many guys start out or return to this theory, only to bypass it after getting tired of all that digging? I know I do! I do however , always dig 12-13 on the CTX. That is surely a nickle and the common range of the hundreds of rings I have air tested. I know im missing alot, but its the time/ productivity balance for me with young children. Gotta have some regular good items to keep feeding the hobby. Just my opinion.

 

[Gandorf]

I am the same way. I try to dig all positive targets, but some sites are so littered with tabs or can slaw that after a while I just get tired of digging them all. I know that I will be back next week to try again. Eventually the site gets easier. You may find more coins and silver on a given day by skipping the tab signals, but a site isn't thoroughly hunted until all the tabs have been dug up.