First Hunt. First Find. First Gripe!

[Gary in Pennsylvania]

WOW! Sorry for such a belated post.......but it's here nonetheless.

I FINALLY got out with my new metal detector this past Friday - a whole TWO weeks after getting it!

I was out for barely an hour before I had to call it quits - with great frustration (and lesson learned!)
So I trekked the trail to the site. Bright sunny BEAUTIFUL day! My nine-year-old expert helper daughter with me.
Minelab X-Terra 705 set to Prog#1 (Coin & Treasure Mode), Sensitivity about 18, headphones on, volume MAX, 3kHz coil.

Once set up, I figured I'd do a few practice sweep just to get re-acclimated with the feel. I got only 3-4 sweeps in and a sweet high tone interrupted the background hum in the headphone. Dummy me, I forgot the display number.
So I got my dirt recovery cloths and began recovery.

So......it's official. My very first find EVER is a 1987 Roosevelt Dime at just under 3 inches.
WOOOOO HOOOOO!

It took me only 3 sweeps to hit?!?! I was hoping it was a sign of what's to come.



Well, my next two finds were a flattened Coors can and a pulltab, respectively.
Sigh.....At least those were the odds I was prepared for (or worse!)


Then it all went downhill from there.
The location is a nice grassy area next to a rail line that dates well back into the 1800's.
For the next 45 minutes.....I saw/heard MORE than plenty of targets on the display. If the Minelab had arms.....it would have EASILY smacked me upside the head!

90+ percent of the non-discriminated targets showed/sung a 38, 40, or 42. I did get a solid 8 as well. But I couldn't recover ANY of them.


WHY

Newbie error.

I got a free KellyCo composite spade/digger with the Minelab purchase and the VERY rocky ground (underneath the grass) reeled it's head back and LAUGHED OUT LOAD at the puny plastic digger I was wielding! I was freekin' BENDING the inferior plastic blade! I couldn't get any depth!

I failed to purchase a bona-fide MD digger thinking that the freebie spade would be good enough. Silly me. Lesson Learned.
I will be purchasing a Lesche Ground Shark shortly!

----------


I will comment on one thing I absolutely LOVE about the Minelab.......I LOVE the 'Threashhold Hum' feature! Because even in the absence of good targets, the detector still gives me easily recognizable signs that it's working hard by delivering "rejection target blanking' to the earphones. I REALLY like that - it really opens my eyes as to how much JUNK (or at least intentionally rejected items) were in the ground!

All in all......it wasn't a bad hunt. I learned some things. And there's NO WAY that there are THAT many goodies in the ground (all the good tones I heard)...so that means I definitely need to get more familiar with when the Minelab is tellin' the truth and crying wolf! Or maybe I'm just not trained to hear what's the good target and which is the bad.
Once I get a good, strong digger.....I'll recover all. That's probably the BEST way to learn.


In the meantime........I have a beautifully dirty (I still didn't clean it off yet) 1987 Dime. And I'm proud of it!
The Coors can and tab came home with me for recycling.


-

 

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[lastleg]

Congrats Gary,

You have finally started your detectoring career. If you had thought to bring
along duct tape you could have used hardwood sticks to reinforce your Kellyco
digger. I'm somewhat surprised they didn't include instructions about that even
though they are designed with soft sand in mind. Looking forward to more finds.

lastleg

 

[deepskyal]

You should get yourself a little picture frame and frame them first finds...including the pulltab.

Years from now you can look and recall your very first find.

WTG.....

Al

 

[Swartzie]

Newbie error.

I got a free KellyCo composite spade/digger with the Minelab purchase and the VERY rocky ground (underneath the grass) reeled it's head back and LAUGHED OUT LOAD at the puny plastic digger I was wielding! I was freekin' BENDING the inferior plastic blade! I couldn't get any depth!

I failed to purchase a bona-fide MD digger thinking that the freebie spade would be good enough. Silly me. Lesson Learned.
I will be purchasing a Lesche Ground Shark shortly!

-

A flathead screwdriver works wonders in rocky areas. That plus plenty of patience. I carry a #2 flathead screwdriver.

 

[Monty]

I have had my first Minelab for about 3 months now and just now beginning to figure it out. It puts out about ten times more noise than any other detector I have used. But at first it was just annoyiing noise and I thought I would never work through it. But now I have figured out that all that noise means something and that something is beginning to register for me. Now I go out with it and am alerted to hear just that right tone among the others and it works great. I found that with the Minelab you have to hear the bad targets to sort out the good ones. And as for that digger....throw it very far away and do get that decent digger. I always try to bargain away all the freebies for one good item I will use when I buy from Kellyco and I am a five peater! Not knocking Kellyco, just saying there is no need for having five of those flimsy diggers when you would rather trade the whole lot for a different coil! Monty

 

[johnnycat]

Listen closely to the pitch of the sound for any breaks in it. Also try using using the prospect mode to size the target before you dig. The length of the pitch will help you decide how big the item is . Good Luck. I use AM with 99 tones and can call a pulltab probably 90% of the time. But, sometimes you just gotta dig. That 3KHz is a silver coin killer.