3d Dime Rusty Nail Test

[longbow62]

I'd like mention I've read where the 6" and the 10x5 are deep for there size. One of the places I re-hunted with them the coins were shallow to begin with. Like 3" deep. Very shallow for my area. It made no difference. The Barber dime I found with the 11" had it's I.D. pulled down by something near it because it was reading 18-19 in the ground, but the correct I.D. in a clear spot on top of the ground. That's what made me want to try the smaller coils there. Shallow coins plus some obvious trash that I had actually saw affect the I.D. of a good find. What better place to use them. I came up empty for my efforts. No biggie, and believe me I'm not basing my view of the smaller coils just on these last three places I've used them. I'm basing it on my continued bad luck with them trying to find something the 11" missed. 

[mh9162013]

Ok, so I have an Equinox 600, but don't have the 6" or 10x5 coils for it. But I do have the V8 for the Vanquish 340.

When a clad dime was on the same plane as the steel/iron nails on my Modified Monte's Nail Board (and in Coin Position 1), the Vanquish 340 with the V8 performed slightly better than the Equinox 600 with the 11" coil (F2 = 0 and maxed out recovery speed).

But when the clad dime was a few inches below the nails (but still in Coin Position 1), the Equinox 600 with the 11" coil did a bit better than the Vanquish 340 with the V8 (going 1 for 4 while the Vanquish went 0-4).

[mh9162013]

10 minutes ago, longbow62 said:

I'd like mention I've read where the 6" and the 10x5 are deep for there size. One of the places I re-hunted with them the coins were shallow to begin with. Like 3" deep. Very shallow for my area. It made no difference. The Barber dime I found with the 11" had it's I.D. pulled down by something near it because it was reading 18-19 in the ground, but the correct I.D. in a clear spot on top of the ground. That's what made me want to try the smaller coils there. Shallow coins plus some obvious trash that I had actually saw affect the I.D. of a good find. What better place to use them. I came up empty for my efforts. No biggie, and believe me I'm not basing my view of the smaller coils just on these last three places I've used them. I'm basing it on my continued bad luck with them trying to find something the 11" missed. 

Maybe I'm misreading you, but it sounds like my 3 hypotheses could be supported by your observations. Remember, one of my hypotheses says that the higher the high conductor is in relation to the iron, the less of an advantage a small coil will have. And if your coins are that shallow, I think it's fair to assume that many of those shallow coins are above much of the potential trash there. So your 11" coil may have been the ideal coil choice for many of your hunting conditions...or at least no worse than a 6" or 10x5.

Another variable which I haven't gotten into yet is what's potentially masking the high conducting target. MIQ struggles to properly ID large pieces of iron, so I wonder if my 3 hypotheses can be thrown out the window if one replaces the pieces of iron with aluminum pull tabs or foil.

[longbow62]

What I am saying is at the one site the coins happen to be much more shallow than normal. That's where small coils shine if I understand it correctly. Shallow good targets in amongst trash. Small coils didn't help there even though theoretically the trash and the coins were on the same plane.  

Mostly my silver is deep where I hunt mostly 6"+.  You posted:

"If my 3 hypotheses are correct, then that might explain why some people don't see what the big deal is with smaller coils on the Equinox. For example, imagine an old house with silver coins in the yard. But the silver is located 5-9 inches down. But from the surface down to 5 inches, there's nothing but a dense blanket of iron trash. The stock 11" Equinox coil might be more capable of sniffing out the silver coins compared to the 10x5 or 6" coil. Or, it's ability to pick up on those silver coins is at least comparable to the 10x5 or 6". But since you get more coverage and depth with the stock 11" coil, that ends up being the preferred coil."

I agree with the above.

[mh9162013]

12 minutes ago, longbow62 said:

What I am saying is at the one site the coins happen to be much more shallow than normal. That's where small coils shine if I understand it correctly. Shallow good targets in amongst trash. Small coils didn't help there even though theoretically the trash and the coins were on the same plane.  

Here's a question: let's say you have a location (we'll call it Location A) that has silver coins. And the silver coins are on the same plane as older trash (more likely to be iron and less likely to be aluminum). Then above the iron-and-silver-coin layer (and closer to the surface), we have the more modern trash, which is more likely to have a higher percentage of aluminum.

Now we have a different location (Location B) that's exactly like the first one, except the silver coins are situated above the iron trash and amongst the more shallow aluminum trash. 

Which location do you think is better suited for the 11" coil on your Equinox? And which would you think is better suited for your 6" or 10x5 coil? Assume both Locations A and B are very trashy.