Are they just a little deeper?

[RAEntp 3]

Been doing the old parks around town and even the State Fair Grounds but I'm just not finding the older coins... My theory is the older coins have had time to sink in a little deeper and maybe my Lil' Silver uMax just isn't quite reaching them.... course there is the age old idea that a "new machine" could be the answer to all the things I'm not finding....

I am finding pennies that are no longer legible and never will be, I'm thinking they have been there a long time, and I've found numerous late 60's dimes and quarters, so I believe I'm in the right areas...

I've heard mention of "cherry picking" which I assume is near max Discrimination as my machine still hits Quarters and dimes at this setting and misses most junk but still hits many pennies as well. I wouldn't think there would be any way to cherry pick silver coins over clad, but I am still learning.

Now I have been using my Silver for months with hundreds and hundreds of target holes under my belt and from all I've read I think I have it set up to make the most of it's abilities..

I run the Disc just above foil so I am less likely to miss some small gold items (and I dig a ton of tabs)

The Sensitivity at or above 10, though I think it might reduce battery life so I don't usually run it at max boost, and my swing speed is adjustable depending on amount of trash, slowing down in trashy areas.

I am getting to where I can call my targets pretty well.

I am using the stock coil and have a 12x10" Widescan which I don't use because I have to reduce Sensitivity quite a bit and the darn thing is heavy....

So my question is... could I expect any significant increase in depth by upgrading to a Vaquero or possibly a Tejon I am happy with Tesoro and feel no need for TID or any other bells and whistles , just maybe a couple inches more depth

[fredmason 1,135]

Worn out pennies or totally correded zinc/copper pennies? I have detected for many years and never seen a completely worn out copper penny...

How bad is the mineralization? A good test is to run a strong magnet through the loose soil. If it becomes covered in iron it is bad to very bad...if there is just a light dusting then it is not so bad in that regard.

As I recall the silver sabre has a stock 8 inch round coil...a bigger coil might help. More likely a manual ground balance is needed to get better depth...or a much better machine??? More preformance=more money...sometimes.

I find silver coins from the surface to deep at a park that I have detected with many different detectors...as have hundreds of other people. If the areas you are working have been remodeled the coins may have been hauled away with the dirt...or if they filled in areas the coins are too deep for most vlf detectors...just guessing.

Turn the sensitivity up to 7 or 8 and higher if you are working lawns or grass...Sweep speed is up to you but overlap the coil coverage and listen for the faintest of signals or breaks..and always wear some type of headphone.

fred

[Au Seeker 3,185]

How deep on average are you finding coins, and what is the deepest you have found coins?

The answer to the above question will help you decide if you should upgrade to a better detector.

[RAEntp 3]

Colorado has pretty high mineral areas but in the parks I can easily run my Sensitivity up around 10 and stay quiet, I am going to upgrade my headphones though when I get signals they are normally loud, and I do listen for those softer tones but never really hear any coming in much softer or ever hard to hear.... hmmm

I have pulled dimes out next to pull-tabs at 5-6" and screw caps at more than eight. Usually(in the parks) when I get up past 8-9" and the hit is still in the hole I just fill it in... guessing it's a big something iron or aluminum, dug a chew can lid at 12" and 4 vienna sausage can lids up to that depth the tones were too smooth to risk not digging.

Deepest quarter probably 7" maybe 8"

Dimes 6" at best

Nickel 6" maybe

Pennies down to 7"

Pull-tabs/pop-tops 6" easy

Brass 1/4" Ferrell 5" easy

Was hopeful a Vaquero might go 10-11"

Shell casings up to 6"

small round lead weights 4" or so

[Rimshot 181]

The Silver uMax is a good detector. I'm running it's little brother the Compadre. Hunting very trashey place too. So far maybe a couple pennies but I haven't used it much. Tesoro makes great detectors. I have plenty faith in it. I noticed today if I have my discrim maxed out it don't pick up silver near as good as discrim iron or all metal. Many have said that silver has a more rounded sound to it then say a copper penny. Copper on mine makes a sharp sound. Next time you go out to the fairgrounds, bury a silver dime 6"-8" deep and see if you can hear it in all metal. Then turn your discrim all the way up and see if you hear it. If you don't hear it, start backing it off until you hear it.

Also here are all the post on findmall pertaining to the Silver UMax. Maybe you can find some post about finding for silver. GL!

http://www.findmall.com/search.php?17,search=Silver+uMax,author=,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=30,match_forum=ALL,match_threads=0

You have found a lot of coins, really kind of surprized no silver. I don't believe it's because they are deeper. Just my 2 cents worth.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Rimshot

[Hoser John 1,240]

Too much disc and sensitivity. Simply take a silver dime with you and bury 2-3" and slowly turn up that disc and it slowly disappears. Turn disc back down to a solid double hit both directions. Same with a GOOD 14kt ring ,as 10-12kt junk has more filler mixed in and easier to find. The 14kt will set ya up to easily find the cheaper gold alloys. Bigger coil is always a ez answer and headphones are alwys mandatory. Cal rad stereo with dual ear volume controls works just fine whites,tesoro sell'm through dealers. Lotza luck-John

[Relichunter2 129]

You mentioned the Tejon, I have one and find it to be a great coin/relic machine. Its all knobs ...the GB is manual so in California dirt I am frequently adjusting the GB. I have also found this detector a bit edgy...it would go off on wet grass and at times just do it's own thing....after a few minutes it would go back to smooth operation. The other thing like about it is it has a disc. mode and an alternate disc. mode which you activate with a toggle switch..so you can disc. out the iron and use the alternate disc. operated by toggle to disc. out pull tabs....and just go for the silver. One day I put on the small tesoro 5 " round coil and was surprised how well it picked out the smallest of targets such as my sons copper bb's...air tested it to 5 inches! Overall a great machine in the right hands...with a widescan coil it would go deep.

[Rimshot 181]

To add to John's post, If your detector came with the stock coil, that is the one it was tune too. You have no ground balance and this would be affected if you use the larger coil. You could send it in to Tesoro with the larger coil to have it tuned or you could do it yourself. There is one pot on the silver umax. It is the ground pot. I believe it's a 180 ohm pot, so a tiny movement means a lot. Counter clockwise is negative and clockwise is positive. The object is to pump the coil over ground and adjust as needed. You want to hear a slight single beep when going up and no beep when going down.

The little blue thingy in the pic is the pot. Tiny screw driver will do just fine but be careful not to touch any metal. A plastic screw driver would be better.

[fredmason 1,135]

Relichunter...sounds like you need to send your Tejon back-it should not drift or false on wet grass, or ever.

RAE- you may not be pinpointing correctly. Many times a coin on edge will mislead you and you dig past the coin-then it falls in from the edge-then you think it was really deep;notso. However, a deep good signal should be dug, because, it could be a half-dollar or silver dollar or anice piece of jewelry....

The more descrimination the less depth...always!

fred

[LipCa 357]

I thought you wanted to hear a slight noise going down and nothing going up when ground balancing?

[homefire 2,581]

I refuse to use Discrimination. A Flat coin with a VLF will give you a Wank Sound. A Coin on Edge will give you a Double Blip sound some what like a Peace of wire but faster.

[Rimshot 181]

Well Lipca evidently there are several versions of the procedure running around on the internet. So I stand corrected.

This procedure is the correct one I believe. It's written by Tabdog on the findmall website.

The Silver remains in the Disc. mode, so the first
paragraph dosen't mean much. On the Silver uMax
just set the Disc. to the minimum. On others, read
the first paragraph.

To Power Balance a metal detector, you should make sure the GB control controls the Disc. mode. This is true of most Tesoro's, for example, except the Lobo SuperTRAQ, Cortés and DeLeón. Next, you should set the Discriminate level for the lowest setting possible. If you have a true, Threshold-based All Metal mode, make sure you set a proper slight audio Threshold in All Metal before proceeding. Turn the detector on and set it for the highest Sensitivity level you can that is stabile.

Next, when in the Discriminate mode, and with the search coil held about 8" above the ground (metal-free of course), bob the coil towards and away from the ground rather quickly, lowering to about ½"-1" and then back up to about 6"-8". If you hear an audible 'Beep' on the UP-lift of the coil (away from the ground) that alerts you to the fact that the GB setting is too negative for ideal performance.

If the detector remains silent as you lower and then raise the coil, you know the GB setting is not too negative. What you don't know, however, is if it is TOO positive. If it is quiet during the bobbing procedure, do this:

SLOWLY decrease the manual GB while you're bobbing the search coil. When you start to hear an audible 'Beep' on the UP-lift of the coil .. STOP!

Now you're ready to adjust the detector for a "just right" GB setting in the Discriminate mode .... you're ready to Power Balance the unit.

So, if you have an audible beep on the up-lift of the coil, you know the GB setting is negative. What you need to do now is very slowly increase the GB control while you quickly bob the search coil toward-and-away from the ground (6" or 8" down to ½"-1"), listening for when you to get to a setting where you just eliminate the false 'Beep' on the up-lift of the coil.

Once you have done that youll have a very "proper" or "just balance" GB setting for the Discriminate mode's operation.

[homefire 2,581]

Is Tab Dog still around? Not hear anything from him in a long time.

[Rimshot 181]

I have no clue Home....but Monte is there...both are pretty smart fellows.

[RAEntp 3]

Very nice thank you for the GB info, will keep it in mind as the electronics don't

intimidate me, just didn't know what that Pot did or how it was supposed to be

properly adjusted....... great to know!

Given all that I have learned from the forums where where I have posted this

question there was one major factor I had failed to take into account....

The Coil types.... given that I have the Epsilon style on my Silver I think I should

be looking at the outlaw as opposed to the Vaq or Tejon, then the two coils I

have and the new one with the Outlaw are all interchangeable, so I'll see if

I can order it with the 5.75" and I'll have the 3 basic coils and a little more

depth potential as well as Manual GB......

[Hoser John 1,240]

Detectors are complicated like women as they take quite a bit of work to learn their quirks,lots of patience and diligence and then you trade'm in for a newer shinier model that works better. John

[fredmason 1,135]

THEY MAY WORK BETTER...JOHN...no guarantees!!!

fred

[mineralcreekmike 1]

In my experience coins do not "sink" deeper. Leaves, grass, and dirt will accumulate over them over time which eventually makes them deeper, but they don't sink. I have the same problem in finding silver coins anymore. I have a 1986 Whites 6000 DI Pro with an 8" loop which certainly does not go as deep as the new computerized detectors, but still does good. I have never found a silver coin buried deeper than 4 inches. Most of them I find are shallower than deeper. I believe that most parks are just worked out. Where you find silver coins now means the area just hasn't been worked that much. I am talking about the Southern Oregon area. Some places the silver may indeed be deeper. There is a park here in Southern Oregon called Lithia Park that I hunted in the early 1980s with excellent results. I found lots of silver within 2" of the surface and not any deeper. After an absence of over 30 years I came back to try it again and could not find even one silver coin after trying several times. Talking with detectorists in the park I found out even with their top of the line detectors they were not finding anymore silver either. The only things they were finding at deeper depths were relics, nails, bolts, and tin cans. They were complaining of not finding anymore silver too. In my opinion.........you have to go to where the silver still is.........mineralcreekmike

[Joe Z 25]

I just picked up a Vaquero two days ago and got out today with the grandson for the first time with it..... very impressed with that Tesoro Product. The other model tesoro's may be even better, not sure but the grandson was sure smiling as we got about $3 in various coins which he's putting in his piggy bank to buy a mansion for us all to live in.

How nice to be young like that

Edited December 20, 2014 by Joe Z