Metal Detectors

[jungleboy]

Anyone here have experience with these things? I am considering getting one. I thought it might be an interesting hobby to get into.

[SonnyJ]

Holy shamolie..lol

I was thinking the same thing..

I drive by lots of old homesteads and stuff and wonder if I could find some old coins there..

[Big Red 250]

check out www.gpex.ca and www.forumtreasurenet.com some good reading on both sites to do with metal detectors, gold panning.
gpex click on community for the forum.

[Big Red 250]

Here is another site I have in my favorites. www.canadianmetaldetecting.com

[jungleboy]

thanks for the info :)

[chain2]

one of my passtimes, dirt fishing is what i fondly call it. The most important thing is a good set of headphones and like everything ...practice. What would you most like to find? Relics ,gold, silver, waterproof, underwater ect...Some units specialize better than others. Most all detecters are digital now and can go 8 -10 inches with factory coils. There are many things that you will learn along the way but some of the guys Ive met have been very helpful. yes, The forums are good to make contacts and great source to review machines. just ask I may be able to help you out somehow. go here locals.....
http://members3.boardhost.com/amdf2/

Sonnyj. coins are my thing too. I couldnt careless about the beach I scout the old books looking for info. Train stops, old bridges, sawmills ,ol homsteads and schools. best hunt I had was a rural creamery that burnt down. twas jus a meadow and carigannas...weedwacker half hour and hunt for two hours repeat, 3 fishscales and a barber dime..
oh baby, whens this white load gonna melt?
Happy Huntin chain

[Rocks]

Just bought a Fisher F5 a month ago (mail order from Cabelas), looking forward to doing some hunting with it this year.

[ceedub]

I use a Fisher 3-D, old coins are my thing too. I even made a trip across the pond to Colchester England and dug up some pretty cool stuff! It's getting harder to find good spots and more guys are into this hobby than you think but if you do the right research you should make some good finds.

Happy hunting.
Craig

[jungleboy]

Thanks guys , I am looking at the Garret 250 ,it seems to get pretty good reviews.
As far as what I want to search out , I don't know but my thinking was I come across old abandoned cabbins while quading etc and it would be interesting to snoop around them for old coins etc . Also , who wouldn't love to find gold or anything of value :)

[caver77]

You might want to think about it first, before purchasing a machine. Where will this hobby take me, who will it help me meet, what kind of cool memories will be produced, can it possibly become an additction, and take over my life? An then sit back and decide if it's for you. I should thought about the last two first :) I will never be the same, once addicted there's no going back to the old normal. It can be hard for some people. Your making me feel like going out even today, that's how bad it can be. Feel free to pm me or keep on posting to know more. I have found a little bit of everything except for caches. Gold meteorite,rings,coins(except ancient) have been some of myfinds, on land, underwater, it never has to stop. At the moment I have seven machines, ranging from my first ancient radio shack one to several thousand dollar Minelabs. I could do it every day. One must be carful in old SK the commie lawmakers have made it almost illegal(depending on who is interpreting) to just go potting around on public land as all places might have "historical significance" and you can be prosecuted for disturbing them. Take care and hope you get into, and enjoy the hobby.

[honda450]

You might want to think about it first, before purchasing a machine. Where will this hobby take me, who will it help me meet, what kind of cool memories will be produced, can it possibly become an additction, and take over my life? An then sit back and decide if it's for you. I should thought about the last two first :) I will never be the same, once addicted there's no going back to the old normal. It can be hard for some people. Your making me feel like going out even today, that's how bad it can be. Feel free to pm me or keep on posting to know more. I have found a little bit of everything except for caches. Gold meteorite,rings,coins(except ancient) have been some of myfinds, on land, underwater, it never has to stop. At the moment I have seven machines, ranging from my first ancient radio shack one to several thousand dollar Minelabs. I could do it every day. One must be carful in old SK the commie lawmakers have made it almost illegal(depending on who is interpreting) to just go potting around on public land as all places might have "historical significance" and you can be prosecuted for disturbing them. Take care and hope you get into, and enjoy the hobby.

I have a buddy just like you. He is addicted to it. Finds lots of nice stuff too. He found a NWMP brass button, I thought was pretty cool. Lots of silver very old coins too.

Have fun. :)

[chain2]

I love my Garretts great coin machines, went to whites mxt for two weekends sold it and back to the GTI 1500. Treasure can be found anywhere but most the coinage here is 100 years or less. We are a young area when compared to either coast or lower 48. You must love to hunt cause more days are dirt but some are diamond. Fill your plugs and get permission and enjoy this sickness. Oh get a probe too!
cd
England would be awsome, what was the oldest date coin you dug? Way more history there forsure.
I remember as a boy seeing those analog detecters advertized in Outdoor Life in the 70's, so Im pretty sure we've all over hunted the obvious places for years.
carver
wise words . Its all consuming and focus. Hey how many people have walked up behind you and scared to crap outa ya? The nieghbors rode their horses right up behind me while I was diggin. Headphones on, touque over top I stood and about had heart failure. They said they saw me wandering around my field and where worried about me! "I was quite fine till you showed up"LOL
HH chain

[ceedub]

Chain,
My oldest coin dug in England was an 1179 Hammered silver penny. I was lucky enough to dig a 1344 hammered gold noble as well, very exciting! It's a very addicting hobby for sure, I use Garrett's as well as my CZ3-D, but the Fisher is my go to machine. Back here in Alberta my buddy and I measure our successes on how many fishscales we dig.....at the moment I sit at 34. I'm also a water hunter but the competition is getting very tough.

Craig

[Rocks]

Chain,
My oldest coin dug in England was an 1179 Hammered silver penny. I was lucky enough to dig a 1344 hammered gold noble as well, very exciting! It's a very addicting hobby for sure, I use Garrett's as well as my CZ3-D, but the Fisher is my go to machine. Back here in Alberta my buddy and I measure our successes on how many fishscales we dig.....at the moment I sit at 34. I'm also a water hunter but the competition is getting very tough.

Craig

Cool finds. What's a fishscale?

[coorslight]

weighs fish?

[KegRiver]

I own a Garrett Ace 250, I haven't used it a lot, but what I little I have, I've been very happy with it.
The unit cost me $250.00. I've used it mostly for finding spent brass in the woods behind our house. (Bear control refuse). It worked great for that.

Some years ago I lost the cap for my 22 magnum's clip. I was working for the county at the time so I borrowed their metal detector to try to find it.
The unit was a Schonstedt, model, GA-72Cd. They told me it cost about $1200.00. I would say they got more then their moneys worth.
I had no problem finding the clip cover even though I had dropped it in tall grass, 2 to three feet tall, and only had a general idea where it might be.
My search area was about 200 square feet of overgrown wild meadow.

[ceedub]

Cool finds. What's a fishscale?

Most people in the hobby of metal detecting call the little canadian nickels minted from the mid 1800's until 1921 "fishscales" because they were so small and shiny. They were also made from sterling silver so generally come out of the ground looking like the day they were lost. They are approx. half the size of a dime. A 1921 fishscale is rare and the "holy grail" of metal detector enthusiasts, usually selling for several thousand dollars.

Craig

[jungleboy]

Well I took the plunge and ordered a Tesoro Silver Umax.. can't wait to get it and go out there and find all that long lost treasure.:sHa_shakeshout:

[chain2]

LOL good for you! start at a school yard and perfect your pinpointing. Or go to the snow stock piles for top work and as I mentioned before use headphones. Also do a test plot if you have the space to get the sounds down pat. Older buried coins have a larger "halo" than fresh planted coins. Gold comes in the same as alot of "junk" so be prepared to dig if thats your thing. Trashy areas hold the best treasures but slow is the key and sweep from several different angles. the coil sends a wider signal closer to it which get less in diamater the deeper it goes, Think inverted witches hat above and below the coil.. This is one of the reasons to overlap if you want the deep signals. you will get good at pinpointing and dig very small plugs, yes your gonna have fun and good luck chain.....think melt too.

[roger]

those guys on discovery channel 'meteorite hunters' chase the crap out of 'strewnfeilds' (areas that contains exploded metoers)
its a real interesting show...if you compare it too drying paint, there homemade detectors are 6' in diameter.
so if your in a place that shouldnt have melted metal or metal imbedded with rocks in it dont pass it off as junk. it could be quite valuable
in the last show they were in sweden and they said that metal detectors are illegal there.:confused:

[Rocks]

Most people in the hobby of metal detecting call the little canadian nickels minted from the mid 1800's until 1921 "fishscales" because they were so small and shiny. They were also made from sterling silver so generally come out of the ground looking like the day they were lost. They are approx. half the size of a dime. A 1921 fishscale is rare and the "holy grail" of metal detector enthusiasts, usually selling for several thousand dollars.

Craig

Nice. Looking forward to trying this out. Where I grew up there was a bunch of old homesteads that aren't there anymore I'd love to check them out. I'm also going to set aside a couple days late April or early May to check out the Whitecourt crater if anyone is interested.

Congrats jungleboy on your purchase!

[Coldone]

My dad has one and kills hours and hours hiking and messing around. Loves it. Id totally get on it as well... But I have fish to catch ;)

[calgarychef]

Funny I ran across this old post while searching for metal detecting inAlberta. The funny thing is I'm in England and thought I'd try it out before heading back to Alberta sadly I've become hooked! Some cool things I've found, a medieval horse shoe, medieval buckles, a Tudor rose from the 16th. Century, gads of foil and junk, a few hands full of pennies for both world wars from a site that was used by Canadian soldiers. I joined a club and these guys find stuff that would blow your mind, one of our guys was on the front page of treasure hunter magazine...that'll tell you the value of what he found. It's a fun hobby! I've also been mud larking on the Thames river a couple of times and that's a alot of fun too and bes of all it's free, you don't even need a detector to find cool stuff.

Happy hunting

[calgarychef]

Hey, I went it today with the beep beep thingy, I got 10 coins and one is a hammered coin....these can be pretty old. I haven't cleaned it yet though, going to take it to a buddy to get it identified and cleansed properly. I also found some shrapnel, looks to be a rifled cannon or something like that. It's pretty cool as I'm detecting a spot that the Canadian soldiers were billeted in during the war. It's pretty humbling to find coins that have fallen out of the soldiers pockets after all these years. I'm finding a lot from 1943-1945 and I found 4 in one hole so I wonder what the guy was doing sitting in that field to lose the change out of his pocket in one place.....I hope he was sitting there with one of the local lasses!

[jungleboy]

Australian amateur prospector finds massive gold nugget



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21055206

[plinker]

I want to get one for gold exploration. We go to old mine sites across Southern BC and there are so much interesting sites that need to be explored. I'm looking at the Minelab GPX 5000 but it is an expensive unit. Anyone got any ideas on a less expensive but as reliable product?

[calgarychef]

Detectors for gold are kind of a specialised thing, go to metal detecting forum and ask the question.

[stonepoint]

Cool finds. What's a fishscale?

A fishscale is the old Canadian sterling silver five cent piece or ''nickel'' as they are called today. They are smaller in diameter and thinner than dimes. I found about six last year and three so far in 2013. The Garrett ACE 250 is fine for a beginner. Go to old sites and you will find old coins. If you get into the hobby you can get a more advanced machine later. The ACE is not junk, it will find good stuff, but it will not be as deep as a 6-$700.00 machine. A lot of coins are within the 250's reach.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x424/kabarbecker/IMG_5831-001_zps35aac594.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/kabarbecker/media/IMG_5831-001_zps35aac594.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x424/kabarbecker/IMG_5640-1.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/kabarbecker/media/IMG_5640-1.jpg.html)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x424/kabarbecker/IMG_5539.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/kabarbecker/media/IMG_5539.jpg.html)

[omega50]

I know- Likely the cheapest crappiest detector out there- but I saw this at London Drugs yesterday and sparked the idea that owning one might be fun.
I did not buy.

http://www.londondrugs.com/Bounty-Hunter-Metal-Detector---Prospector/L7548951,default,pd.html

[Bigdad013]

I know a spot where someone lost a 7500 dollar ring and never been found. If anyone would like to lend theirs out for a weekend and I find it, there would definitely be a payout coming your way. Would have to be in the off season.

[Fish along]

I have detector at home it's called a prospector , any one know about this kind , I've had it for 10or 15yrs , I never found much with it Mabey because I wasn't looking in the right places.yes I bet England would be a great place to look for old stuff.

[calgarychef]

I was out again today for a "listen" I got a medieval loom weight, musket ball, 4 lead bag seals, and a marble! I obviously saw the marble with my old eyes. A few days ago I got a Victorian silver brooch set withi about 14 little jewels. Pretty nice piece actually but I gave it to the gal who owns the land. I've found some Canadian military buttons lately, those strike pretty close to home and the Canucks were stationed at the spot I detect. Yesterday I got a "Tudor" musket ball, think about that its one of the very first musket balls ever used and as the spot I found it was a hunting lodge for king Henry the viii it could have been from his hunting party.

This detecting is a pretty cool hobby, but be careful because it is indeed addictive.

[william4willow]

I have a Garette 250 Ace that gets used more looking for machinery parts for the neighbours than I use it actually hunting for lost treasures! But it sure opens up the area for hunting privileges. And some of the machine parts are worth lots of real $$$ as well as saved down time looking for replacement parts from dealers who seldom stock what you need but "it will be here by Friday"!

[calgarychef]

Someone pm'd me wondering what gear you should have for a day out with the detector. I have the machine, headphones, pinpointer(essential in my opinion), spade, tool pouch to keep my treasures in and a small plastic container with some foam in it to protect the really Importent stuff....yea the stuff I usually don't get. That about it, you know sun hat, proper boots, knee pads etc. also if you go to the beach a sifter. Also a small plastic gardening trowel and maybe a screwdriver for digging. Remember if you dig in parks etc. make a three sided hole and don't remove the "plug" but flit it back like a can lid. Remove the goodies and always fix up your hole. If I'm going to be digging on a lawn I bring a sheet of plastic to pile the dirt on. By keeping things clean the locals won't get pi££y and boot you out.

Pretty simple stuff, for a fun day out