To dig or not to dig?

[unearth]

When detecting, and you find a target with bouncing numbers, what is the range of the numbers, between the lowest and the highest, that would make you decide not to dig? 3, 4, 5 or more?
I find if the numbers are more than 4 or 5 apart, usually, the target is trash.

 

[Mega]

Cannot answer the question as such,but if i have any doubt about a target it has to come out i will agree most of it could well be trash like foil but sometimes decent finds come with in the same range a silver foil especially over here in the UK,if you fail to dig foil it could well be a very nice small silver hammered coin,if in doubt dig it out.

Just before Christmas one of our biggest silver hammered coins was found at depth using the Deus it gave a very feint signal but rather than walk away from it he found one of the best Saxon hoards ever over 5000 silver coins,he mentioned in a interview recently and gave advice to dig all signals that you are not sure of.

 

[CZconnoisseur]

The bouncing VDI is a good indicator of the shape of a target. If there is 1-3 points difference in clean ground, and upon a 90 degree sweep you are receiving the same 1-3 point spread, odds are it is a round object. This test works best for high conductors, and the most notable exception is the US nickel. These are very bouncy especially if living at 4" or deeper (in my soil). Sometimes deep nickels ring up into the high 60s and low 70s in 12 khz, again, in my soil which has low mineralization for the most part.

I've found that rings will lock onto a VDI and hardly budge if shallower than 4" or so. Some aluminum ring tabs will also exhibit this behavior, espcially if deeper. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to VDI and "dig" or "pass". Use the VDI along with the audio (which can also provide target shape) and these two working together will in time reduce the amount of trash recovered.

One thing to watch out for is coin spills, especially when there's a nickel in the mix. I remember hunting an apartment complex that had been hit pretty hard in the last 40 years and stumbling upon a three-coin spill. Turned out to be 2 Wheats and a war nickel stacked together 3-4" deep. I got a persistent "67-70" in 12 khz (84-86 is most Wheats, and 52-55 is usually a nickel in 12 khz), and the audio was chopped since it was close to a notch window. Full tones helps IMO with multi-coin targets...if you get a scrambled signal and have trouble pinpointing slow down and approach from another direction. This is a case where jumpy VDI and scrambled audio could potentially throw off your game! I know I must have passed a couple piles of coins at some point...passing mutliple coins in one spot is NOT productive LOL

Hope this helps!
GL & HH

 

[squirrel1]

To comment. I would say with a lot of horseshoe showing and getting a variation of 5 or more, probably junk unless you're hearing iron close by (one good reason to have iron vol on). For the target will a little part horseshoe showing, that's tough. If after gold/gold jewelry you have to dig.