What's Your Battle Plan?

[tabman]

When you head out the door with your G2 or Gold Bug Pro for a day of detecting, do you have a plan on what ID numbers you're going dig or not dig that particular day? If there's lots and lots of targets to choose from there's no way you can dig them all. Usually when I get started, I dig everything 50 and up for the first hour or two. Then I get tired of digging mostly trash and start to be more selective at what I dig. I know when playing Blackjack you play the odds. You can take a hit when you suppose to and still bust and you can take a hit when you're not suppose to and hit 21. However, if you play the odds you're better off in the long run. Coins are fairly easy to ID, but trash IDs right there with gold and silver jewelry. What are the odds that 59 through 62 will be a pull-tab? I'd say pretty damn high. What are the odds that a zinc penny will be 76 or 77? I'd say pretty damn high.

So here goes my new battle strategy that I'm going to give a try that should give me a fair shot a some good jewelry and silver coins while eliminating a lot of trash.

Dig Nickles 57 - 58
Don't Dig Pull Tabs 59 through 62
Dig Everything 63 through 75
Don't Dig Zinc Pennies 76 -77
Dig Everything 78 & Up

 

[basstrackerman]

sounds like a great plan. i was thinking something very close to that.

 

[Monte]

When you head out the door with your G2 or Gold Bug Pro for a day of detecting, do you have a plan on what ID numbers you're going dig or not dig that particular day?

First decision is to determine the site(s) I plan to hunt. This will include determining the likely targets I am hoping to find at that site, or type of site. It will also help me ensure that I have the best coil mounted for my intended search. That would be either the 5" DD or 11" DD. If I know the type of site, and when there determine the most troubling junk item, then I can make on-the-site decisions about VDI numbers.

If there's lots and lots of targets to choose from there's no way you can dig them all. Usually when I get started, I dig everything 50 and up for the first hour or two. Then I get tired of digging mostly trash and start to be more selective at what I dig.

Until I have worked a particular site, or a dedicated portion of a site, I won't have a clue as to what types of target produce which VDI responses. So, Step #2 (since we've already decided on the model and coil) will be to set my Discriminate at '40' and recover all decent-sounding targets for maybe the first hour. I will be able to hear the low base-tone for Iron which will alert me to the presence of junk and I can then work my search coil around that object to listen for any partially-masked desired find.

Also, if I planned to hunt a particular site for a day, the one hour spent recovering all targets (except very large-size objects) will help me decide which VDI numbers, more specifically, I will want to question or ignore. For me, it is a lot easier to decide about a few VDI responses at a given site that turn my attention away, and that means I am far more interested in all of the potentially good targets. All metal detectors have the ability to beep on a metal target, and some metal detectors are capable of giving us a 'hint' of what their techie design thinks or guesses might be a desired target. What a metal detector can't do is what I have listed below this post in red. Only I can do that, and do it with satisfaction.

If I do get tired of digging trash I can always quit. I can take a break and recoup to have another go at it. I might simply cherry-pick the most likely targets (I seldom do that). Also, I can simply change locations.

Coins are fairly easy to ID, but trash IDs right there with gold and silver jewelry. What are the odds that 59 through 62 will be a pull-tab? I'd say pretty damn high. What are the odds that a zinc penny will be 76 or 77? I'd say pretty damn high.

Common coins that are located away from any challenging ground condition or masking metal target, and are positioned relatively 'flat-to-the-coil,' or are within a practical 4" or less depth might be fairly easy to ID. Masked or identity-challenged coins can read all over the place.

Additionally, when I am engaged in serious detecting I might be hunting one of my favorite ghost towns in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho or Oregon, or maybe an old mining camp, pioneer encampment or military encampment. It could be an old stage stop, or an old recreation gathering site that dates from the mid-1800's to maybe the depression era or slightly after.

Working these sites for decades I have gone beyond the modern current change and have found Large Cents, Flying Eagle Cents, earliest-date Indian Head cents, Two-Cent pieces, Three-Cent pieces, to include both the silver and nickel metal types. I can't forget Half-Dimes as one of the three smaller coins we've made, or the largest, the big Silver Dollars.

Still considering coins and coin-type targets we can't ignore good US Gold Coins, which read from small foil through the Penny/Dime range. I've found one, and four of my good detecting friends have found at least one gold coin. (By the way, 3 of those 4 were females!)

In the older sites I like to hunt I am also seeking some desired Trade Tokens. Quite often they are fun finds because they tell a story about an area, and in some states the collector's value lets them bring much more than most older coins. These types of 'specialty money' also come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and alloy content. In short, they, too, can read all over the place.

You mentioned finding modern coins like Zinc Cents. Don't forget that many of the early-date 'Wheat-backs,' from 1909 'til about 1920, and most Indian Head Cents will read similar-to Zinc Cents ... or lower.

So here goes my new battle strategy that I'm going to give a try that should give me a fair shot a some good jewelry and silver coins while eliminating a lot of trash.

Dig Nickles 57 - 58
Don't Dig Pull Tabs 59 through 62
Dig Everything 63 through 75
Don't Dig Zinc Pennies 76 -77
Dig Everything 78 & Up

Well, after you spend a month doing this, and if you keep an correct record of where the various good target read and where the bad targets responded, it would be interesting to read your after-the-fact post to let us all know how this plan works for you. Tell us about the sites hunted, the coils used, and the end result of working such tight VDI break-downs.

For the record, I will say that most of my Nickels give a '57' read-out, but I've also recovered some that read '55', '56', and '58'. I hunted some older sites that have more of the older ring-pull type tabs, or separated rings and beaver-tails, too. Including all of those and the more current rectangular pry-tabs, I get readings that range from '51' through '71.'

So, considering the US coins and trade tokens it is pretty hard to predetermine which VDI read-outs I want to dig or not dig. Then, when you add all of the different sizes and shapes of Gold and silver jewelry, well, just ignoring the under '40' VDI's with the G2/Gold Bug Pro is really about the most practical approach I take. Sometimes, if a site is heavily littered with iron nails, I might bump the Discrimination high enough to only deal with plentiful nails.

Just my thoughts, and when you get to the end, everything really goes back to the first consideration and that is Site Selection. Oh, I can't forget to remind you that sometimes switching from a 5" DD to an 11" you might also note slightly different VDI readings from the very same sample target. So, check you detector and coils with the same samples and that way you'll know if your VDI breakdown might need a little revision.

Best of success to you,

Monte

 

[Crosby]

You mentioned finding modern coins like Zinc Cents. Don't forget that many of the early-date 'Wheat-backs,' from 1909 'til about 1920, and most Indian Head Cents will read similar-to Zinc Cents ... or lower.[/i]
Monte[/i]

Iron trash will effect the ID numbers, somtimes greatly. I dug an 1856 Seated Dime that gave a solid, locked on ID of 76 in the ground. I thought for sure it was a zinc cent. Anywhere there is a chance of digging an Indian Head, I always dig the zincs.

 

[tabman]

Thanks Monte, I've learned a lot about metal detecting reading all of your posts.

The one thing I do know for 100% certain is that the more I dig the more I find.

 

[txbluzman]

I look for the most iron infested old sites I can find and go to work. I dig it all. Get too picky and you'll leave stuff behind. Besides.. aren't you out there to dig anyway? Dig it all.

 

[Ken in Georgia]

Not a bad plan, But I would dig all the pennies too. They will mask a target too. Good Luck !!!

 

[hershey1]

I dug a 14K very nice charm that locked on at 51 about as deep as my digger blade. 21/2 dollar gold piece comes in 55 56 flat but on edge a hard 58 so sounds like you are in the ballpark with your program. Good luck. HH

 

[jim tn]

I pretty much hunt for old coins, so the age of the site determines what all I dig. I am not a digger of everything, usually, so if a site has the age for IH cents and older coins, I'll dig everything with readings well below the zinc range and all the way up. On old spots, I don't pass up zinc readings either. About all there is to my game plan is to know about how old the site is and dig from there. HH jim tn

 

[jmaryt]

old coins are what i am after!..as with others,site selection is paramount.being surrounded by
350 years ,or so of history makes this priority very easy.setting the f-75 up for coins is simplicity itself,and due to the light weight of the detector
allows 5 hours of hunting almost every day when the weather co-operates...after retiring a few years ago,i am at the stage where i can hunt every day for 4 or 5 hours ,or so
and i'm lovin' every minute of it!..i believe my finds will increase now that i am able to purchase a 5" dd coil for my 75!..lookin' forward to spring!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[tabman]

I pretty much hunt for old coins, so the age of the site determines what all I dig. I am not a digger of everything, usually, so if a site has the age for IH cents and older coins, I'll dig everything with readings well below the zinc range and all the way up. On old spots, I don't pass up zinc readings either. About all there is to my game plan is to know about how old the site is and dig from there. HH jim tn

You're going have to take me with you to one of those older sites after I get my new 11" DD coil for my Gold Bug Pro.

What's your go to detector nowadays for old silver coins?

 

[jim tn]

n/t