Safari and nickels

[Metaldetective1975]

I have been doing very well (with mostly clad anyway) with my Safari, which is a few months old. I still do not have the knack for finding nickels with it (I might be missing some gold too). I usually hunt in Coin/Jewelry mode, but nickels are elusive to me. For example, today I hunted for several hours in a park and found 170 coins, only 2 of which were nickels (they happened to be lying on the surface). I have a cigar box I am filling up with coins found with the Safari, but there are only 8 or so nickels altogether, out of hundreds of coins.

I tried testing a nickel under the coil (standard 11 inch Double-D), and they seem to show up at about 15 or so on the number scale. But when I dig these signals, I nearly always get junk. I have found several rings and other small jewelry, but no gold yet either...... Perhaps a specific sound/tone might need to be learned by me, also.

I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer.

The Safari is a coinshooting monster. Recently I followed behind a friend who had a different brand of detector, and cleaned up with many coins he had missed.

Thanks...

 

[markinga]

In my neck of the woods, which is soil derived from high grade metamorphic rock saprolite (gneiss), I find the signal for a nickel to be 13-14 or consistent 14. This is a potentially "mineralized" soil because it can contain substantial magnetite. On the other hand, the clay content keeps coins relatively shallow. Please excuse the jargon. I am a geologist. Of course, this means I drink beer. I hope this helps. Cheers!

 

[Goldstrike]

I don't think the 'problem' or better described as an anomally, lies with either the detector or yourself. I don't find that many nickels either, not in the parks or at the beach. I don't know why, whether it's because people don't generally carry a lot of nickels or some other reason. When I take the clad coins that I find home, there is generally, in order of amounts excluding pennies of course because they are always the most common coin to find!!......Quarters, dimes, then maybe one or two but only a few nickels.
It would be interesting to see what the other Safari owners find in regards to nickel quantities/ratios?!
P.s. If you really want to have some fun and do a nickel test, notch out ALL numbers except 13-15 and see how many nickels you find! You just might find a gold ring or 2!!! as well!

 

[KinTN]

for me and my Safari, nickels show up 14 or 16, and sometimes 15. it seems to vary on soil moisture and type (weathered limestone/dolostone). what I do is dig everything in the 13-16 range for 6-10recoveries when I first start a hunt in a trashy area to establish where pulltabs/nickels/etc are going to show up Today. like in most aspects of the hobby; you gotta dig some trash to get to the treasure.

there is also another trick: listen for a 2 tone signal. it wont always be there, but when you hear it, its 99+% of the time a pulltab (either square or pullring- doesn't matter) or Al canslaw. the machine is reading the different shapes on the pulltabs when it is makng that 2 toned response. nickels never give a 2 tone (unless theres nearby trash affecting the signal). and of course, you have to learn that nickel sound- experience is the only teacher for that.

I love finding a higher proportion of nickels at a site than I should. it means that other hunters have passed over them and I feel like the Nickel King!

never forget the first rule of FBS: IGNORE THE SCREEN AND DIG THE SOUNDS.

 

[Sanderling]

For me at the beach nickels are usually a solid 14, but I dig a lot of tabs too. I have not mastered the 2 tone described above. My old Fisher CZ 6 is a great nickel finder. Like the others that have commented, I do not find a lot of nickels with the Safari.

 

[markinga]

My old DFX can sort nickels like nobody's business. But, I cannot get the depth that the Safari gets.

 

[Goldstrike]

Did a quick trip to a local park today and this is what I got. No silver or gold items but I kinda wanted to see how many nickel to other coins ratio I would get. So....18 pennies, 6 Nickles, 6 Dimes and 15 Quarters. I did get some nickles in the mix! and they I.D. ed between 14-15.
The bangel I really hoped was gold, turned out to be a cheapie and the Boy Scout badge/pin was a nice surprise!!

 

[KinTN]

Good haul.

The breakout of circulating US coins are roughly:
pennies 80%
nickels 5%
dimes 11%
quarters 6%

dug those #s out of the mint #s several years ago and are they +/- from year to year. obviously don't include dollars and halves that are miniscule iirc.

 

[Metaldetective1975]

Nice haul, Goldstrike.

KinTN's breakdown is amazingly accurate. For comparison, here is the breakdown of the 170 coins I picked up this weekend in 3-1/2 or 4 hours (lost track of actual time, as usual, since detecting time is not real-time, but seems like a time warp).

cents: 143 (includes only one wheat cent and 2 Canadian cents) = 84%
nickels: 2 = ~1%
dimes: 17 = 10%
quarters: 8 = 5%

Incredibly close to KinTN's numbers.... Very Cool!

Thanks to everyone for your help with my Safari question. I will definitely work on the sound thing before my next outing...

 

[Simpsonslammer]

This is my 2nd full season with the Safari and I'm still getting hung up on the nickle bottle cap beaver tail signals 13 14 15. I know their is a slight tone variation between them but I'm affraid i might miss something good so I usually dig them all anyway. I started to carry a nickle in my pouch to refresh my memory during the hunt. I've found nickels at 13 14 and 15, usually the older oxidized come in at 13

 

[Prep1957]

I have a very old park that is less than an acre I have hunted for over 35 years thought I had cleaned it out so did everyone else in the area people would go there not find a coin with the latest and greatest.A friend asked if I would help her with her first metal detector.I took her to this park just to show her the basics with her 300 dollar detector was surprised she pulled out several shield nickels and a V nickel in less than an hour. When I compared her next shield nickel with Safari it was reading broken up like Iron nail but did lock on at 8 at 6 inches.Her detector just had a selection or notch that just included nickels and it was finding them like crazy.Even in all metal I would have not dug that target they kept breaking up.But here is the surprise I went to the stock coins only program using the 11 inch pro coil then I could find them.I then put 6X8 back on was not getting a good signal again then it dawned on me that my sensitivity was to high that did the trick rehuntd park found over 20 nickels and 3 small gold rings and several buttons that were foil coated.The Shield Nickels are a different composition than later nickels.Although they were fun to find they really have no value I was more interested in why most detectors were missing these.

 

[markinga]

That's a great story and a good lesson for all of us. Did you switch to Auto Sensitivity or just knock it back a few notches?

 

[Goldstrike]

Prep1957....I can imagine the surprise you felt when your 'newbie' was detecting those nickels that you and probably many others had missed!! I just was looking at Wickapedia's explanation of V and Shield Nickel metal compositions and it was very interesting to read the history regarding those coins and how they came to be and their compositions! With this hobby, there is always something new to learn!!
I personally don't use the auto setting, preferring to have full control over the sensitivity. It would be like putting your car on auto-pilot, (scary)!! but maybe there are situations when it would work better and be preferable.

 

[KinTN]

I have a very old park that is less than an acre I have hunted for over 35 years thought I had cleaned it out so did everyone else in the area people would go there not find a coin with the latest and greatest.A friend asked if I would help her with her first metal detector.I took her to this park just to show her the basics with her 300 dollar detector was surprised she pulled out several shield nickels and a V nickel in less than an hour. When I compared her next shield nickel with Safari it was reading broken up like Iron nail but did lock on at 8 at 6 inches.Her detector just had a selection or notch that just included nickels and it was finding them like crazy.Even in all metal I would have not dug that target they kept breaking up.But here is the surprise I went to the stock coins only program using the 11 inch pro coil then I could find them.I then put 6X8 back on was not getting a good signal again then it dawned on me that my sensitivity was to high that did the trick rehuntd park found over 20 nickels and 3 small gold rings and several buttons that were foil coated.The Shield Nickels are a different composition than later nickels.Although they were fun to find they really have no value I was more interested in why most detectors were missing these.

I love stories like that;
- we can all learn something, even from someone totally new to the hobby
- more proof that its never hunted out
- the most expensive machine cant/wont do everything
- you have to do Your part regardless of what machine you have.

Thanks for posting that Prep1957.

 

[kschae4]

My nickle finds - from V's - Jeffersons' in low trash/auto/relic mode are 14-15,ocassional 16....
Prep -thanks for re-posting that valuable info. I had completely forgotten about it..What sensitivity did you reset to ?.

 

[Will1877]

13-14 here in north western PA. Sometimes a touch of 15 but 13 14 is usually nickel including war nickels for me which I thought was odd do to silver content. I find that when I get jumpy numbers lik 12 13 14 13 14 15 is usually junk like bent pull tab. Most tabs come in the 20's for me except these odd big gold colored ones I find around here they are frustrating and always read 13.

 

[Prep1957]

I have found a lot of great stuff very deep in this park with 6X8 with sensitivity set at 17 lowered to 14 and started to find nickels better and a few junk rings and junk costume jewelry.When I do put pro coil on I hunt in auto seems to work better.I have been goofing around more this year I have been hunting with pro coil set at 4 sensitivity hunting 6 inches off ground in relic just finding large items to see how deep I can still find them I have acquired a very nice collection of hammer heads and window weights down to 18 inches.

 

[Sevenpiece]

Great topic,
New guy here, Safari user since August this year.
My nickel count has more than doubled since I got the Safari.
Second day out I found two Buff's the next day found three in same field.
ID's between 12 and 14. One day while diggin
A new spot for about three hours and on my 13th nickel signal I dug a 10k gold class ring.
Keep diggin those pull tabs/nickels, the next one will be gold.
GL&HH

 

[arcticcatt]

It's been a month since anyone posted here but just in case someone reads this post like I did today, I've got to tell you this one! I got a strong 30 signal on my Safari yesterday @ approx. 3" down and it was a nickel and a quarter together. Not sure if my Safari is altogether working correctly since sometimes when I pinpoint I don't hear the audio at all and then all of a sudden I start hearing a soft audio and at that point the audio starts to increase in sound until it reaches my normal audio level. My nickels show up as a 13 on a ground test but haven't found a nickel yet except the aforementioned. I've only had my Safari for three days, running sensitivity on auto in coin mode, high trash.


CTX 3030, Safari, Explorer II
V3i, MXT
AT Pro