6 Inch Coil Hunts And Results

[Tiftaaft]

As I mentioned in the below thread, I received my 6 inch coil yesterday and couldn't wait to take it through the paces:

Today, during a lunch break from work, I headed out to a local old and pounded park I have hunted countless hours with countless machines.  I have been amazed the life my Equinox brought back into this park.  My early year success is outlined here:

So, with an hour to hunt, my E600 in hand, loaded with the 6 inch coil and original firmware (I am still testing old vs. new firmware using my E600 with original and E800 with new firmware), I set out.  I was running Park 1, 50 tone, Sensitivity 22 (pretty stable), Recovery 3 (6 on 800) and IB 1 (2 on 800) and walked into the area of the park I have hunted hardest to see if this rig could uncover anything I missed with all my other machines, including the E600 and E800 using stock coils. 

My first target was a series of bouncy tones across about 4" of ground.  As I narrowed my swings, concentrating on the different tones, I was able to hear one solid mid tone that was 11-12 ID, but a couple of high tones that were more scratchy and not repeatable an inch or two away in two directions.  I pinpointed and it was evident that I had 2, maybe 3 targets there.  I chose to circle the mid-tone first.  While the depth meter on the 600 with old firmware isn't exact, the modulation on the pinpoint told me it was in the 4"-5" range.  So I dug.  I was expecting a pull tab, or beaver tail.  Both notorious for bouncing into the 12-13 range in my ground, but also occasionally giving off 11's and 14's.  My intent was to clear the trash, so I could better hone in on the higher tones sitting near this target.

A little over 4" down:

I think it is a 1935... our ground is hard on nickels.  Only my 3rd Buffalo since I started detecting and my previous two were no-dates. 

I refilled my hole, stood up and swept the coil over the area again... the high tones were still there, and equally as iffy as before, giving me numbers in the 21 to 26 range, and on every other pass or so.  But they pinpointed pretty tight.. I estimated 5"-6" based on the pinpoint tone on both.  A little ground excavating later and out popped:

Looks like a 40's and a 50's wheatie. 

I have a little cleaning to do on all three of these coins, and they aren't ground breaking by numismatic standards, but I am thrilled.  And here is why:

• Three old coins that by all rights, should have been found previously, but weren't.
• I have a suspicion that the closeness of these coins would have given larger coils, even with fast recovery like the Equinox, troubles.  So the 6 inch coil came through in my opinion (I would bet that I was getting some type of blended tone previously... like a 15 or 16 on the Equinox as an example, which I chose not to dig thinking it was trash).
• In my soil, with the settings I was using, I think I was at the limit of detecting depth with these Wheaties... about 6".  So that is really good information for me.  Not that depth is everything, because I was able to separate between these three targets at depth.  Had I been thinking more scientifically, I would have tried to clean up the tones by dropping the recovery down to 2 (4 on the 800), or boosting the sensitivity up to 24 or 25.  Or I would have walked back to my car and grabbed the 800 with the stock 11" and documented what these targets read, and why I hadn't investigated them before.  Heat of the hunt and a lesche in my hand got the better of me.
• All three of these targets were dead center in my plug.  Which is somewhat expected when the coil itself is only 6", but just verification that the coil with this rig was pinpointing accurately.

 Hopefully more results and finds to follow.

HEH (Happy Equinox Hunting) to all,

~Tim.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Great report - thanks Tim!

[Tometusns]

Nice job Tim!! I really like the six inch but still use the stock a lot too. I think they compliment each other very well. 

[Tiftaaft]

Installment #2 to my hunts and review thread for the 6" coil. 

Back out at the pounded park today at lunch.  about 45 minutes hunt time, bookended by the V Nickel within my first few targets, and the Merc on the last target before turning off the machine.  I give the credit for both these finds to the 6" coil. 

The V Nickel was about 5" around some roots and around the 11-12 tone I received, were some other mid conductor trash (can slaw, a pop top, and some deeper iron that I left in the ground).  But in between all those competing tones, the 6" coil narrowed in on a quieter but solid nickel tone.  This is my second V and the ground is really hard on nickels in my area, but at least I can make out the date on this one.  1907.

The merc was only a few inches down, and no doubt I (and others) have been over the top of this coin many times.  It was surrounded by all kinds of iron tones... a few pieces I dug out were a few rusted nails, and a two wire fence nails, the ones that are "u" shaped to capture the fence against a wooden post.  But between all those grunting iron tones, a solid 25-26-27 tone kept ringing through.  1916 Mercury dime.  (And my 2nd Quest for Silver completed... about a week after it started :)). 

I am really learning to love this coil.

I was running the E600 with original firmware in Park 1/50 tones/sensitivity 20/recovery 2 (4 on the 800) and IB 0.  And I was making an effort to swing slower than I normally do (though this was probably faster than others... I have a bad habit of swinging too fast).  

Tim.

 

[Jackpine]

Did you check the back of that Merc for a mint mark? ??

[Tiftaaft]

2 hours ago, Jackpine said:

Did you check the back of that Merc for a mint mark? ??

Jack, I did... sadly, it is a no mint 1916...  not a Denver :/. 

[NCtoad]

On 10/15/2018 at 10:12 PM, Tiftaaft said:

Installment #2 to my hunts and review thread for the 6" coil. 

Back out at the pounded park today at lunch.  about 45 minutes hunt time, bookended by the V Nickel within my first few targets, and the Merc on the last target before turning off the machine.  I give the credit for both these finds to the 6" coil. 

The V Nickel was about 5" around some roots and around the 11-12 tone I received, were some other mid conductor trash (can slaw, a pop top, and some deeper iron that I left in the ground).  But in between all those competing tones, the 6" coil narrowed in on a quieter but solid nickel tone.  This is my second V and the ground is really hard on nickels in my area, but at least I can make out the date on this one.  1907.

The merc was only a few inches down, and no doubt I (and others) have been over the top of this coin many times.  It was surrounded by all kinds of iron tones... a few pieces I dug out were a few rusted nails, and a two wire fence nails, the ones that are "u" shaped to capture the fence against a wooden post.  But between all those grunting iron tones, a solid 25-26-27 tone kept ringing through.  1916 Mercury dime.  (And my 2nd Quest for Silver completed... about a week after it started :)). 

I am really learning to love this coil.

I was running the E600 with original firmware in Park 1/50 tones/sensitivity 20/recovery 2 (4 on the 800) and IB 0.  And I was making an effort to swing slower than I normally do (though this was probably faster than others... I have a bad habit of swinging too fast).  

Tim.

 

I'm curious as to why you're not running the highest recovery speed.  On my 800 I hardly ever go below 5 and am usually at 6 or 7 in my trashy parks.  

[Tiftaaft]

5 hours ago, NCtoad said:

I'm curious as to why you're not running the highest recovery speed.  On my 800 I hardly ever go below 5 and am usually at 6 or 7 in my trashy parks.  

Good question NCT.  I usually do run the 600 at max recovery.  I normally run my 800 at 6 or 7.  On this day, I was wanting to see if a lower recovery would clean up some iffy deeper targets.  Based on the co located iron and trash targets I found, the higher recovery would probably have been better.  Tim

[GB_Amateur]

Well done for just a 45 minute hunt.

On 10/15/2018 at 10:12 PM, Tiftaaft said:

The V Nickel was about 5" around some roots and (at) 11-12 tone...

Interesting that it hit mostly 11-12, not the 12-13 of typical US nickel 5 cent piece.  I wonder if the TID was pulled down by the surrounding trash you mention.  Those who despise lone beavertails (not I) wouldn't have even dug it.  ?

 

[Tiftaaft]

5 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Well done for just a 45 minute hunt.

Interesting that it hit mostly 11-12, not the 12-13 of typical US nickel 5 cent piece.  I wonder if the TID was pulled down by the surrounding trash you mention.  Those who despise lone beavertails (not I) wouldn't have even dug it.  ?

 

I found that interesting as well.  It was giving me enough "12's" to keep my interest, but it never did give me a 13.  The tone was soft, but tight, if that makes sense.  I have a nice collection of detached beaver tails.. those and pencil tops give me nice nickel id's... but I don't mind digging them knowing there are Nickels, and possibly yellow lurking below .  I agree, it very well could have been a blended id based on the other lower conductors around it.