If you want to dig nickels, I'll tell you how to do it...
Set your noise cancel at 5 or 6.
Put your screen in digital, not smartfind.
Dig ALL 09-06 and 10-06 and 11-06 targets; if they are deep, the FE number will begin to deteriorate (at least in my soil), going up as high as the teens, but usually the 06 on the conductive side will be consistent. One key is, you want that 06 number to be pretty steady as you rotate around your target. If you rotate around, and can get a consistent 05 number from, say, 90 degrees and 270 degrees, but a consistent 06 number from 0 degrees and 360 degrees, THAT is usually a rectangular tab -- the "05" and "06" numbers at the different angles are due to the elongated shape of the tab, versus a round nickel. The roundness of the nickel gives a much more consistent "06" from all angles.
BUT -- the noise cancel number is key, just as Neal alluded to. On mid and low conductors, different noise cancel channels will give very different CO numbers. A nickel can range from an 04 conductive number to an 07, depending upon which noise cancel channel; the lower the channel number, the lower the CO number. My wedding ring will hit at 09-13 at noise cancel channel 1, and 07-22 at noise cancel channel 11; at the middle channels, it reads about 08-19.
Finally, pay attention to the tones...a nickel has a nice, smooth, "clean" sound to it; most junk targets that read similar will not sound as good -- especially as you rotate your body around the target while doing short passes over the center of the target -- i.e. the "Minelab wiggle."
Anyway, give that a try, and see how it works for you. I rarely finish a hunt without at least a DECENT ratio of nickels to other coins...
Steve
