Why do you guys use a 40 discrimination setting on your Gold Bugs

[Les in the UK]

I know that the book tells you that it's a good setting to use on iron contaminated sites, but i also know that a discrimination setting of 40 will lead to you missing good signals as it will mask out good targets that a lower discrimination setting will see.
I have found that by lowering the detectors discrimination below 40 i can get a clean and clear signal from a good target and still hear the iron. But on a disc setting of 40 i have found that the good signal gets masked out so i only hear the iron.
I would love to know if anyone else has found more or made better finds by lowering you discrimination below 40, let me know how you get on.
All the best and happy hunting to you, Les

 

[kai_gold]

At 40 or below all targets are picked up in either high tone or low tone. As you raise the disc you will notice that the low tone range actually shrinks and creates a third zone that does not produce an audio response. In mild ground the 40 break works pretty well but in my mineralized soil I drop it to 38 as the smallest gold can bounce a little lower. 40 is merely a generalized suggestion that is a good starting place but as with every detector, ground mineralization, trash levels, and detecting goals are site specific so don't view the 40 as a magic number. I have run lower and higher with success. For example, if I am in a really trashy site and want to focus on the foil nickel range, I will raise the break until the bottom edge of the low tone zone is in the low 40s and then dig the low tones and ignore everything else. As with any use of discrimination you will miss some targets, but I like top work the odds and in turf I don't usually dig the tiny foil signals. In a tot lot I will set it at 38 and dig every high tone. In a good totlot, I may switch to all metal and dig everything to try and unmask any goodies. Hope this helps.

 

[GunnarMN]

I will experiment with the lower setting and see how it goes

 

[godigit1]

The main reason I use 40 is I can hear everything and know how crowded the ground is and when to slow down and pick my way through. 40 is also the start of the foil range and I examine those signals with pinpoint . If coin sized sounding I ignore, If tight and tiny I recover, its usually small foil right on the surface but sometimes? (14k earring back or something)
At 40 you should not be missing any good targets the only things that are good that I have found below 40 has been very small jewelry or chains. But they have a very sharp signal when checking with pinpoint. Any thing that hits in the high 20 to 40 and has a sharp tight smooth signal in pinpoint is a digger to me just in case when micro hunting.
I find gold all over the foil to zinc range so If I'm finding allot of a certain tab that hits say 61 I can ignore that and dig all unusual signals.
After 2 1/2 years with the bug and a bazillion tabs and a good amount of gold mixed in there even though that gold hit as a tab there is just something different about the signal. Every time I say hmm that sounds different and then I say NO WAY!! Because I still am blown away every time I find a piece of gold.


godigit

 

[Terry(Mi)]

I used to run mine 1 segment above where the square nails would hit... normally 27-29, Sometimes as low as 25. There's less masking going on at lower disc, and you can hear the bulk of the iron. This was hunting nail beds in fields and woods, not parks. Also, I would run the disc around 20 when walking and scouting for new sites. GL

 

[autopilot42]

I run mine at 27 to knock out nails and like to hear bigger iron but I only relic hunt and do not do coins for the primary.