Over the holidays I got out and did some metal detecting a few times. Okay, more than a few times! Like, 5 times…because, I was determined to find some Christmas silver if it was the last thing I did!
One cold morning bright and early I traveled a few towns over in hopes of finding a silver coin or two in a park. After about an hour of detecting it was pouring down rain, and the temperature was quickly dropping below 30 degrees but I was determined to find a silver coin before I left.
My pouch was quickly filling with junk, and I can’t lie, at one point I was starting to think I was getting wet for no reason when I got a sweet sounding tone on my CTX3030. I was pretty sure it was a dime, and was hoping it was silver…
About 5 inches down I was rewarded for my efforts in the rain, and pulled this silver 1946 Rosie dime! Suddenly I didn’t mind the cold rain as much, I finally had a silver coin in my pouch and I was doing a happy dance inside. It started to rain even harder and since I was satisfied with finding a silver coin I decided to call it a day and head back home for some hot coffee and donuts. With silver in my pocket!
On New Years day I decided to try my luck at a park in a nearby town. I had never detected there so I figured I would take my Minelab CTX3030 with the 11 inch coil and see what I could find. In a back corner of the park I started finding coins from the 1970’s which gave me hope that silver coins could be there too.
My 3rd target in that area I got a sweet sounding high tone, with a 12-44 readout and I started getting excited. Just 4 inches down I found my dime and as soon as I saw it I knew that it was silver. I didn’t really expect to find silver at that park, but hec yeah! I’ll take it!
The rest of the hunt was mostly modern coins and some junk. While I was there I noticed an area that looks really promising for some jewelry and rings…a return trip with the AT Pro is in order next!
Ozarks
Metal Detecting the Ozark Mountains 
So which do you prefer for the parks-the AT Pro or the CTX? And don’t you want to go back and hunt every site again if you only hit it with one of your machines before? I know I would.
Nice coins by the way.
Happy New Year!
Hi DIVA!
I usually use the AT Pro in parks in areas that have metal playground equipment because the smaller coil lets me get closer to metal uprights and helps isolate smaller targets. The ATP has a certain doubling,or warble to the tone on jewelry types of targets that piques my interest when I hear it. So knowing the tones better, and having a smaller coil that lets me get closer to other metal objects like fences, benches, and play ground equip really helps isolate small jewelry items. After that, it is figuring out where the hot spots are at the location you’re hunting.
Yes, I do hunt all of my spots with all of my detectors, and return to hunt previously hunted spots, but,I use them for specific types of hunting usually. Since I have the larger 11 in DD coil on my 3030, I use it for more open areas of the parks, fields and homesites with potential for Silver Coins. I use the 3030 as a silver hunter and coin shooter more often than not. So, when using the 3030… I may leave many of the iffy targets in the ground on my search to cover more area quickly in search of specific coin targets…cherry pickin’ for silvers. Time constraints force me to choose the types of hunts I do at specific locations and what gear I use. I’m sure you know what I mean. 🙂
Thanks! Happy New Year to you as well!