Hi everyone, I have recently been doing some metal detecting at my grandparents' c. 1900 farmhouse in West Virginia, and I thought some of you might like to see the results. I wrote a more detailed post over on the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum, if you are interested. Anyways, here's what I found on my first trip to the farm (excluding the junk, of course): #1: 1943 P war nickel - Second silver coin found metal detecting! #2: 1988 Canadian penny - Nothing special, but not expected either. So, not much, and nothing overly impressive, but it's a start. I am getting better at using the detector (Minelab Vanquish 440), at least. The challenge is finding the coins among the seemingly endless amounts of rusty nails. I will make another post here if I have any success on my next trip to the farm (going back in a week or so).
My machine also. Best to detect the day after it rains. You will get better signals. Try slow and low swings.
Yep, luckily the front yard at the farmhouse is very shady and the ground is always a little damp. Perfect digging conditions aside from some occasional large rocks and roots. I like to detect in the early morning before it heats up. I run the sensitivity three clicks below max to cut out some of the deep iron falsing, and coins sound very solid, even if the numbers bounce around. None of the coins I have found have been deeper than about 6-8 inches.