Remember to dig the iron

ScottG

Greenie
Dec 12, 2012
18
30
Virginia
Detector(s) used
1266, at pro, cz5
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Found 4 confederate 12 pounders and a nice broad blade. image.jpgimage.jpg
 

Upvote 14
I get tired of digging hoe heads and cooking pot pieces though :) Those are some great finds you made!
 

Any kind of story to go with it? Nice finds are they recent? They will look great in a display.:thumbsup:
 

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big iron definitely has a different sound quality to it, great job of listening to your machine!
 

Awesome,thanks for sharing!!!

HH John
 

Heck I know the picture is poor, but someone should say Banner! Nice finds man, i know how hard it is to find one shell these days on land, not to mention a grouping. Nice finds.

Dan
 

Hey, I have a question. I used to dig iron signals with my Tracker IV, but since I've gotten the AT Pro I've pretty much ignored them. Since you also have an AT Pro, I have to ask: when you read the VDI for those, is the number consistent or jumpy? Jumpy numbers I've found to be mostly garbage - shredded or crumpled metal. Garbage that had a consistent number was something dense or solid, like a new beer can. But I haven't paid much attention to iron signals lately.
 

I am lucky to have permission on land between Shiloh and Corinth, MS. I have one rule,.....dig all signals, even the slight wisper or faint change in tone.
 

What a great find. I can't stand to not dig every signal, unless it's been a long day and I'm tired, so now I'm wondering what I've missed besides bottle caps and can slaw. I dig big Iron, and have the horse shoes to prove it, but never anything to match your knife.
 

Cool finds. Thanks for sharing!
 

Iron can be funny with the AT. Fragments read right at 32 and give a good sound I know what it is before it dig it most of the time. There is always the exception just like my partner dug what he thought was going to be trash and ended up being an eagle button face it gave a terrible sound he just decided to dig it, even 2 inches from the machine it was flaking all over the place. The cannonballs read 52 we actually dug them up when digging a footing and they were in the materials that were 5 foot down so I know there are more there just need to figure how to read them. The blade was only 2 inches in the ground and I could tell it was big iron and I just thought I had better see what it was I have left those readings before, you just never know but it was so big of a reading I just had to see what it was and it was in a confederate camp that had been hunted for a while. You know the old saying even a blind squirrel will get lucky but I digress. Digging everything can be very frustrating and take a lot of time that being said digging what you know is a good signal will up your good find to digging ratio but you leave some relics in the ground. I can tell you the difference in a button and a shotgun shell by the tone and I am right about 90percent of the time but I cannot bring myself the leave a signal like that. Small with foil cannot leave it. So bottom line go through a spot dig your really good readings then decide if the site itself warrants spending the time to dig everything. Good luck hope this helps Scott
 

Iron can be funny with the AT. Fragments read right at 32 and give a good sound I know what it is before it dig it most of the time. There is always the exception just like my partner dug what he thought was going to be trash and ended up being an eagle button face it gave a terrible sound he just decided to dig it, even 2 inches from the machine it was flaking all over the place. The cannonballs read 52 we actually dug them up when digging a footing and they were in the materials that were 5 foot down so I know there are more there just need to figure how to read them. The blade was only 2 inches in the ground and I could tell it was big iron and I just thought I had better see what it was I have left those readings before, you just never know but it was so big of a reading I just had to see what it was and it was in a confederate camp that had been hunted for a while. You know the old saying even a blind squirrel will get lucky but I digress. Digging everything can be very frustrating and take a lot of time that being said digging what you know is a good signal will up your good find to digging ratio but you leave some relics in the ground. I can tell you the difference in a button and a shotgun shell by the tone and I am right about 90percent of the time but I cannot bring myself the leave a signal like that. Small with foil cannot leave it. So bottom line go through a spot dig your really good readings then decide if the site itself warrants spending the time to dig everything. Good luck hope this helps Scott

It does, thanks :)
 

Dig the iron. That's easy for you to say. Have you ever hunted a Union cavalry encampment where they reshod 25000 horses? The trees are literally decorated with dug horse shoes. But I did manage to find a Burnside carbine reciever in pretty good shape.
 

Actually I have and I have hung a many of horseshoes in the trees. I also dug a beautiful bit with the rosettes on it and the bit chain while digging those shoes. I hung it with shovel just pulling the leaves back but today even the iron is fun to dig because it harder to find those spots that you can ignore the iron. Have fun.
 

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