Building a "target field"

[Brokenbear]

I'm old and new ..new to metal detecting and new to the forum ..but to learn my new Garrett Aoe 300 I am going to build/create and practice run in my yard .. I have just about every target item I need (metal buttons, Mercury dime, silver quarter, Indian head penny, pull tab, trinket grade ladies ring, small tinfoil wad, 10 penny nail, .69 caliber lead ball ...

Any other targets you all think I should add to learn by ..one thing I want add I do not have is a civil war minnie ball ..got to figure out where to buy one I guess

Bear

 

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[Ocean7]

beer bottle cap, twist off cap, nickel (many rings can register as a nickel. If you discriminate out nickels, you'll miss many rings.) I always carry one in my pocket and check the detector over it before I take off MD'ing.

 

[Tony in SC]

Good idea! It will get more accurate with age. My garden is over 30yrs old. I buried some of my targets at different depths. Ocean is right on, some good items will read in the pulltab range. (Lazy diggers don't find rings!). Now I only wish I had made a map of it

 

[Gare]

On your target field. Put numbered golf tees above each target and push them all the way down/Then take a sheet of paper and put the number on the paper and what is under each number

 

[RTR]

On the coins...Bury them flat,on an angle,and straight up on the edge.Interesting to see the different signals from the same coin

 

[xr7ator]

You will find a lot more stuff if you go and learn by digging everything. Just my opinion.
Test gardens are for testing new machines. Learning is doing.
He who finds the most trash finds the most treasure. Remember that as there is a heck of a lot more trash dropped than treasure.
I don't mind digging a pull tab. I never will after in 1985 a guy rented a machine for the day, went to city park and found one in a plug and once he removed the tab from the plug, found a $5 gold coin a couple inches deeper. The guy that detected the pull tab initially and didn't pick it up to dispose of properly still has no idea that he missed a gold coin by being stupid, lazy or both.
Food for thought.
Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

One trick I found helpful was to bury a dime beside but deeper or even below junk items like a bottle cap, ring pull tab and nail. Just to - #1 see if the detector showed the coin at all, and - #2 learn how coming at them from different angles changes the tone & reading. Some detectors just blank out because of the iron or trash and don't give you a sign it might be a multiple target.

 

[Brokenbear]

Guys I am reading every one of your ideas and suggestions ..many thanks

One question I will find out when the ground thaws but ..is there any meter and/ or sound difference between a clad and a silver dime for example?

Bear