Bottle caps are driving me insane!

[KJ&nugget]

Whomever figures out how to build a detector that will not mistake bottle caps for money will own the detector business!

Or at least my business! Wow, I am in such a frustrating place now doing this. I cannot stand to walk away from those coin "sounds" but they are so often bottle caps. They indicate exactly the same as gold rings, and sometimes close to the surface they score like a dime on my AT pro.

I wonder what I have walked past with this because of the uncertainty? I use the tone roll at the indication of metal, but there have been a few times where I want to prove to myself what is going on so I dig for the proof. Seven of ten times the tone roll is a bottle cap, or something aluminum. But then there are a few times with a coin near the same hole as the bottle cap.

Just out of curiosity, is there a machine that defines bottle caps and coins with high resolution? How is the F75 at this? Oh well just venting thanks for listening!

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

what type bottle caps are you referring to? Crown caps or aluminum screw caps ?

 

[arnofarrell]

I dont know if there is but that is why I dig everything, no wondering if I am passing up something amazing. Also you are cleaning up the ground as well so if you hit the place again you will know that is new stuff in the ground.

 

[arnofarrell]

Also welcome to Tnet

 

[dustytrails123]

Gotta love the garrett ...i have a bottle cap killer myself theres none that escape my coil

 

[TheNewCatfish]

This is my major gripe with cheap metal detectors too, (especially the Garrette). You've gotta have deep pockets to afford a metal detector that isn't a toy. The Garrette Pin Pointer is a joke too. Best bet is to leave your hard earned money in your pocket, and take a walk through a public campground where people shake out their sleeping bags and tents. You'll average about $1 or $2 dollars in coin per camp site on a Monday morning. No digging. No bottle caps, no pull tabs. Also after a big windy rainstorm, check the edges of the parking lots around shopping centers. Lots of paper money in the grass and bushes. My best haul was $60 dollars on Christmas Day at a single parking lot. Took me about 20 minutes to walk around and pick it up. Get out there "EARLY" at day break ! Good Luck.

 

[KJ&nugget]

Catfish,
What detectors separate bottle caps from coins? At what cost?

The caps I'm talking about are from beer bottles. Many are old and rusty.

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

It is the aluminum screw caps that drive me crazy. One site that I hunt is choked with them. It is a spot that has been used for a long time, and many of them are buried deep. The ones near the surface I can tell what they are, but always wonder if there is something buried underneath. The deep ones mimic coins. Really the only way is to dig all of them and keep going over the area to make sure no coins were missed.

 

[John_Deere]

I'll take them if you don't want them. I got a huge collection of them, so unfortunately I can't relate with your frustration. HH

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The caps I'm talking about are from beer bottles. Many are old and rusty.

Ok then, so you're talking about the "crown top" type then. Here's a trick to use (you're going to owe me a 12-pack now): When swinging over a suspected crown cap, try varying your swing speed momentarily as you criss-cross-x your target. Crown caps will have a distinctive degrade to their signal, when you get that momentary "chop" of a faster little swing over them. Whereas if they are a conductive target (coin or whatever) their signal will improve (or at least not degrade) with a faster swing. You have to practice and know what you're doing though: because if your conductive target were sandwhiched between other rejected targets (nails for instance), then a "faster swing" might also dis-allow the machine to recover enough for that type differentiation as well. But once you've practiced over free-standing targets, and begun to tell crown caps vs conductives apart, then the swing-speed trick gets more applicable/usable in other targets arrangements as well.

This was very pronounced on the yester-year machines like the 6000d, 6db, XLT, Eagle, etc... Less so with today's machines that have slowed down the sweep speed. However, it is still there, if you know the different responsive characteristics that come with variations of swing speeds per resultant signals over them. Not sure about the AT-pro, but give that a try.

 

[Silver Searcher]

You just have to keep digging them, I do, you can not discrim out anything circular....not with out missing good stuff as well.

SS

 

[ctitech0019]

pull tabs , pop tops, crown tops, screw tops , can slaw .............. cans i hate the all !!!!!!!!!

but alas ,what can ya do but dig and dig and dig ................. and hope for the best !

 

[KJ&nugget]

Well, I guess the upside is when you're digging the junk up at 6-10" you know you're gonna nail every coin in the mix as well.

Today I called 100% of what I dug up before I did. That AT Pro has this rolling rough high rough tone for caps. It's nearly perfect to know it's a cap. However it could be a big diamond ring too! So I gotta dig them up.

The pull tabs are just simply crap. They do not provide that rolling tone, they just sound exactly like a nickel.

I even called the pennies today, which was likely as much luck as skill. I do think in time I will become even more fluent in AT pro language, adding in the above mentioned swing rate. But no way to separate out caps and pull tabs for sure.

 

[xr7ator]

I'm going on two years with the AT Pro and am now pretty dang good at knowing it is a bottle cap. Run in pro mode and learn the sounds. iron will not have the same signal as a good target. If you're not sure, DIG IT.
The tip above about swing speeds? Lets make it simple, SLOW DOWN.
Bottle caps are a problem but not aluminum. Aluminum is a completely different signal so I'm not sure where you get this.
If you don't dig aluminum, an alloy, you'll never find 10k, 14k, or 18k gold, an alloy. They both have the same signal.
I found a folded religous pendant that is nowhere near round and is high karat gold, 22k or better. It gave me a high tone just like a penny. That was a nice surprise, for sure. My last good hunt out was 1-19. We had some real nice weather so I got out. I hit a patch of aluminum signals so I decided I'd clean 'em up. First one, pull tab intact. Next one, pull tab without the beaver tail. Next came a nickel and then one more target.....a bent and broken gold and diamond ring. I sat it back down along with the nickel and the pull tabs. The pull tabs came in a tad higher on the visual, at about 53. The nickel and the ring were 51. The nickel and the ring are more stable. The pull tabs visual numbers jump up and down more.

If you are having fun, whats the big deal cleaning up a little trash?

 

[KJ&nugget]

The pull tabs definitely jump and growl more then the good stuff. But as you said, the difference between a diamond ring and a pull tab was 51 VS 53.

There is a learning curve to getting your brain to hear the tones, the cadence or maybe better put, the sequence of the tones. It's better every time out, but for sure I have to dig the visual 65-70 targets even though nearly 100% are bottle caps or other non value items.

Quarters within 3-4 inches of the surface are easy to identify, that AT Pro sings "QUARTER" loud and clear, same as very shallow dimes.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... The pull tabs are just simply crap. They do not provide that rolling tone, they just sound exactly like a nickel. ...

Just be aware that we're blending two different topics, and two different items here: things like "pulltabs" are a far different cry from crown-caps. crowncaps have iron in them (they're coated zinc or something). Whereas pulltabs (can slaw, beaver tails, etc...) are conductive targets, that can indeed mimic rings that fall into the same TID ranges. But crown caps, on the other hand, will not be the same as any type of aluminum, IMHO. Well, I mean, anything's possible. You can have a wadded up gold chain that doesn't "lock on", etc...

Anyhow, my advice in the post #10 above was strictly for discerning crown caps vs conductive targets.

 

[lookindown]

If you circle a crown top while your swinging, the numbers will jump from the 50s to the 80s...When you circle a coin, the numbers wont change...thats if there is no other trash around the targets...I can call a bottle cap 9 out of 10 times using this method...trash will have a jumping number too, but crown tops jump the worst.

 

[KJ&nugget]

I just sprung for the smaller 8X5 DD coil. I think this will allow a tighter target area so I can select just the item of concern rather then the bigger area with other metal. I have also found that turning down the sensitivity from the factory preset of 7 down to 5 there is much less racket. I'm not sure i lost any depth with this. I have begun to wonder if its actually going deeper now.

Maybe my confidence is greater when the sound is good and stable?

 

[gleaner1]

At first you hate crown caps. Then you get used to 'em. Eventually you depend on 'em.

 

[liftloop]

"What"

the At pro's audio tune iron roll over can't tell the differences
what a joke
for garret too make such a statement