Trying to get to the silver

[mntnflyr4fun]

I have been running the Etrac for about 18 months and have finally started getting some silver. Last week a 1944 quarter and in the two previous weeks a couple of rosies, mercs, and one barber along with lots of wheaties....now it seems comes the hard part, getting deeper to find the older stuff and that seems to continue to elude me. Anyone out there have any ideas about getting the Etrac to hunt for the deep silver? I run a stock coil, 8x6 SEF and just ordered a sunray x-5 to help get around in the trash and iron.
I have been having trouble with iron nulling masking targets so any ideas to get down to the older silver would be appreciated.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Everyone has their own style of hunting that works for them - for me, using this method, I've found a lot of 8" to 10"+ older coins...

Slow your swing way down - listen closely for fast on and off hits - clean hits with little or no target ID number bounce.
Swing the coil over the target multiple times in a tight pattern from at least two different directions - that are 90 degree out from each other.
Hope for a low sounding groan when you pin point the target - not the higher pitched scream that you hear on shallow targets.
Dig wide - it could be a good one !

 

[silversweeper]

The key to finding OLD silver is research (well.....obviously a little luck, and some skill using your machine is involved as well). It's not always deeper, you just need to get on sites that have occupation/usage with early dates. My oldest coins have come from farm fields where you'd never even know there was ever a building on unless you'd researched the area and were looking for specific sites. Keep hunting, you'll find it. Took me a long time to find anything in the 1800's and now I've hit the late 1700's a few times and keep hoping for an earlier one than that even. HH and Good luck! And remember....with the etrac, low and slow!

 

[sprchng]

If you feel iron is masking good targets you really only have one choice--dig everything. If it's truly close enough to mask the good target , you're going to dig it up anyway so why deliberate? The extra time you spend covering ground while swinging the x-5 could just as easily be spent cleaning up the trashy ground and getting everything. If every piece of iron could potentially be hiding silver , how will you ever know you got it all without digging it all?

Open screen , raise sensitivity to limit of stability, slow swing , dig. Works like a charm!

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

X-5 will help tons. Best advice I give to everyone. The trashier it is the SLOWER you have to go. Speed is the enemy!

 

[Johnnyanglo]

Hunting for deeper coins amongst iron is going to require digging more iron trash. The illuminated area under the coil may be intersecting a nice silver coin at 10" but it also is being affected by rusted iron that is driving the Fe value higher. So, now you have to decide if what would be 12-42 TID when shallow is worth digging with a 20-35 TID at 10". In other words, the affect of tiny iron pieces is to down-average the Fe value. If you use DISC to hush the nails you will also lose the deeper coins. Also, the more DISC you use the less sensitivity the E-Trac has (which means the larger the target has to be to produce a signal). Most people will rightly recommend an open screen (hear everything) to limit masking, and to go slow, while changing sweep angles (to unmask), and use a small coil. If you get at least a one-way repeatable signal - dig.

 

[hershey1]

Excellent post with great advice and suggestions. I agree with ET-OHIO if you are hunting deep silver and the slightest chirp comes from under your coil dig it. My experience is while I'm twisting and turning trying to get a repeating signal I usually could have dug and found what is down there. A lot of times when you remove some dirt that signal will come in loud and clear. Keep hunting and digging then you will gain valuable knowledge about your machine and getting more good targets. HH