F350Platinum

Nice post Erik! Never had a silver bonanza like that! ? Great photos too, I think those two trees would have called me too. ? Ended your nothing streak with a bang ?

Looks like Badgers' coins come up a bit less toasted than mine, well mostly. Definitely found a lot more of them too. ? If you find coins closer to a farmhouse they will usually be in better shape than the coins plucked from the farm, one of the first chemicals they use is lime. While not an extremely corrosive material, 300 years of farming using it must have some effect. Case in point was a large cent and half cent found near a house on land presumably not farmed, both had readable dates, where coins found in the farmed areas were almost obliterated. Chemicals and soil motion from farming most certainly contribute to that. I have now taken to spraying all my copper and brass finds with water rather than brushing them off. It definitely will save detail. There is no detail on the button below but often this type of Tombac might have had light engraving.

Nice hunt G-hound! ? Running high sensitivity will cause those fairly consistent mid to high tones at the end of a swing. Of course with high sensitivity catching another target on the edge of the coil is also a possibility. With my program if it's not that loud it's probably sensitivity. If it is loud you should look ? Bumping the coil against anything will also do it. I'd say your bullet is .45 caliber, it was hit with a firing pin and discarded. Sad but I've found many brass plates with no engraving or stamp. All in all that's a nice relic hunt, shame you didn't turn up any Civil War stuff but it's probably been detected many times. It's more what I would expect from a Victorian era to present hunt. Cool ring too, look for markings inside the band (I'm sure you know that), but it doesn't look high end, might have been plated. ? Have you looked at Historic Aerials topos to see if any houses were in the farm? They would appear as square dots on the older ones. Might zero you in on better stuff.

I have not used the Deus 1 but I've been using the Deus 2 for a long time now with great success. Because it is everything the Deus 1 is and much more, I would say the Deus 2 is the better choice, but you have to consider your budget and where you want to use it. Perhaps if you provide more information it would help. ? To have all the Deus 2 accessories and coils will cost you well over US $2,000. Each accessory is more expensive than the Deus 1, although some work with the Deus 2. The coils are not interchangeable.

Your buckle is more likely chrome or nickel plated zinc, there's no scale but if it was silver and big it would be heavy. Hit it with some silver polish and if you don't get a lot of black it's not silver. ? That button! Wow! The shank being "broken" leads me to think it was a leather stud. ? very cool find.

If you look up "ID for rocks and minerals" this site is one of the first that comes up. ? Not surprised that they do it, and sometimes the answers from the more 'geologically experienced" are incredible. I always read them. I've had a bit of fun a couple of times myself knowing a person won't come back,? but I have helped some with a genuine interest. They always come back. I come across very few rocks where I live now but as a kid I had an interest in them. ?I think it's pretty cool and a lot better than the spam ?

Great hunt Cap'n, I really like that you retained the IDs on the comparison stuff. ? That ring is a beauty. ? Looks like you're off to a great year! Sure has been for me but relic hunting is almost over. ? Hopefully they'll turn some more good stuff up for next year, but I'll get more permissions anyway. I'm not feeling the strong contrast with what most of y'all talk about with PWM vs Square. I can still hear the scratches in square/full clearly, and get more false digs in PWM. Most of the time I can leave aluminum behind. I'll see how Bobby pins sound on the beach soon! Might be a bias thing like it is on the Equinox. ? Thanks for the pre-game tips. I pretty much dig everything in the 40-60 range, and you're right, the more crisp the sound the better. ? Heck I'll even dig the 30s if they sound good enough.

Gotta say this one freaks me out a bit, was it an exercise in assimilation (digging everything to understand the detectors' discrimination capability), or habit, because with your PI you usually dig it all? ? I like the black sand advantage using gold mode. This feels like a noob question but I thought I'd go for it anyway ? Interesting hunt as usual, definitely more like one would expect from a PI than the new SMF machines. ? I'm glad you always show the "real deal". ?

Above says "Who uses what settings for the legend on the beach?"

Heckuva spot you got there kac, I love hitting a place that hasn't been worked over too badly, or that was worked over very badly ? Some serious silver ya got there, your half Reale looks better than some of the ones I've found. ? ?

Do not tumble copper pennies with clad, best to get a dual tank tumbler. If even one gets in with the clad it can turn them all. ? I've used stainless shot and aquarium gravel, they work about the same but the gravel is cheaper.

Despite living in a very rural place, my bank has a coin counter because of the coin shortage. It has a hopper that they can dump a whole jug of coins in, and they will automatically deposit the funds in your account. All I do is tumble them, they will take the most corroded Zincolns and give you credit for them. Look around for a bank with one! Make sure you go when they're not too busy. There is no charge for this if it is your bank.

Don't mean to steal the 280's or your thunder, but Chase has a similar vest, I stole the idea from him. ?

Excellent thoughtful review, Colonel. ? I have the 280 and keep it on hand as a go bag, but normally now I use a fly fishing vest to keep my on-hand stuff and coils on my back, it has a small backpack as well and pockets everywhere. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08PPB6V37 I cut the front black pockets off with a seam ripper, the pockets behind them hold coin boxes and my cell phone. For 45 bucks it's a steal. ? Completely adjustable too.

Gold, silver, and Satan! Great finds kac. ?

Using Silver Slayer will do that because of the discrimination and notch settings, it allows targets that fall below 00 to come through. There is a negative side to discrimination. I'm probably not giving you the best answer tho. One thing I will write for sure is that you could open up the nickel notch a bit but it may do more harm than good, I've found "V", Buffalo and Shield nickels that fell in at 58 with my program that SS would miss altogether. Just one point lower is all you need. I believe the badge is horse tack that broke off, it has broken prongs on the back and is heavy solid brass, about 3" in diameter. I remember it being a high tone, but set off the detector at more than a foot because it was shallow. I don't publish the settings simply because I wasn't sure of myself initially, the program is kind of wild because it neither notches nor discriminates. It's more "all metal" than any other. Notch is off, and Disc is 00. You will hear absolutely everything except that which definitely is iron, including the false tones iron often generates. The beauty of the program is that the iron that falses above 00 will show itself on a 45-90 degree turn, it will be pushed to a low tone like Silver Slayer. Silver Slayer eliminates the higher tone falsing altogether, or most of it. Again I don't know the science but it works. Only very few iron targets fool it. I tested it in the worst possible scenario recently (Culpeper VA red clay soil) and it acted a bit different there but with the same assimilation result. I was very pleased. For relic hunting you really want to hear everything, and use your hearing and site assimilation to discriminate. I've plucked a 14k gold ring and a hammered 1607 Silver sixpence half because I'm not using any discrimination. Simply put, you know it's good when you hear it. ?

No idea of scale but it could be part of a "lorgnette" or spectacle: It could also be a salt holder handle: Cool and unique find. ?

Another nice hunt in the books for you! You're really doing a service to the beach getting all that junk out of there, and it's nice to get paid in silver ?

I have snapped one bolt so far with the 13", I like to keep the coil tight so it doesn't flop around. Can't seem to do that with the SteveG CF shaft, probably the second washer on the plug side, and possibly because it allows the plug to rotate. Whatever, bolts are cheap. ?

A good showing first time out. ? Silver Slayer is a great program but only if you just want coins and well... Everything else you said you dug. The D2 is really good at hitting hard on deep iron and aluminum/steel cans, lifting the coil on a strong signal helps, if it's still there a foot or more up, it's junk, or 95% probability. I have had a loud signal that I lifted on be this: So it isn't all wine and roses. ? It's the tones that matter and you'll get used to them. I dug that because it sounded good. I use Silver Slayer in 3 scenarios: First, if there's machine gun iron and other junk, and second, if I'm under power lines and can't get stable. Third, I use it for pillage when my time is limited. ?‍☠️ Biggest problem there is you're missing brass and gold for the most part. My highest gold signal was a 79, and I dug a 14k 100+ year old gold ring. My Relic Reaper program is discrimination-free, but you are going to hear everything. If your soil is not mineralized turning 45-90 degrees on iron will make the tone dive low, another technique you'll have to master if you use it. That and lifting will keep trash to a minimum. If it's red dirt or granite soil like Culpeper or New England, well God bless you and good luck, the tones will be first false and then silence, but it worked in Culpeper so I'm good. I'll PM it to you if you want. Like you I'm not a fan of the "Chicken Scratch™" tones, but I walked before I ran. ? I love and almost completely trust the D2.

Thanks Cap'n! We met a couple of YouTubers there, one fella said he got a bunch of bullets and a 1940s silver quarter with his Equinox 800 using gold mode, but they all came from the woods. He said that people would think he's nuts but I say whatever works. ? The other talked to Chase at length about the Axiom, and they looked for some in a large earthwork there that was a backstop for a range. That's way out of my range so I looked elsewhere. ? The "false cut" I wrote about was that you'd get a high tone, and instead of it diving to a low tone it just cut out (cancelled) in another direction. After digging some junk I got used to it. The button was a solid 72 I managed to pick out of some iron around it, kind of a shock to have the 13" do so well but it's not coming off the CF shaft soon! ? The big takeaway from all this is that I get a deeper appreciation of my own area, I'd hate to have to hunt there all the time. ?

Thanks LC, can't imagine getting anywhere without 'em, getting a little Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot, but still plugging away. It will go away when I start beach hunting I hope. I wonder if they make orthopedic shoes for metal detecting... ?

Thanks Colonel! it was a hunch that paid off. Even though we're taught not to "skyline" ourselves, some can't resist being King of the Hill, I guess... ?

Thanks TJ. Chase calls that area the "gold belt", there might well be some in the Hazel River that flows through the farm. I have no idea how you would get in there, but you also might get some CW relics as well. Hope you get a chance! I'm used to hunting my area where there is no gold, and "them thar hills" are maybe 200' max. ? All my terrain is flat for the most part.

You'll find plenty at DIV for sure, if we go to Liberty Hall again the fringe areas and woods are the way to go. ? For a noob I was grateful to get ONE thing ? it didn't seem like there was much overall, and most of it came from the woods. There's still a lot of area we haven't been over there. I was really pleased with my program overall, but it definitely was a different animal there. Undesirable finds were all "false and cut". Wish I had more time to create a better program for red dirt, but I did test the Reaper against Relic, and it went just as deep. ?