Metal Detecting Finds New Fans in Down Economy

Metal Detecting Finds New Fans in Down Economy - by Carlos Correa

Good little news report on the 417 Relic Hunters in Missouri. Short video and report, well worth checking out.

and then we have the bad side:

Warning over Metal Detector Crime - from the BBC

Dry few Months

Boy, these past few months have been dry for good finds, I guess the theme should be "picking clad."

At least I can afford the batteries !!!

925 SIlver with the Ace250

Out and about at the lake park today. Truck thermometer was reading a steady 79.

Pretty uneventful day, I almost did not dig the ring as it was a broken signal, almost like I had found another aluminum screw top.

Large Cent and the Ace250

Even a pig finds a truffle every now and then.

She was on her edge, pinpointing was a pain, then I nicked her on the backside digging the plug.

Picking Clad

Out for a bit this morning picking clad, the flag is a pin, copper coated with something shiny. The flag rang up in the same range as a penny.

Total take today: 9 pennies, 1 dime, 3 quarters, flag pin

Pinpointing tone with the Ace250

Something I have noticed lately with my Ace250, when pinpointing, the tone either drops off slowly or very abruptly when moving off the center of the target.

When the tone drops off abruptly, begin by looking right on top of the surface or just under the grass instead of digging a plug.

I have picked dozens of coins at the lake like that this year, scratch the surface and pick up the clad, saves on the digging time.

Aluminum screw tops also seem to produce this effect.

Record Temps with the Ace250

Hit a ball park late Friday and my lake park Saturday morning, record highs, just a beautiful day.

The ballpark is new so all I expected was clad, the lake park however is driving me nuts. This area should be producing silver, all of my research shows this to be a poplar spot in the 40's and 50's. Photographs showing cars parked, people gathering, but I am not finding silver.

One thing I am finding is my Ace250 is very limited in this soil, 3" is the maximum depth for any coins, and the coins at that depth are all modern clad.

Sunday at the lake with an Ace250

They finally opened my favorite lake park. Got out for a couple of hours, nothing exciting.

The glasses and the earing were "I spy's" while wandering the shore.

The "HB" pendant was gold plated and appears to be bronze or brass underneath. It rang up on the Ace250 as a penny.

Rainy Day Blues the Ace250 awaits

Raining all day, so no metal detecting. But I did come up with a tumbler to play with, so instead of metal detecting we are cleaning this years finds.

Weekend with the Ace250

Out picking clad this weekend, amazing how much change is just laying around on the ground. The money clip was a nice find, it was in some deep grass and as luck would have it, no cash in the clip ...............

Todays take: 16 pennies, 8 dimes, 7 quarters, an empty money clip and one old / new dog tag.

Out for a bit today with the Ace250

Got out to the lake park for a bit today, amazing how many coins I am still picking off the top of the ground. I will post a photograph tomorrow of everything I found today.

Home Improvement with the Ace250

Not much swing time this weekend, home improvements kind of dominated the theme.

We are in the process of removing the popcorn texture off the ceilings, getting rid of that 80's look ....................... as you can see from the photo's it isn't exactly a nice clean job. Not a hard job, but when the wife asks why there is dust all over the house, just tell her "its a construction zone, baby"
I did hit a ball park of a couple of hours tonight, quarters were the theme today.

Total take: 5 quarters, 3 dimes, 5 pennies

Ace250 and a Sniper Coil

Back to the same park as was in yesterday. The only difference is today I had the sniper coil on the Ace250.

I worked a couple of high trash picnic table areas and the sniper coil performed flawlessly. I did not cover near the ground as yesterday, but I picked a bunch of clad I missed yesterday with the stock coil.

Sniper coils are nice, but one has to realize they need to work very slowly as these areas are still high in trash and you are covering a much smaller area.

Total take: 16 pennies, 2 dimes

Pinpointing with Garrett Ace250

Amazing really, you can read reviews all over the internet and find all the information you want on how well the Ace250 works in the field, see the finds people are making, hear the old timers brag about how this machine is a coin magnet. You buy the Ace250, hit the field, hear those bell tones, pinpoint and start digging only to find nothing, re-pinpoint and end up digging a 6" hole and spend 15 minutes to find a penny. Frustrating ....................

Frustrating to the point of buying a pinpointer to help find that target.

The first thing you need to know about the Ace250 is that the SWEET SPOT on the stock coil for the Ace250 is probably NOT in the center of your coil.

How do you pinpoint with the Ace250 ?

1. Look at your stock coil. It has what appears to be a larger coil around a smaller "inner" coil.

2. The sweet spot on my coil is at the TOP of the inner coil, not in the center of the coil as I had assumed when I purchased the detector.

3. To pinpoint a target, hold your pinpoint button down and make an "X" pattern over your target and attempt to find the center. A quick note here about pinpointing: move your coil off the target and inch or two before hitting the pinpoint button.

4. Now while still holding the pinpoint button down and centered over your target, slowly begin to pull the coil across the ground and back towards you.

5. When your signal begins to fade, STOP, your target should be right at the top of the "inner" coil.

Give this technique a try with a coin on top of the ground and practice pinpointing before your next hunt. This pinpointing technique works very well for me.

One other thing I have found is if your target is below a couple of inches of dirt, your target may be under or just behind the top of the coil. If I don't locate a target within a minute or so of probing, I re-pinpoint and usually find I am off a bit left or right.