How To Tell The Difference Between Gold Rings And Trash???

[Jeff McClendon]

Bhogg,

you have asked a good question and the answers have been really awesome!!!!

NCtoad mentioned something that I have found to be almost always true. All of the ring sized gold jewelry that I have found except one ring have had a solid target ID that was a single number, no jumping around with a good solid tone too. These were all found in the 2" to 6" depth range in very mineralized soil. One gold ring I found had a platinum area on it and that number jumped around a bit. Deeper than that or a recent surface drop may give different audio responses and IDs. I have never found a square tab or modern pull tab that had only one number unless it was really deep (past 6"). Usually they are 11-12, 12-13 or 13-14 where I hunt. Lots of ring sized can slaw hits a solid 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 however = bummer!  

mn90403 also gave you some great information concerning beach quarters and spills. Check those areas carefully. 

I don't get to beach hunt very often so most of my hunts are in public parks where I just can't dig everything since I can't use any kind of shovel and I can't possibly dig all of the trash so I have to use my ears and what's left of my brain to help discriminate. I know I'm missing targets but hopefully I'll get them next time..........

Jeff

[Tom Slick]

The simple answer is to LOOK at the targets after recovery, then its pretty easy to tell the difference between gold and trash. Sounds sarcastic but it's really the only sure fire way. 

[mn90403]

Bhogg,

I was thinking of this thread during this hunt:

Mitchel

[Gerry in Idaho]

Some great tips by a few followers who actually find gold rings.

My style of hunting with the NOX for gold rings varies.  If beach hunting, I pretty much dig all non ferrous signals and don't worry about the pull tabs I do recover.  But I do 1 thing to make sure my time on the beach is not in the heavy tab zone.  I feel most beaches have the majority of kids toys, modern change, foil and tabs near the waters edge.  I prefer to hunt farther away from the bank and into the water deeper than most kids go.  Yes I do dig less targets out farther, but the % of rings seems to go up.  I also listen for clear repeatable round ring size targets using my ears, as others have mentioned.

When hunting gold rings in grass, I only go for clean round signals #7 to #19 and I turn my SENS down.  If my pin-pointer does not hear it, I walk on.  This allows for faster recovery of surface targets that only read in the majority of gold ring range.  Yes tabs will fall in this range as well, but at least I'm not digging clad.  Realize a few gold rings will read below #7 and even less of them (really large rings) read #20 and above, but those are easy to spot in the grass by anyone walking by.

Bottom line is if you never want to miss a gold ring with the NOX, then dig all positive #'s...but I don't have that much time.

I'll play the odds for the sites I hunt and use the tricks I've learned.  I find my share of rings and still dig many tabs too, but probably not as many as most other hunters.

[dewcon4414]

Heres a good video on some gold VDIs.   I dont agree with his bottle caps.... most of mine are 15....... also Class rings or larger can hit in the 23 range.   Note those pulls tabs that come in at 14.... and the bottle caps..... then look at the nickels.   Pretty well agrees with a post i did on why dig nickels and disc out pull tabs and bottle caps in the water.   Also...... good point about reducing sensitivity for dry sand hunting if you are looking for recent drops and want to cover more of the beach with less digging.  If i were going to disc..... it would be anything ABOVE a penny if you are gold hunting.   People have a tendency to stop dead in their tracks to dig any HIGH tone.  Coins can add up at the end of the year......... but perhaps you might have found a couple more gold rings with diamonds had you not wasted time digging those pennies.

https://md-hunter.com/minelab-equinox-800-600-vdi-numbers-gold-chain-jewelry/?fbclid=IwAR1mOyzUg-NY1ylsHsR6QIpu3qhGkKxZiIpE9ASnshpsRa2GTg0U1yIo02k

[alaskaseeker]

That is one of The Horns of a Dilemma, I would say if you are not digging trash rings are being left behind...Rings come in different sizes and shapes,  some small gold rings often are nothing more then squeaks, the hunter that is curious is finding....Be patient and listen carefully...

 

[BeachHunter]

I have found the secret to this problem...

Send me $100 cash in an unmarked envelope and in return I will give you the secret.

This is how you make the big bucks MDing. Lol!

[Dan(NM)]

The only way to tell is  dig the target.

[Badger-NH]

I can tell the difference between a gold ring and a pull tab just by looking at them. 

[Xergix]

It is not you who finds the gold, but it is he who finds you!
Most of the time I found a gold target it was a surprise, I never thought that that target would be gold, the last ring I found was giving out vdi 25, 15.2 gr 750k !
The ear is the only way to distinguish a good target from the trash.