Intentionally Hunting For Big Iron

[Dcraun]

I've been detecting a site that has produced cannonballs and artillery shells in the past. One of the quirky things that I've noticed about the Deus2 is sometimes a big iron object will give you a blip of a high tone sort of like a co-mingled target. That got me wondering if this is something that could be forced and increased. What I would like to do is find some settings that would still give an iron or completely ignore small items like nails but give a mid or high tone for large objects cannonballs, artillery shells, in the horseshoes etc. I haven't tried it yet but I was thinking something along zero discrimination with silencer run up to the max? If anyone else has noticed that high tone that sneaks in on iron please share your settings so I can try to figure this one out.

[F350Platinum]

26 minutes ago, Dcraun said:

I've been detecting a site that has produced cannonballs and artillery shells in the past. One of the quirky things that I've noticed about the Deus2 is sometimes a big iron object will give you a blip of a high tone sort of like a co-mingled target. That got me wondering if this is something that could be forced and increased. What I would like to do is find some settings that would still give an iron or completely ignore small items like nails but give a mid or high tone for large objects cannonballs, artillery shells, in the horseshoes etc. I haven't tried it yet but I was thinking something along zero discrimination with silencer run up to the max? If anyone else has noticed that high tone that sneaks in on iron please share your settings so I can try to figure this one out.

Sent ya what I use, it does give some crazy tones with interesting iron.

Dug those two bits as a result. Notice the bullet too! It's around 50 cal.

Please be careful with artillery shells, I'm pretty sure people still get blown up by them. I know it's happened at least once here in VA. 😳

[brys]

In France the battlefields are loaded with deadly ammo and farmers and hunters get blown up every year 

[CPT_GhostLight]

That's a good point F350 and brys, while it would be so cool to find a civil war canonball, it wouldn't be worth getting maimed or die from it.

[Dcraun]

I’m not to worried about excavating one, most of the ones around here that blow up happen from amateurs trying to disarm them by drilling a hole in them. I’ve also heard of a guy boiling one in wax to preserve it. The water inside it turned to steam and it blew up from the pressure. The last cannon ball I found was a solid one so no concern about it. 

[Ogliuga]

13 hours ago, Dcraun said:

I've been detecting a site that has produced cannonballs and artillery shells in the past. One of the quirky things that I've noticed about the Deus2 is sometimes a big iron object will give you a blip of a high tone sort of like a co-mingled target. That got me wondering if this is something that could be forced and increased. What I would like to do is find some settings that would still give an iron or completely ignore small items like nails but give a mid or high tone for large objects cannonballs, artillery shells, in the horseshoes etc. I haven't tried it yet but I was thinking something along zero discrimination with silencer run up to the max? If anyone else has noticed that high tone that sneaks in on iron please share your settings so I can try to figure this one out.

Take for example Sensitive program: with 6.8 disc you cut out rusty nails. Turn up silencer and ground stabilizer to 2. To completely ignore with no iron tones, lower iron volume to 0. Cannonballs and big pieces of iron  will give high tones..

[Dcraun]

1 hour ago, Ogliuga said:

Take for example Sensitive program: with 6.8 disc you cut out rusty nails. Turn up silencer and ground stabilizer to 2. To completely ignore with no iron tones, lower iron volume to 0. Cannonballs and big pieces of iron  will give high tones..

Thank you that sounds like exactly what I’m trying to do!

[relicmeister]

I’m going to follow this thread with interest as some of my favorite finds of all time are in the big iron range. When I was new to metal detecting I found a 7 lb iron cannonball from the revolutionary war in the area where the iron was mined and a foundry existed. I’m thinking there should be a way to not only tell big iron from nails and small irons and a way to get a hint of the basic shape from the character in of the signal. Certainly the higher tones and how far you can raise the coil and still hear the signal can give you an idea of the size. I tend to use sensitive full tones and general most but wonder which program would be most suited when searching for big iron. This past Saturday was nice enough to get out - my best find was this old padlock which I already added to my old lock wall display ( which is actually quite impressive- holding about 20 old locks mostly 1800s early 1900’s and one from 1700’s.  

[Doc Bach]

From one big iron hunter/digger to another that's a very impressive collection of locks!

[Doc Bach]

17 hours ago, Doc Bach said:

From one big iron hunter/digger to another that's a very impressive collection of locks!

One never gets jaded from digging those killer railroad locks with their amazing patinas.I have had the good fortune through the decades to find my share from the North Western Pacific  and Southern Pacific lines and they never disappoint thanks for sharing those.