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Tell me about your nickels. I'm not gettin 'em...

N

Nick A

New member
There was a post a two months back about nickels. It inspired me to really try to go for some nickels at a site I was working. Said something about all hits being 9-X or 10-X. So anyhow, I tried it out some... and wouldn't you know it, I dug a gold ring. :happy:

Well now it's back to the same old same old. I did get a deep-ish 1954 Jefferson the other day that sounded good and bounced really low (bottom right corner off the edges), but I've really had nothing in the way of nickels with the XS. I am digging what I think are nickel hits, especially if they are 1/2 or more on the meter. I'm getting tabs and oddball junk, but no increase in nickels.

What are your tips for digging nickels? I need some stuff to try out or need to figure out where the fall on the smartfind screen. I'm looking for OLD nickels, not new nickels... I'm wondering if corrosion halo throws off the signal (maybe puts it more into iron)? Air tests don't seem to do any good. No old nickel I have dug has come in where that same nickel air tests when it is out of the soil.

I have a lot of sites with tabs and can slaw and while I could and should dig it all, I don't want to. I would be especially interested to hear how war nickels hit. So, using the smartfind screen, how do you know when you have a nickel?
 
Nickels are not my strong suit because you pretty much described the problems with nickel hunting. If you know where they air test, old nic's could be anywhere around that spot on the smart screen for many reasons. I don't do digital :shrug: . What helps me the most is the depth of the target, sound of the target and smart screen location. Most trash is not 6 inches deep, so if you have a deep target that sounds good and around the nickel location, I would dig it. Most can slaw and pull tabs seem to be in the top 4-5 inches, for me anyway and I dig most deep signals anyway.
 
Nick, Larry had some good advice about digging targets that show deeper. I do not use digital, but iron mask 10 or 12. The box surrounding the crosshair will be directly on the bottom of the screen. I have dug nickles all along the bottom as long as there is no white showing under the crosshair box. If any of the box is under the line, it is not a nickle. I have been surprised by gold with this method many times including today. The box was directly on the line, about middle screen. From 7 inches comes a 14k bear trinket with 3 diamonds and a birthstone along with a fine gold chain. Give it a try. R.L.
 
Thanks for the input Larry and RL. I have been digging only the deep signals, and still not hardly any nickels. Not like when I had my old CZ5... that thing was a nickel magnet. RL, I did a quickie graphic to make sure I understand what you are saying. You mean that anything that hits centered in the yellow area (marked YES) is probably a nickel, and the things not centered (marked NO) are probably junk?
 
Nick, that is it! I was hoping that you would understand what I was saying and your graphic is perfect. Buffalos also fall into this scenario. Give it a shot as I have found it to be nearly foolproof. R.L.
 
Nice graph Nick, but I haven't had nickels go that far left or right in the yellow, or at least I haven't dug any that far right or left. They have to be pretty much where the YES box is for me to dig it. One thing to keep in mind if you want gold rings is small 10 K gold often is lower than the YES box, and 18 K and larger 10, 12, and 14K is higher than the YES box but pretty much in line up and down with the YES. There are always exceptions to the norm.
 
Nick that yes box as RLOH says is correct as far as Ive seen. I beach hunt mainly and dig some real deep coins and nickels really lock on, thats another thing you should look for, no cursor moving like its trying to decide on where to sit.
That yes box should also net you some gold rings, thats a great spot on the screen for me:cheers:

Neil
 
That graph pretty much says it perfect. One exception though are Silver War Nickels...they will register a little higher on the scale. Just what I have experienced. Most nickels give a pretty much nice round sound too.
 
Put a dug nickel in one of your shoes, haha (make sure sure your shoe is the metal free type), I know that sounds funny but you can compare tone while on a hunt and not have to dig as many pulltabs. If you are looking for deep nickels, watch for the cursor bouncing across to the left part of the screen and maybe a broken tone, if it is really deep.
If you compare the digital screen, most buried nickels come in at 5?, heck I can't remember but most pulltabs will be at least one number higher ( and a higher tone if you are using conduct sounds) so you can dodge them, that is if your ground is friendly.
The percentage for nickels is not as high as higher conductive coins so you will dig some trash.
If you are going for rings also, the nickel mark and tones below it are a good range to go for.
If you have a cover over your screen, you can place a small magic marker dot at the point where a dug nickel comes in. Realize that nickels can read horizontally over from the mark, usually on the same level but some of those deep nickels may drop a little vertically. The reason I mention using a dug nickel as a reference is because they read a little lower than a nickel that doesn't have the crud on them.
HH
 
Went out today nickel-shootin. I am working one park that is tough, probably not the best place to start, but what the heck... got one newer nickel amongst the clad. This park is not in the best neighborhood, so when the rabble-rousers started getting to be a bit oppressive I moved on to safer ground. This other place is a site I have been hitting for almost 15 years, there are not many targets left. I got two newer nickels and TWO WAR NICKELS 43P and 44P in about 45 minutes. At the same depth about 4" from one of the war nickels I got another good "nickel" hit and it was a St. Christopher medal. The war nickels were both about 6 to 7" deep.

So, thanks for the help! :clapping: you were spot on!
 
using the SR X12 coil.. it seems very hot on nickels.. I dont find a lot generally but they usually read like has been said said, the box on the bottom line.. also the real deep ones will read on bottom line but far right.. not quite off the screen like crown caps though.. and usually you can get them to bounce back where they should be.. the pull tab tongues will read close to nickels but generally a nickel is a much more solid hit and tone is more steady.. War nickels will sometimes read a little higher though and leave a small line of white
 
The graph is generally right for me, but what ive found its the tone for me. If i move my threshold tone from 5 to 9 my nickels and dime ratio improves. Lower and the pennies increase.
 
I first learned how to find all my coins using digital... Now the last 3-4 months I have been using smartfind... Here is a thought.... What I like to do besides go by sound is double check in digital...just switch over...seems a lot of my nickels fall in the same area you indicated in your smartfind pic. But also in digital I like to see some of the following readings to double check...10/5, 10/6, 9/5, 13/6.... I notice the newer nickels seem to bounce a little more for me on the smartfind screen...(13/5...6 10/5...10/6...) Hope this helps...and I agree with you nickels can be tough at times on the Explorer.... But I have had some very good nickel days with it... Good luck... Gregg
 
If you just want a leasure day or are just looking for old coins in an older park dont dismiss a pattern you can create with LEARN. A pattern works very well in high EMI or trashy areas if you have in mind what you are looking for and concentrate on it.
 
1905 V nickel, hit consistently on the upper LEFT corner (in front of the blocked out area on the left) I dug it because it was a good repeatable signal and I had just dug an indian head cent a few feet away. Once I got the nickel out and replaced the plug... there was a null in the spot, so I'm guessing there was some iron around. I have also dug another war nickel and a few buffalos that did not come in where they should, but they were deep and not iron, so I dug :biggrin: I found a nice little spot where there are some deep ones and not a lot of trash. I wish I could get more sites like this. Sadly this one is no more than 25 feet square, and I am not the first one to hit it... just the most persistent.
 
New user here, glad to see this topic on the nickels. Just learning the exp. se. finding it pretty user friendly.... I'm a former Whites MD user... (MXT DFX ) . I can pull a nickel 90% of the time with both MD..... Now I need to learn what areas nickel falls into with the exp se.... This article has been very helpful... Thanks guys. Hope to here more tricks here about nickels.... Does anyone just lock out those unwanted signals. ????
 
Heres some nickles found with minelab explorer ll almost none were below 3 to 4 inchs deep and they all showed up about 1/4 way up and just off the center to the right on the smart find screen.
 
My machine is an Ex XS. I read an article in W&E Treasures a few years ago about finding nickles. It helped a lot.On my machine a nickle will usually be a solid and repeatable 5, sometimes (maybe due to it's position in the ground) it may bounce to 6 or occasionally 4. The rectangle pop tops read 7 or 8, but pieces of beavertails or rolled up beavertails can read like a nickle. I have found many V and Buffs going by this rule of thumb.
 
That's a nice grouping of nickels. You even have some shields in there. Very nice job of snagging some oldies!


Crispytoo
 
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