.

Congrats. A MD it on my list of items. Check out "Aquachigger" on youtube. He has lots of good tips and trips metal detecting.
 
At the beach hit low tide ... especially in front of the hotels. You can pickup a few dollars in change easy along with the occasional necklace or such.
 
NCFubar said:
At the beach hit low tide ... especially in front of the hotels. You can pickup a few dollars in change easy along with the occasional necklace or such.
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Or the SC sandbar on Lake Wylie (my wedding band) lol
 
I borrowed one few years ago for a couple hours and man that is an addictive hobby.

Happy hunting cg.
 
Dig every target, even if it doesn’t sound like a good signal. It could be masked by a iron nail close by. Use headphones to listen for deeper signals. Watch out for underground electrical wires that you may think is a root. Always get permission from land owners.
 
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Check out nuggetnoggin on YouTube. It seems like he enjoys the hobby.
 
Man, I've always wanted a metal detector!

I've been thinking more seriously about getting one recently.

I was looking online and found out that the first gold found in the USA was found in NC. I've got a natural stream that runs through my property, and I'd like to find some raw gold in it.

I don't even know if that's possible or not, but it'd be fun to try!
 
My mom has one she has not used much but wanted to try up at our cabin. I expected her to get junk hits because the was an old pig pen and shed where we are. After messing around about 10 min. she comes walking up with a long rod. I had found a lot of rebar when clean up that they used as fence post and thought it was another one.

Nope, it was a 12 ga brake action barrel and receiver. All wood was gone. When back to same spot and found 2 bolt action .22 ! They all look like they were from late '60- '70's. Barrels were all bent- not sure if from running over with tractor or otherwise.

After that all she found was barbwire and rust tin roof
 
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Another interesting hobby, but you don’t find a lot “good” valuable stuff, is magnet fishing. An 400-500lb rare earth magnet on the end of a 75-100ft of nylon rope and dock/pier/bridge and you never know what you’ll pull up. It won’t be gold or silver ... has to be made of a ferrous metal but you will pull up a rod & reel every so often.
 
NCFubar said:
Another interesting hobby, but you don’t find a lot “good” valuable stuff, is magnet fishing. An 400-500lb rare earth magnet on the end of a 75-100ft of nylon rope and dock/pier/bridge and you never know what you’ll pull up. It won’t be gold or silver ... has to be made of a ferrous metal but you will pull up a rod & reel every so often.
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Me and a buddy just started that. Junk so far. But still fun.
 
Old Duncan Anvils.

Wife and I were surveying a house with a large creek/drainage easement down the right line. Was looking for an angle point and locator kept going nuts in one area. Start shoveling - bam, about broke my damn wrist. They were both stacked on top of each other, right beside the property corner. Took a bit to dig up, then had to haul them 300 feet back to the truck.
 
charliesgrave said:
Holy crap.Who buries anvils? I guess they were used as points on the property line?
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Hah, I couldn't figure it out either, but there was other weird stuff going on around that house. They're pretty rounded over on top, but still have plenty of life left in them.

I've found an old Stanley hammer that was dead nuts set as a property corner, flagging on it and everything. I find a pair of Channellocks every 4th or 5th survey I do, to the point that I keep a little bin full of oil that I just toss 'em into when I get home. I clean them up and put them in the work trucks or give them away.

Did a survey out in Union Co that we dubbed the "screwdriver graveyard". There were over 2 dozen screwdrivers stabbed into the ground at the base of a tree. Mostly old Stanleys.

Started digging up stuff near a barbed wire fence and unearthed a pile of cow skulls and old, sealed Budweiser cans (from when you made the holes yourself). Found numerous (as in, large operations) old liquor still remains in Rock Hill and Mineral Springs.

Of course, all of this is just irritating when you're trying to just find an old pipe or rebar.
 
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You'll find a lot more junk than non-junk, and a lot more of the non-junk will be interesting, rather than valuable. But if finding an old tool/coin/minie ball and realizing that yours is the first hand to touch it in over 100 years sounds interesting, then you'll enjoy it.
 

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I can't get out with mine until it gets cooler. The heat this time of year is killer.
 
I've got a White's XLT I've had a few years but haven't done much detecting with it. Sent it to the repair shop in Manassas, VA last year for a tune up prior to carrying it on vacation to Myrtle Beach. My youngest son was interested in it so a few months ago I bought a Whites MX Sport with a Garrett carrot included locally off of Facebook market place. Headed out to the OBX today for vacation. Carrying both with me so my son and I can do some detecting. I really need to invest in a beach scoop. On the negative side White's is closing up shop according to the Whites Facebook group.
 
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premise said:
Hah, I couldn't figure it out either, but there was other weird stuff going on around that house. They're pretty rounded over on top, but still have plenty of life left in them.

I've found an old Stanley hammer that was dead nuts set as a property corner, flagging on it and everything. I find a pair of Channellocks every 4th or 5th survey I do, to the point that I keep a little bin full of oil that I just toss 'em into when I get home. I clean them up and put them in the work trucks or give them away.

Did a survey out in Union Co that we dubbed the "screwdriver graveyard". There were over 2 dozen screwdrivers stabbed into the ground at the base of a tree. Mostly old Stanleys.

Started digging up stuff near a barbed wire fence and unearthed a pile of cow skulls and old, sealed Budweiser cans (from when you made the holes yourself). Found numerous (as in, large operations) old liquor still remains in Rock Hill and Mineral Springs.

Of course, all of this is just irritating when you're trying to just find an old pipe or rebar.
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I have a distant cousin who has been a surveyor around Greenville SC for around 40 years. I bet he has found a giant pile of junk like that.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
 
Maybe you will find some of Black Beards treasure while you are there.
 
Any advice on the best one for $100 or less?
 
Okay double that to $200 ... anything decent there?
 
beamernc said:
Maybe you will find some of Black Beards treasure while you are there.
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Found nothing on the beach but bottle tops and three tent stakes. No Black Beards treasure. Went to church down the road from my home. Found 12 cents in clad coins, a Budweiser can and a couple of pull tops before the battery in my Garrett carrot died. Local store did not have any 9v batteries. There's another church a couple of miles from my house I plan on searching. It was established in 1807. I learned I needed a good metal detecting shovel. Regular yard shovel SUCKS. Ordered a Grave Digger Venom shovel and sidekick off of Kellyco today. Should be in next week. Plan on hitting the church yard once it comes in.
 
GeorgeBush said:
Any advice on the best one for $100 or less?
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Save up. Buy once, cry once. Unless you are lucky $200 will not buy you a decent one. You can find good deals sometimes on used ones. I believe the Garrett Ace400 is considered to be a good beginner. Might can find a used one for good price. I'm still new though so take this with a grain of salt. People love Whites, but they have closed. Any repairs would need to be done through Centreville electronics in Manassas, VA. If you can find a used Whites in good condition for a good price I say get it. From what I have read recently a lot of people of buying the Minelab Equinox 800. To me it's a little pricey at $899.
 
I have a Garrett AT Pro and a White's MXT All Pro. My old Garrett started having issues with the coil, so I sent it back to Garrett and they said I could get a new detector cheaper than fixing the old one, since they gave me credit off of the new one. At the same time, I had put a low ball bid on ebay for the White's which was a demo unit. No one else bid on the White's and I ended up with 2 detectors.

I have used both, but still a novice and can't really tell much of a difference between the 2.
 
Rode over to my mom's again yesterday. Tinkered around a little more. Found a corroded penny, a couple pieces of metal, a bullet (modern) and several old nails. An old pack house use to be where her small barn is now. Many years ago she found a Mercury dime by the front door of the old pack house. When I get some better tools I plan on exploring a little more.
 

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I started swinging a detector when I was a kid back in the 70’s, using an old Relco to help my pop’s locate old buried bottle dumps from the 1800’s. That was about all the Relco was good for. Then, around 1980, pop’s bought a Whites GEB Discriminator (Then sold by Sears), Fantastic machine! Deadly on silver. I was his digger for several years and there ain’t nothing like that glimmer of a silver coin coming out of the ground. Oldest coin found with it was a 1792 half reale which was commonly used here in the US until our own coinage was available. I still have his old Whites hanging in my shop along with his old KaBar that he dug with. Through the years I’ve used Whites, Garrett’s, Tesoro’s, and Minelabs and all are good, some are better for certain uses. Pops last detector was a Garrett 2500 which I still have also. I sent it back to Garrett for an update and they have Outstanding customer service! I have the AT Pro, a Tesoro Tejon for relics, and I still have my old Whites Goldmaster V/Sat for Gold prospecting. Had a Goldbug too, but sold it years ago. I highly recommend Predator tools, been using them for 2 decades with no problems, tough as nails. A pin pointer is worth its weight too, once I got one I don’t know how I ever lived without it all those years. I use the older Garrett model. I’ll try to get some pics up later.
 
MCQUADE said:
I was his digger for several years and there ain’t nothing like that glimmer of a silver coin coming out of the ground.
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True. A silver coin that has been in the ground for years comes out
looking a hundred times better than a new clad coin.
 
Y'all should come over to my place and find all the steel 762 cases flung into the woods for me. I'll even provide the pickup magnet :D
 
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