tnt-hunter
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2018
- Messages
- 1,909
- Reaction score
- 10,344
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Mountain Maryland
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 9
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Equinix 800, ,Garret AT Pro,
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I just got back from our trip to the beach in Delaware. We were there for 4 days, Friday through Monday and the coins were pretty good. I have a spot I hunt adjacent to the beach where I found most of the coins. The beach it self was replenished with sand this summer and with all the rain did not see a lot of deposits so the finds were a little light on the beach in the coin department. I know other people detect here, but not too throughly because a lot of World War 2 ordinance was brought in with the new sand this time just like every other time and I was still finding a lot of that. There really is no good way to find the coins and jewelry and leave the ordinance behind. So if there is a lot of ordinance no one has gridded the beach.
I started on the beach by walking up and down between the water and boardwalk to see if I could get a feel for where the finds would be the best. Then I picked a line and walked it parallel to the water doing my best to make a clean sweep. I picked a good line and found a decent amount of ordinance. Most of it was down 6 to 10 inches with some, including 1 quarter, down 16 inches.
While I was detecting people would ask the usual questions about what was my best find and if I was digging, what did I get? I would show them the ordinance and explain what it was and how it got there. I usually give them a piece of obterator and say now you own a piece of history. I have display boxes with detonator parts, obturtor and 50 cal. slugs and casings to keep and I have some riker boxes of ordinance I sell, but my supply is good and most of these finds will be recycled so 5 cents worth of brass is a small price to pay for some good will.
While my wife and I were eating lunch One day I noticed a guy gearing up to detect. He had a Garrett AT gold and I had seen the imprint of his coil on the beach near some disturbed sand when I was detecting and knew he had detected earlier. I approached him and asked him if he was having any luck. He said not much, mostly just a few pieces of scrap metal. I asked to see what he had and he produced several pieces of obterator. I asked if he knew what it was and he didn’t so I filled him in. I told him about the detonator parts he might find and wished him luck. Later on when I was walking on the beach with my wife after dinner we saw 2 more guys detecting and they also had ordinance that they thought was just scrap metal so I filled then in as well. When I first started finding the ordinance after a beach restoration 11 years ago a local metal detector shop owner, had a friend who worked with military ordinance and he told me what everything I found was. So it was my turn to pass on the information.
The last morning I was on the beach at 5 am like usual, but this time I found some different kinds of friends. There was a young fox wandering the beach digging a hole here and there looking for something to eat. He was curious and didn’t run off right away when we saw each other, but then I tried to put my detector down so I could pull out my phone and take his picture and he ran off. The picture probably wouldn’t have been any good because it was still dark, but I wanted to give it a try. Later on after day break I had gotten down on my knee to pinpoint a target I had scooped out when a small bird landed on the handle of my CZ 21. He looked cold, it was only 37 degrees at the time, and it actually looked like he was shivering. He was a cute little guy and I am not sure what kind of bird he is but I think he might be a gold-crowned kinglet. If anyone recognizes this species help would be appreciate. He sat there for a good while and I had to coaxe him off the detector and onto my glove to get a better picture. After that I had to throw my glove up to get him to fly away he just didn’t want to let go and leave. Maybe he is a warm weather bird blown off course by the gale force winds we had the day before and he just needed a place to rest.
I detected there a total of 17 hours at this beach and found a total of 271 coins with a face value of $27.74 along with a few pieces of junk jewelry, a trampoline token, a kitten charm, 4 wheat pennies and a knife. I think a vinegar bath may bring the knife back to life. The ordinance consisted mostly of 40 mm obterator, with some 20mm and a few 100mm. There were also some parts of the mechanical detonator from the artillery rounds and a 50 cal. machine gun slug.
40mm, 20mm, 100mm obturator and 50 cal. slug
For those who don’t know, obturator is band of soft metal, brass in this case, that engages the rifling in the barrel and seals the barrel so the gasses produced by the powder in the shell can push the projectile out.
Detonator parts with some M21 A4 Booster ends
I spent one morning at Ocean City Maryland hoping for more coins and some better jewelry. Sometime this works and sometimes it is a bust. I did ok coin wise, 71 coins with a face value of $6.95 a live pistol round, 32 cal., a small junky pendant and a wheat penny in the 4.5 hours I was there.
Thanks to a nice wife who lets me have plenty of time to play it was a pretty good weekend. No gold or silver but lots of interesting finds. Thanks for looking and may your coil lead you to good things.
I started on the beach by walking up and down between the water and boardwalk to see if I could get a feel for where the finds would be the best. Then I picked a line and walked it parallel to the water doing my best to make a clean sweep. I picked a good line and found a decent amount of ordinance. Most of it was down 6 to 10 inches with some, including 1 quarter, down 16 inches.
While I was detecting people would ask the usual questions about what was my best find and if I was digging, what did I get? I would show them the ordinance and explain what it was and how it got there. I usually give them a piece of obterator and say now you own a piece of history. I have display boxes with detonator parts, obturtor and 50 cal. slugs and casings to keep and I have some riker boxes of ordinance I sell, but my supply is good and most of these finds will be recycled so 5 cents worth of brass is a small price to pay for some good will.
While my wife and I were eating lunch One day I noticed a guy gearing up to detect. He had a Garrett AT gold and I had seen the imprint of his coil on the beach near some disturbed sand when I was detecting and knew he had detected earlier. I approached him and asked him if he was having any luck. He said not much, mostly just a few pieces of scrap metal. I asked to see what he had and he produced several pieces of obterator. I asked if he knew what it was and he didn’t so I filled him in. I told him about the detonator parts he might find and wished him luck. Later on when I was walking on the beach with my wife after dinner we saw 2 more guys detecting and they also had ordinance that they thought was just scrap metal so I filled then in as well. When I first started finding the ordinance after a beach restoration 11 years ago a local metal detector shop owner, had a friend who worked with military ordinance and he told me what everything I found was. So it was my turn to pass on the information.
The last morning I was on the beach at 5 am like usual, but this time I found some different kinds of friends. There was a young fox wandering the beach digging a hole here and there looking for something to eat. He was curious and didn’t run off right away when we saw each other, but then I tried to put my detector down so I could pull out my phone and take his picture and he ran off. The picture probably wouldn’t have been any good because it was still dark, but I wanted to give it a try. Later on after day break I had gotten down on my knee to pinpoint a target I had scooped out when a small bird landed on the handle of my CZ 21. He looked cold, it was only 37 degrees at the time, and it actually looked like he was shivering. He was a cute little guy and I am not sure what kind of bird he is but I think he might be a gold-crowned kinglet. If anyone recognizes this species help would be appreciate. He sat there for a good while and I had to coaxe him off the detector and onto my glove to get a better picture. After that I had to throw my glove up to get him to fly away he just didn’t want to let go and leave. Maybe he is a warm weather bird blown off course by the gale force winds we had the day before and he just needed a place to rest.
I detected there a total of 17 hours at this beach and found a total of 271 coins with a face value of $27.74 along with a few pieces of junk jewelry, a trampoline token, a kitten charm, 4 wheat pennies and a knife. I think a vinegar bath may bring the knife back to life. The ordinance consisted mostly of 40 mm obterator, with some 20mm and a few 100mm. There were also some parts of the mechanical detonator from the artillery rounds and a 50 cal. machine gun slug.
For those who don’t know, obturator is band of soft metal, brass in this case, that engages the rifling in the barrel and seals the barrel so the gasses produced by the powder in the shell can push the projectile out.
I spent one morning at Ocean City Maryland hoping for more coins and some better jewelry. Sometime this works and sometimes it is a bust. I did ok coin wise, 71 coins with a face value of $6.95 a live pistol round, 32 cal., a small junky pendant and a wheat penny in the 4.5 hours I was there.
Thanks to a nice wife who lets me have plenty of time to play it was a pretty good weekend. No gold or silver but lots of interesting finds. Thanks for looking and may your coil lead you to good things.
Upvote
12
And cool story. That's a nice looking bird.
