my first V nickel and lessons learned...

[donkarlos]

So I'm hunting a trashy campfire area and got the discrimination cranked. I know I'll miss clad nickels and gold, etc, but what ya gonna do? So I see a coin on a wash out trail and notice it didn't get a beep. I turn the disc way down until it does and then pick it up. I knew it was old but had to figure it out later. Turns out to be a V nickel, 1899 I think. The worst or best part about it was I spotted it with my naked eye!

 

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[ragu]

I'm just starting out and have been told by others and read to turn descrimination up. I always thought you would miss stuff. I think I'm going to start adhering more to the dig everything, as frustrating as that can be!

 

[donkarlos]

Yeah, I do a little of each depending on the site, my mood, and how much time I have. I'm running a tesoro cibola somewhat super tuned to get depth, as I've hunted the area with a bounty hunter quite a bit already. Sometimes though, an area can be so trashed with not only pull tabs but melted aluminium bits, and I tend to get a little heavy handed on the discrimination. But, the treasure I'm missing won't always be in plain view.

 

[WHADIFIND]

So I'm hunting a trashy campfire area and got the discrimination cranked. I know I'll miss clad nickels and gold, etc, but what ya gonna do? So I see a coin on a wash out trail and notice it didn't get a beep. I turn the disc way down until it does and then pick it up. I knew it was old but had to figure it out later. Turns out to be a V nickel, 1899 I think. The worst or best part about it was I spotted it with my naked eye!

Nice find in any case.

Just curious though, can you give any more info on things like what the ground was like? How mineralized? What machine? What did you have to turn down to to pick up?

Good eye and a great lesson! Remember it.

HH!

 

[donkarlos]

It wasn't mineralized ground really, just a sandy washed out trail going steeply into a pond. I found other coins along the same wash out (clad). I was running a Cibola with the threshold and sensitivity turned up and the discrimination at about 3 or 4:00, which is way above the tab mark. I turned it down to the 5cent mark to get a flat and solid signal - just real quick. However, knowing these coins are 75% copper I may try and replicate the situation. Maybe I hadn't gone over it squarely in the first place. Will check.

 

[Terry Soloman]

The Cibola (my FAVORITE coin hunter), is one of the Best discriminating machines on the market - in my never humble opinion. I supertune it on every hunt, and set my discrimination just below Nickel, so I won't miss gold. If you keep it set just below nickel, and have it supertuned (Sensitivity and Threshold as high as possible in your soil without chattering), you will be amazed at the depth of your finds. High output circuitry is "H.O.T.!"

 

[donkarlos]

Awesome to hear. I love the super tuning. Been pulling some deep coins (mostly pennies) from beach sands. Definitely deeper than I'm used to so I've been rehunting old sites successfully. Can't wait for the gold

 

[BuckleBoy]

The only way to not miss anything is to dig it all. I keep my disc just above the iron range, and I dig it all...even tiny bits of aluminum foil. But, then again, I'm hunting in sites where I am apt to find pewter and tombac buttons. If you're coinshooting and searching for gold jewelry, you'd be safe to keep your disc a little higher (just under nickel), but what about that one dollar gold piece? Or that gold charm or earring? The only way to know what your detector can and can't do is to dig as much as you can. It's why I don't use a meter at all. IMO meters exist just to help tell you when Not to dig...and I've dug great targets that didn't read like anything diggable. I've dug Civil War bullets that whispered at me like an iron nail, and large cents out from under cast iron cooking pot chunks that made them sound like crap. I got a half dime this spring that was deep and on edge and sounded like a piece of buckshot, and a Confederate button that sounded like tin foil that was up against a nail.

Dig it up, or leave it for the next guy. All detectorists are different, but I like to sleep at night, rather than wonder what I missed.

Best Wishes and Happy Hunting,


Buck

 

[Mzjavert]

Nice find. Just shows it pays to keep your eyes open.

 

[MrSchulz]

I got a 1944 D Wheatie the other day on the surface at a street tear - out. Didn't even have to dig for it or swing the coil over it! Nice find! Still looking to get some more old nickels.

 

[donkarlos]

Yeah,, this is basically my oldest coin now. Big, red and ugly

 

[donkarlos]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice - it worked for me today

 

[jewelerguy]

cool find. hope you haven't passed over too much gold with the disc turned up that high

 

[donkarlos]

Yeah, anyways I just heard that its actually illegal to discriminate now