Hot Rocks??

BenVa68

Hero Member
Mar 9, 2018
504
1,731
Hopewell va.
Detector(s) used
Technetics T2+ Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I keep digging these black rocks that show up in the low 80s. They are really light and almost look like charcoal. They are Everywhere on the side of a hill where I've found 32 Civil War bullets so far. Are they hot rocks?
 

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Is there any coal in Virginia ? (I'm kidding)

This might be one possibility.

Clinkers

1. The incombustible residue, fused into an irregular lump, that remains after the combustion of coal.
 

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Honestly they do look similer to coal. It almost feels like charcoal, really light. but there's no black residue when you hold it. The area was a union port near Petersburg with thousands of union soldiers there during the Civil war. Grants headquarters for about a year. Ive heard people on here mention "Hot rocks" but I don't think that's what these are. They show up just like bullets on my MD. And because of the amount of bullets we found within a small area and no Confederate bullets anywhere around we are starting to think this may have been either a range or firing squad location.
 

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I find those all along the old railroad track civil war searching in VA too. They are not "hot rocks" like you will find in the more central parts of VA. I find those frequently as close as Farmville and they look just like rocks. What you have pictured is what is often called slag from coal fired trains. I have a Garret and can discriminate it out easily with that but it is much more sensitive to my Tesoro Cibola producing chatter. Good Luck and congrats on a good spot producing so many bullets.
 

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Thanks a lot, I will try to adjust my discrimination and see I'd I can notch them out. It's everywhere at this spot.
 

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Well if you're doing good with recovering bullets and the rocks are showing up as a bullet, how can you discriminate them out without also blanking the bullet signals?
 

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No i could not discriminate them. They aren't exactly the same signal but really close. Today I tried to pay closer attention to what they showed up as but because they were reading so similar I was afraid not to dig them. And the bullets are already at the depth limits of my MD. So they aren't always a strong signal to begin with. I dug 2 bullets and 10 chunks of coal slag today. Also a 1950 silver Roosevelt and a few other coins and things at another location. Won't be long until I get the T2 plus though then I'll go back over the area where I found all the bullets. 32 so far.
 

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I don’t think it’s exactly coal . It is Coke. Coke is detectable. It is processed coal to remove impurities used in industries for melting steel and iron. Makes an Intense heat when burned.
 

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