Vaquero and beach mystery metal

[TimNC]

I can use some help on this one. I visited Topsail Beach this week. Detecting the dry sand my V was going nuts - constant beeps. The culprits were numerous chips of what looks like old pieces of a shipwreck. They were from 1/4 inch long to quarter size but only 1/32 or so thick - very thin. Here's the perplexing thing that I hope someone can answer. I could not disc these pieces out. Another detectorist using a Garrett 250 had no response to these pieces EVEN IN ALL METAL. He used his Garrett pinpointer but no response. My tinytec pinpointer had no response. Yet my V responded to them as if they were quarters. I brought a piece home to examine and air tested it. The piece will not disc out. I'm baffled at this. I have a piece of rusty iron that disc's out just as it should so I'm assuming the disc is working. All coins and rings disc out as should. Any ideas?

t

 

[Topo]

Sea hotrocks? LOL

I don't have any idea, I don't hunt beaches, maybe with a picture someone may help

 

[TimNC]

I'm about to think UFO! LOL. I'm not too much on posting pics so I'll have to do a little research but will post one asap. It is metal though. Sticks to a magnet. I tried something else. In all metal on the V the threshold goes away instead of increasing as normal. And this beach is peppered with this stuff so the V was driving me insane (short trip). I sent an email to Tesoro thinking the V may be out of tune. I'm waiting for their response.

Thanks for responding.

t

 

[tvr]

I know what pieces of metal you are talking about. Have hit a lot of them at times on visits to Myrtle Beach area. My guess is that they may be the result of fire on the iron bits and subsequent ages in the salt water and beach. They look like flakes of various sizes of red-brown-black color. The detectors that are sensitive to smaller bits of metal, to include the detectors that pick up thin gold chains, react to them. The detectors I have had to the beach that go nuts on them are:
Cibola, Tejon, F75LTD. Those are also the three detectors I've found thin gold chains with.

If you listen carefully to the tone when you go over them, it has a longer sound off and a bit of an echo on the edge. That is true on all three detectors I listed, with the F75LTD having the most pronounced echo. It is annoying, but when you get your ear tuned to the sound, you can walk away from it and go look for more short round sounds to dig. The Vaquero is so similar to the Cibola that I am thinking that you may be able to identify them by the sound.

For me, when I'm on a beach that has an awful lot of those pesky pieces, I'll frequently grab the CZ6a, CZ20 or Sand Shark. They just don't see them at all; and also do not see thin gold chains unless there is a pendant or large clasp attached.
Good luck to you!
tvr

 

[GunnarMN]

try using the 10x12

 

[TimNC]

tvr. Sounds like the same bits. Same color scheme. All different sizes and shapes and drives the V crazy. I dug many of them after comparing the sound and noticed several things. The target response was rough. There was always a double beep. When "x'ed" they never repeated. The target seemed to move when pinpointed or the ground was disturbed. I simply moved on after several hours of "testing." I shouldn't be complaining though, other than the UFO bits I found zero! Not even a pulltab.

Thanks for the help!

t

 

[tvr]

try using the 10x12

Gunnar,
I've used the 10x12 on the Tejon when around those pesky bits of flake and it does not help much if at all when compared to the standard or small coils on the Tejon.
tvr