Silver coins and the E-Trac ...

[Willee - Texas]

I hunted a middle school ground a few days ago and found some wheat pennies and a silver "rosie" dime.
Used the Garrett AT Pro in Pro Mode and only dug targets that VDI over 80.

Today went back with the E-Trac set up in the preset coin program.
Right off I noticed that the E-trac was a lot quieter and more stable than the AT PRO.
But at the price difference I would expect that.

I know most coins show around 12 on FE.
I was getting pennies at 43 CO
Quarters at 46 CO
and dimes at 43 CO.

I was thinking that silver coins should read higher CO than a clad quarter but never found any.
Might be they just were not there for me today.
Did dig some deep wheat pennies.

Odd thing is that a lot of my sterling rings and things read lower than 26. (air check)
A barber dime reads about like a penny.
I did not dig a lot of 42 - 44 CO signals thinking they were pennies.

Why dont silver read higher CO than clad quarters?

If I wanted a program to detect only silver dimes, quarters, and above, what FE-CO readings should I dig?

 

[etracjoe]

You just can't go by the numbers alone....they are just part of the big picture. Depending on your site, depth, and also tone will play very important roles as well. Numbers also usually do not change for silver or clad. Only possibly if it is worn it will drop in co.

 

[Todd Pickens]

I dint use the numbers so much as I do the sounds. I also do dint like the factory preset coin pattern. I run mine open with just a few bars of iron masked out, or I will use Andy's pattern. I will check the numbers if my ears are not sure. As far as numbers for silver, if I get a FE from 10 to 19 and a CO from 39 to 48 and my ears like it I am going to dig it. With my machine here are the numbers I come up with most. Injuns and Wheaties 39 to 41, Silver dimes 41 to 43, Silver quarters 43 to 46. Zincs scream 37 and copper pennies are in the low 40's. I have been selling detectors for a while now and I can say my silver count has gone up since I got my E-Trac.

 

[Bill_S]

I think you would have a hard time seperating copper pennies from the silver dimes. They hit around the same area on my etrac. I could be wrong but I think a silver quarter would probably hit around the same area as a clad.

 

[Willee - Texas]

I dint use the numbers so much as I do the sounds. I also do dint like the factory preset coin pattern. I run mine open with just a few bars of iron masked out, or I will use Andy's pattern. I will check the numbers if my ears are not sure. As far as numbers for silver, if I get a FE from 10 to 19 and a CO from 39 to 48 and my ears like it I am going to dig it. With my machine here are the numbers I come up with most. Injuns and Wheaties 39 to 41, Silver dimes 41 to 43, Silver quarters 43 to 46. Zincs scream 37 and copper pennies are in the low 40's. I have been selling detectors for a while now and I can say my silver count has gone up since I got my E-Trac.

Thanks Todd for sharing that information.
I guess I should not expect to use three or four other detectors, pick up the E-Trac and be an instant expert user with it.
This is my second one and I have about 5 hours total on the E-Trac.
I have logged many hours on my Explorer II.

I am mainly a beach and shallow water hunter and you dont find many silver coins at the beach.
I hunted a school field the other day and found a silver dime ... that got me all excited about bringing back the E-Trac and finding more.
I guess I was hoping to set the E-Trac up to cherry pick the silver coins from the school yard leaving the clad behind.
Aint so easy is it?
I did notice that the E-Trac ran a lot quieter and more stable than my other detectors did in that same place.
Quality electronics costs but it is sure noticeable.
I need to read some more in Andys E-Trac book and log more dirt fishing hours with this machine.
This is the right time of year down here to ground hunt as the weather is nice and the ground is dig-able.
In the summer the ground is dry and like concrete plus I dont want to kill grass and make brown spots.
And that is why I hunt beaches and shallow water ... the sand is always easy to scoop.
(plus the eye candy)

Thanks again ... I was looking for an easy answer and there is none ... time and effort learning the detector is what is required.
I know there is more silver there I just need to pay the dues to get it.

 

[NebTrac]

Like Todd said. Too many good coin finds come in all over the board. Yes you can usually guess a 47 is in the quarter range, but whether or not is silver is not so easy to tell. I just get used to diggin' all those types of signals and learn at what depth most of the better stuff is. Worn barbers and seated will come in like wheats. Sometimes you can guess at a clad quarter, but then at 3" when you get the hole opened up, and in Andy's pattern my clad quarters will null in pinpoint using the X-1 Sunray. Comes in at Co 50 when in AM. There often times is a different sound on silver than clad even though the numbers are the same. Those are the sounds I'm addicted too. IH's for me are 80% of the time Co 34 and there is a "bell" type ring to the tone on them. I love finding IH's.

NebTrac

 

[tippyhound]

FE\CO numbers depend on the ground your hunting and if anything is close to the Silver coin to effect the ID reading. My son today found a beautiful 1900 Barber dime with his Fisher CZ-6. He called me over asking me to check the target as his machine sounded like crap for that target. My E-Trac read FE16/ CO 45-46 I could hear something else in there with the coin so I checked the Quick Mask and it showed the target reading high on the screen and a good clean reading. Love that Quick Mask. So does my son.

Rick (IL)

 

[Todd Pickens]

I have started really checking targets that sound like silver but have a high FE number, like in the low to mid 20's. I have dug a silver dime with an FE 27 and a solid CO 44. There was a small piece of an old fencing staple in the hole with it. Once again it was the sound that led me to dig more than the numbers. I carry 2 or 3 detectors with me when I hunt, just in case someone wants to try out detecting. I sell Fishers now that Minelab's new business policy is to do away with the little guy and go for the big dealers like Kellyco and others. I like other brands of detectors and I will use them when I hunt, but I am at my best with the E-Trac. If I find a new spot I will cherry pick it with the E-Trac before I touch it with any thing else. I have so many hours on the E-Trac that I just trust it more than anything else and that's a bad habit to get into, because I dint give other machines a fair chance. I did the same thing with the Explorer

 

[Jack Flynn]

A silver quarter and a clad quarter come in 12 46 most all the time, sometimes 47. If you have the variability set at 28 you will hear the slightly higher tone difference in the silver vs the clad. Now a dime is a different story to me anyways. A clad dime will ring in at 12 45 almost always not unless worn or corroded pretty bad. A silver dime will be a definate higher pitch above the clad dime. Memorials always just a tad lower tone than a clad dime. I hit a 12 45 and that high pitch I'll just about always call the coin and it will be a silver dime. Merc or Rosie either one. Now last week I dug an exception, a badly almost looked like it had been in a fire merc that had the high pitch but rang up a 12 44-45. The coin was in the ground on edge somewhat. Whats your varibility set at? I had mine at 25 and when I moved it to 28 it opened up a whole new world for me. A good thing to do is to forget about that TID and listen for those higher tones and if they are repeatable and seem pretty solid use the TID then for a second verification. After all you are using the best discriminating machine in the industry, that is what you paid for. I'll have to say a very high quality set of airtight headphones is a must for hearing the differences. If you can hear everthing around you with the headphones on and using an E Trac you are probably missing good stuff.