Depth of whats under the groung

[49er12]

This is out for opinions from all you experts of the hobby. Some people say you no everything that's worth anything is deeper than the average detector can go. The ground shifts and years of trouncing over it depending the traffic of crossing over it makes it difficult. I myself appreciate the opinion of everyone, everyone has one which is not a good or a bad thing. That's what makes this whole thing interesting I suppose. Im more interested in truth's not myths about things in general. I wouldn't mind getting the so called top of the line MD whites perhaps, gee whiz my whites dfx seems to be performing quit well so its over what 12 years old. I don't want people's hard research secrets, I appreciate how long it takes to do research to determine possible searches, I recently found a 1943 silver quarter behind the fence at a small baseball complex, that's a big find for me considering I search local. Anyway research honestly can take you so far, the rest is trial and error, what's your many years of experience tell you.

 

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[Sandman]

Don't look directly at the Sun. Seriously research takes many forms. You can start out researching one thing and start looking at other data.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I've found seateds and reales that were so shallow that I could hear them with my pinpointer before I even started digging (ie.: only an inch or two). And other times, I've dug zinc pennies a foot deep (on the beach in dry sand, or sterile wet sand "coming in").

I can think of park turf where silver and wheaties *start* at 4". Whereas, at other parks, I won't bother stopping to dig unless the depth meter indicates 7" or more (lest it be a clad).

So it all depends on the type terrain.

 

[foiler]

Your question regarding depth cannot be simply defined. You said as much in your question. There are 3 basic actions that affect an object movement. I'm primarily concerned with a coin or piece of jewelry here. These 3 basic actions occur continuously in addition to other extraneous events that may occur to deepen an item. 1st is specific gravity. Each item mass/weight/size/shape will affect its movement downward into the surrounding earth. At some point the coin and the ground surrounding it will equal and the item will not move on it's own without an extraneous event to cause it to do so. 2nd is surface compiling. That is the addition of soil through vegetation cycles either naturally or from man made treatments such as lawn mowing. The object may meet its specific gravity point at and inch or two under the surface but 50 or 100 years of surface compiling could add several inches on top. 3rd is earth movement. This has to be mentioned because it is a constant that is considered and extraneous event stated above that affects object movement. No matter where you live there are earth tremors just about daily. You may not feel them but they are there. They don't affect you but they do cause objects in the earth to move. An example would be a heavy gold coin lost 100 years ago may move several inches deep if soil conditions are right as a result of constant ground movement. Just something to consider in addition to the obvious events that may move objects in the ground. The number one problem in locating coins and jewelry is not so much depth but masking. Silver coins lost in the 60's have had more than 50 years of junk piled on top of them. Seeing through all that junk is problematic. If you want they good stuff you have to remove the junk. Patience, determination, persistence and research to put me on good sites. That is the key to success I've found in my 50 years at this hobby I still enjoy in my 70's.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Other MDers near me in SE Colorado have found silver at 1-2 inches....and concur that 4-8 is the sweet spot. The dirt is pretty compact here. I am sure there is deep stuff to be found as well, but I sure don't want to dig it.

I have not found my first silver yet...but I am relatively new still. Perhaps I will be forced to dig deeper...time will tell. The amount of 1920-60 coppers and old "stuff" I find encourages me that I am on the right track.

 

[foiler]

I don't think 'deeper' is the correct thinking. It's about being on sites where there is silver. That comes from research. If you are finding coins, regardless of their denomination, in the dates range you stated then your in the right place. Silver coins would not be significantly deeper than the non-silver coins you've found. If your hunting public areas then they have been well hunted and the easy silver coins have most likely been found. What is left are the coins masked by trash. Re-hunt the areas you've found older coins. Go slow, clear out junk and you'll find your silver beneath. It's about patients and persistence.

 

[Loco-Digger]

49er, how deep is your deepest coin find with the DFX?

I use a high end detector and have only pulled 1 coin at 10" using the stock 11" DD coil in wet ground. It was a large silver. The biggest culprit to coins getting real deep is "fill dirt" IMHO. I have pulled wheats and IHPs down to 9". The old coin sweet zone was 5" to 7" at my last permission "front yard". Pulled a total of 38 coins, 26 were keepers. Very seldom do I pull a silver from a school, park, or other public lands. Permissions are the way to go. In my area I use the county atlas dated 1874 online, it shows where each house and building was at the time. I run two monitors, so on the other one I bring up google maps or the County Auditor Map in satellite mode. People have been detecting for decades, you need to get off the beaten path to increase your odds. If you have pulled coins at 8" to 9." deep, your detector will find most buried coins.