Wow..should i feel discouraged??

[spears085]

Ok, my friend that i have been going MD'ing with here in VA has been slaughtering me on my first 2 trips out. Needeless to say he has been doing htis hobby on and off for about 12 years, and he still uses that 12 year old detector. To make a long story short, ive went out close to battlefields twice and both times he ends up finding bullets and stuff while i get nothing but junk. I have an ACE 250 and even when i put the mode on relics all im finding is nails and other trash. Today he found 3 civil war bullets and a breastplate in roughly 30 minutes time...mean while i had some nails in my pocket After he pulled the bullets i ran them under my detector just to make note what it would sound like if i hit one. Needless to say i stayed there for close to 2 hours after he left with trash to show for it. This site has just had the top layer of soil peeled off so its good diggin right now and its VERY close to the battle of kernstown here in VA. I feel so discouraged right now but i know i shouldnt. Seriously, the only tones i was getting from my detector was iron...and every time it was a nail etc. I wanna go back and hit it again tomorrow but i feel so down on myself right now i dont know if its worth the time. Any suggestions?

 

[rcasi44]

You said you now know what a bullet sounds like now and you didn't hear that sound. Therefore, it seems to me that your coil never passed over a bullet. The only person who should be discouraged is me because I'm in Illinois and I don't have any battlefields to hunt. I don't use a 250, I use a MXT, but from all I've heard it's a good detector.

 

[poptop]

That 12 year old detector also has someone with 12 years experience behind it, so don't get discouraged. The more you use your detector, the better you will get and the more you will find. You know there are good things there, so try, try, and try again. I have a 30 year old detector that I think would run circles around a 250, mainly because I know the detector and what it is saying. Yours will come. Now get out there!!
pop

 

[Korban]

im finding that experience and and knowledge are more important than the detector.

 

[roadrunner_426]

One of my machines is a 250..best detector I've ever seen for finding deep nails..I've also got an old White's Coinmaster I use for Civil War relics...best detector I've ever seen for sniffing out bullets , grapeshot, and the occasional cannonball..one idea , maybe your buddy would consider swapping detectors for a day ; see if it makes any difference . Roadrunner_426

 

[Cherry Picker]

A couple weeks ago I went hunting with a friend. He has been hunting for awhile but this was the first time we both hunted together. His story was a lot like yours that he hunted with a friend that always found good stuff and he found junk.

One of the first things I noticed was he was all over the place. In the time it took me to search my half of the front yard he searched his half, the side and in the back. I knew he had missed plenty because I was finding stuff and he wasn't.

Knowing your detector is only half of a successful hunter you also need to know where to hunt and how to cover it.

Slow down!!! It hard when hunting with buddies but its so important to properly cover the area.

The only thing worse than being skunked by a fellow hunter is having a fellow hunter find something good in the area you just hunted.

 

[~Alan~]

As others have said, it's not the detector. You'd probably feel as frustrated using any machine.
The first time I went out detecting, I ended up with a pocketful of nails, just give it time.

The Ace is probably one of the easier machines to learn how to use, but you won?t do it in five minutes. Just go slow, keep low, and don?t try to cover too much ground.

Good luck

 

[TonyinCT]

Don't feel discouraged at all. Patience is the key to successful treasure hunting. It's, in my opinion , a combination of many things that determine whether or not you'll be successful. Listen to those who have already posted here. They give some good advice.

Since you didn't mention the detector type or brand we don't know what its really capable of. All detectors' output are governed by FCC regulations so that the signals emitted will not interfere with other electronic devices. It's the adjustments you can make to your detector or the lack thereof that may determine your success. Also , just because its old doesn't mean it's no good anymore. It may be outdated but may still be able to produce in certain areas. You Ace 250 has many features but is limited in its abilities. You are looking for some serious artifacts if you're Cival War relic hunting and the Ace just may not be the detector for it where you're hunting. That's why we have gold detectors , coin detectors , relic detectors , and beach detectors.
Take your time and go with the other guy agian. When he gets a signal , ask him to tell you and then you check it with your detector and see what you get.
Good LUck !!!

 

[spears085]

thanks for the heads up...im def gonna stick with it. By the way, the other guy has a old Garrett detector cant remember what model. The odd part of it is...i move much slower than he does, swing slower and i try to be orderly in the ground that i cover(try to go in straight lines across the bulldozed lot and then come back parallel to the line i just hit) He basically just starts walking around, sometimes in circles just zigzagging around the field lol. Would you suggest putting the detector on All-Metal or Relics? As for the sensitivity i have it set on all but 2 bars lit up...too much or not enough? I appreciate the advice from everyone as im sure you were at this point one day long ago. :P

 

[TonyinCT]

The older Garrett's were a faster sweep speed units so I'm not surprised he was moving it faster. Go for as much sensativity aas you can and still have the detector stable.
As far as the wandering around goes ; that's what I call the LA DE DA effect As silly as it is , it usually produces something good. It can also be used to find a hot spot.

 

[TonyinCT]

OK Epi ; go ahead beat me up about my LA DE DA effect but I'm tellin you , if you're not finding anything you may want to try it. I've found many a hot spot using it
I usually search diligently but sometimes you just have to go for it and that's how I , and a few a my compadres do it.

 

[Cherry Picker]

Now I've got to agree with Tony I used the "LA DE DA effect" with some pretty good success of my own.

If I'm methodically searching with no luck I will shift in to a wondering mode until I hit a hot spot then slow down again.

 

[spears085]

haha the " La De Da " effect definitely describes his style...but its effective to say the least for some reason. He was finding the stuff around 5-8 inches...somewhere in that range. I have some interesting insight on why im not finding anything. Turns out the friend that i keep describing ended up speaking to a guy yesterday who apparently detected that place up and down when it was still a regular field and had not been dozed yet. Apparently the guy found 9 belt plates among other things !!! Where my friend found the bullets and breast plate is where some structure stood at one time, which is prob why those few items were there among the trash left behind. So I guess that explains everything...now i dont feel quite so bad Im headiung somewhere else tomorrow to hopefully find some goodies, thanks for the words of encouragement..