Meter Readings
 

ID
1) Indian Head pennies ID as zinc on my CZ7A. Therefore, if you are in an old area and get a 3-inch plus depth reading on zinc you better dig.

2) Every time I got a nickel reading, it was a nickel except for one time. At four inches, instead of a nickel I got a nice sterling wrist bracelet (links style) stamped .925. If the meter bounced between nickel and whatever, it was trash. I dug two nails that bounced between coin and zinc, and pinpointed like a coin. I suspected they were iron and wanted to verify it and they were.

3) Deeper targets seem to bounce from their identity, to iron, in mineralized soil.

4) When I get a reading that bounces high and low, I sweep it several times, listening to the tone while looking at the ground to determine the source (pinpoint location) of the signal. You should dig these signals and when you find a few coins, the experience becomes deeply ingrained into your detecting patterns. You will then be able to better judge when and when not to dig these types of signals. Yes, you will dig some nails but I don't mind digging 2-3 nails for a nice older coin, as sometimes my
ratio is as good as 50-50.

5) I have dug some coins, including silver dimes that were at 3" that gave strong signals and although they were shallow, still bounced. For me, the signals were to good to pass up and I sure am glad that I dug them.

6) If you like old nickels, especially "V" nickels (or are in a buffalo hunt) ALWAYS dig the nickel iron bounce, no matter how much higher the iron percentage to nickel you receive. It may not always be a nickel but it won't be iron.
 

7) I like to set the volume at "5" because I know that soft, low volume "high coin" beeps are usually deep coins.

8) I almost never use the "boost". With the wheat penny I heard the very soft high coin beep about 50% of the time, it disappeared at times from one direction, and then the other, and then it just disappeared altogether. I paused for a minute to get my thoughts together, changed the angle a little and tried it again. The audio ID came back, this time a little more than 50% of the time, so I dug it.

9) If you get a deep iron reading and get a good sounding signal at 90-degree angles and when pinpointing, the target stays in one place and does not move when pinpointed, it's likely a good target.

10) A bouncing indication on the meter between two target indications most likely means trash.

11) Pay very close attention to your audio resonance. This is the MAIN key to a good target and makes a good hunter prevail among others.

12) I read you found a war nickel which has about 35% silver in it and it came in as zinc.

13) All "clad" Canadian coins with the exception of cents and some nickels register as square pull-tabs on CZ series machines.
Therefore, in order to get coins (dime thru $2.) you have to dig all square tabs. If you are having this problem, try this: When you get a square tab reading flip the "salt" switch to "salt" and pass the coil back over the target a few times. If the signal remains mid-range and the dial continues to read tab - it is a pull-tab or similar junk. If the meter now reads as a coin and the signal changes to high tone, you have a coin - almost always. I have been using this system on the past dozen or so trips to local
parks and have found it to be better than 90% accurate. Oh, by the way, don't forget to flip the salt switch back to normal before you go on to your next target.

14) Not too long ago someone had written that if you are hunting and get a belltone sound, raise the coil a few inches. If you get a good signal, then dig the target, which could be a coin. If the belltone continues target is probably junk.

15) Can sounds are much larger and you can raise the coil sometimes over a foot off the ground and still hear them as such. Coin sounds are more like a "dot". Deeply buried nails and iron pipes can give you a false coin signal also. Most of the time you will get what I call a "droopy" coin signal, but not a solid sound.  A repeatable coin signal that sounds solid is a coin or something worth digging up for sure! Sometimes you will get a signal only one way, but dig it. I've found many coins that way and most of them were silver.

16) Any targets that are 5" or more will likely ID as iron.Discrimination only goes so deep. Anyone can verify this by an air
check. If you take a nickel and detect it, then tune it out by turning up the discrimination and hold it high above the nickel, you'll still get a return off the nickel. So, it shows that a deep target will do the same in the ground, and will ID most likely as iron.

17) I dig all zinc signals at 4 inches and deeper. Most of my incrusted wheats have come off as zinc signals at 4-6 inches. Also, my first Eagle "A" button came off as a zinc signal. If I am pressed for time, I skip the zincs at 2 inches and above.

18) I always have my CZ6 audio boost turned up to 10 when hunting in "silver country". A silver coin at 4-6 inches sounds a lot different than a silver dime at 1-2 inches with the boost at 10. The audio isn't the same with a deep coin at 7 inches + with the volume set at 10, as it is with a surface coin. Its close but there is a slight difference that says its a deep one.

19) Coins will usually repeat at 90-degree angles.

20) If my meter starts ID'ing at zinc first and then wants to go to coin and back I will usually check it out. But, if it starts with coin and goes to zinc and back, it's usually a different story. I guess there's a risk of losing something if you don't dig it. There's just too many variables involved to say for sure it is this or that. But, when the ground is wet, it doesn't take long to dig the target.

21) If you hunt at 0 discrimination those wheats and a few other coppers can give that low iron buzz.

22) Wheat cents will sometimes jump between zinc and coin here, as have a couple of deep Indian head pennies. I recovered two tokens at an old church site that did the same.

23) Remember, if you are in sand, clay, or front/back yard topsoil, that Civil War button may sound like a nail under certain circumstances. I do know that breastplates, 15 inches deep in sand, sound like coins. Bullets...coin. Gold rings... mid tone. Buttons ... mid tone… pop tops... mid tone. Bullets over 8-9 in. deep...faint, coin/iron mix. The aluminum stuff is a curse all its own.

24) Normally I don't always dig those zinc penny readings, but I decided that I would try to dig a few just to see what I would get. One of the zinc readings on my meter said 4 inches deep so I dug it out and got a 1961 Canadian nickel. And my best find for that day gave me a solid zinc reading at 2 inches and I dug out an aluminum play spoon. I then swept the coil over the hole again and got a good coin reading. To my surprise I dug out a sterling silver 1st lieutenant bar obviously worn by an airforce officer at one time. That aluminum spoon was masking the lieutenant bar! I wonder how many detectors got the same zinc reading and just passed by this same target?

25) I hunted a park near my home today with my CZ6a and the 8" loop. I found 4 rusted bottle caps in a row, all were
between 2 and 3 inches deep, and they all registered a solid nickel reading even on the cross sweep. I was a little surprised thinking that the CZ detectors would read high coin on rusty items.

26) Here's some more items that commonly go off as nickels; The metal part of pencil erasers, .22 cal. bullet casings, bits of lawnmower chopped aluminum cans, some square tabs, and a few more I can't seem to remember now. The main thing to remember is that the CZ's will flat find nickels! Don't be tempted to quit digging those signals because the ratio of actual nickels to junk items is in favor of it being a nickel by a large margin.

27) I would investigate on any nickel reading. While there are quite a few wads of foil where I have been finding silver coins I also got a no-date Buffalo and the 1943P silver war nickel. I have found well over 1000 nickels since this past April. Highest total for one day was 74. So, everyone, "don't be fickle and dig every nickel (signal)".

28) Another item that has been giving me fits lately is large pieces of flattened foil that also register as nickels. I've been digging up lots of the foil in the place where I've been finding a few silver coins, so I guess I'll just continue to dig and clear out a lot of the trash.

29) In a lot of areas, zinc penny readings will be zinc pennies 99% of the time. I pass them up in parks that are brimming with new coins, unless they sound deeper & mellower sounding than surface zinc.

30) The CZ's will give a target alert on any item with good conductivity close to the coil. Coins on the surface will do this too just the same as a pop can.

31) Pay attention to the sounds you get while pinpointing, I find that coins give a mid-tone when pinpointing unless they're very shallow. Also the deep ones may not ID correctly. I make it a point to dig some junk signals to see what's really under there, sometimes you'll get a surprise. If you hit some old stuff dig everything that beeps.

32) The best tip for finding nickels that I can give is to dig every target that id's as one. You will be surprised at the amount of
nickels you will amass. You will no doubt have a bigger bulge on the trash side of your pouch, but, it's a trade off.

33) Every indian head penny I've dug IDed as zinc penny. And don't let lack of depth fool you either, as I've found some of them VERY shallow.

34) You will dig a lot of beer caps. The real bummer is: some will ID as quarter, dig it and it will read "Miller High Life".

35) The metal part on a pencil that holds the eraser will read as nickle. Same with aluminum can shrapnel.

36) While hunting, I got a foil reading at 4 ½ inches. I dug down, piled the dirt next to the hole and swept my coil over the pile. The foil reading now changed to a solid nickel reading on the meter. I knew immediately when I saw the object that I had a silver war nickel.

37) Since first using my CZ6 six years ago, I have probably dug around 50 war nickels with it, and they can read all over the meter. I believe the "halo effect" and soil conditions effect how they come up on the meter.

38) Due to the composition of war nickels, I have seen them register as high as low penny. With supply and demand for metals during this era, I would feel their composition of metals varied considerably. Ground conditions may have something to do with it, but basically the varied composition may be the culprit.

39) Old coins and deep coins may not ID as coins. Dig those deep zinc's and tabs.

40) A very deep coin can ID as coin one way and iron the other. This is the exception and the majority of time they will be junk.

41) After a lot of practice you will know a coin by its sound. I, myself, usually can tell a silver coin from a copper by the different audio.
 
 42) If you don't notch nickels, expect to dig a lot of round pulltabs.

43) When hunting areas that are trashy and the signals bounce a lot and you have already reduced the sensitivity-----try hunting in the "salt mode". It tends to cut down on mis-identifying targets a little better. Finding that fine line between maximum depth and accurate discrimination is what it is all about (that's why they have controls).
 
44) If you hit a site with old coins or relics, dig everything that beeps.

45) CZ's have a quirk and don't ID to and fro as good as left or right so you will have to walk around your target and hit it at right angles.

46) Surely a CZ5 is not a park or sports field unit. Its meter designations are too wide. Usually screwcaps hit in the zinc penny
area. I would advise you to experiment and you will find that screwcaps usually cover a wide area compared to a coins.

47) Put a quarter in the ground at about 2 inches and put a screw cap in the ground at 2 inches, space them about 18 inches apart. Then raise your coil above them. When moving your coil above the screw cap, you will get a signal much higher in the air than the quarter. I found with practice I seldom dig a screw cap.

48) Pay attention to the tones when pinpointing. Most of the time I can tell a screwcap by the very high pitched and very loud tone when pinpointing. Coins will be a softer mid-tone when pinpointing unless they're very shallow. By doing this, you might miss a few shallow coins, but you'll dig a lot less screwcaps.