Civil War Relics (bullets) And Nails

[FatherFigure]

Anyone hunt in Central VA for Civil War Relics? If so, what numbers do most CW bullets ring as? Also, what do Square nails come up as? 

[Ringtail]

This YouTube video should be helpful. These are air tests and VDI numbers in the ground will vary but should be in the ballpark. As others have noted, if your VDI numbers jump around wildly you may need to lower your sensitivity and do a long press noise cancel. Also, in our highly mineralized VA soil you should ground balance manually and do it frequently.

I relic hunt in Northern Va, PM me if you want to hit a site and learn our Manticores together.

Good luck!

Ringtail

[FatherFigure]

I am in Central VA where the soil is NOTHING like Northern VA. Not mineralized at all! I will watch this video and see what some of the numbers are. I am going from a Whites MXT to Manticore... I have a report that says the bullets and nails ring in the same area... I havnt received my unit to test it yet. I am hoping THEY DO NOT. I know it is a lot to get used to, but until I get my unit, trying to learn as much as I can to be ready when it gets here!

[GB_Amateur]

Welcome to the forum!  Sounds like you're experienced with the MXT and ready to learn the Manticore.  (I also don't have mine yet so my opinions below are based upon what I've read -- including the manual -- and videos watched.)

First off the Manticore has a 2-dimensional VDI system.  So you need to put yourself in that mindset -- not the same as typical VDI readouts.  Ferromagnetic 'targets' (e.g. nails) will often have both Ferrous and Conductive response.  Non-ferromagnetic targets (e.g. lead bullets) will have only a Conductive response.  That is, if the ground mineralization and or nearby ferrous trash don't interfere.

So, assuming the bullets are the same size, depending upon orientation (and again assuming ground and nearby ferrous aren't also responding) they should display a tight, fairly consistent VDI spot on the centerline of the 2-d screen and depending upon your tone settings, give a positive tone.  Assuming you have some already in your collection a quick air test when you get your unit should get you off on the right foot as to about where they will hit.

Nails, though....  Their conductive VDI is going to vary (likely quite a bit) depending on size, shape (e.g. bent), and depth even without nearby targets.  So keying on VDI (or discriminating out certain VDI's) probably isn't of much use, and likely detrimental.  This is where the ferrous limits enter.  I suggest reading the manual (go here and select 'downloads' followed by 'user guides' to get it) for accurate details, but basically by choosing or setting the ferrous limits based upon some test targets you'll get some decent discrimination.  You can hear a grunt or render those silent, depending upon the Horseshoe toggle setting.

If this sounds simple, the devil is in the details.  Ground mineralization and nearby targets can lead to less than ideal VDI even with these modern multifrequency detectors.  And square nails can fool even the most experienced user.  There is no foolproof indicator AFAIK.  So you still will likely dig some nails but the plan (hope?) is that the easy ones to ID can be left in the ground and your good/bad ratio is improved over dig-it-all.