First time out

[ambam]

Greetings.

So, after begging for a metal detector for more than two years from my family, my boyfriend found one at a yard sale and got if for me. Its a Bounty Hunter Outlaw 290. The buttons read: Tuning, volume, all metal/spd/tr/battery, discrimenator.
I took it out back at a friends house and used all metal and middle for everything else, (had to use the speakers since I don't have a 1/2" jack headphone set), and found 30+ screws and nails, two gate hinges, assorted old saw blades and odd metal, a bucket that had been buried in its entiretly more than six inches down(I left it there once I realized what it was and just filled in the hole)-definetly not from the current owners, so its was more than 15 years old at least. The best things I found there werer a 1956 wheat penny and a 1959 nickel. How can I find out if these are worth anything? Should I clean them? Is ok to use water and gentle rubbing with a soft cloth to remove enough dirt to see details?

Then I went around my back yard and found nothing. Then some nails and trash. Then more trash. Then I decided to try digging a really light hit thinking maybe I was just two picky. It moved about two lines on the meter. Two small lines. So I dig about an inch..nothing yet, still get about a two line hit. I dig out a few more inches, nothing in the dirt removed, but now I am getting about a 4 (out of 10)...more digging, past six inches and the gravel...getting a stronger signal...at eight inches I hit a bed of chalk...still getting the signal...this is really frustrating...another 4 or so inches to the underlying clay and I find...a wedge? an axe head? I don't really know but it was dang cool! 4-5" long and one inch tapering to 1/8" or so and very rusty...defininetly not recent...what could it mean?

If any once could explain to me what the knobs on my machine mean and how to use them I would be *really* grateful. Also what does "clad" mean? If it helps I plan to use my machine mostly for finding coins and trinkets...not axe heads .
Thank you very much for your help, sorry about the long post, its been an exciting day.

Sincerely,
Amberly

[PAPPY]

AMBERLY, NOT BAD for a first timer !!! We will be glad to help you on any matter that we can on this forum and I feel sure that someone will come up with the answers to your questions concerning your metal detector.
Clad is Composite coinage metal strip composed of a core, usually of a base metal such as copper and surface layers of more valuable metal like copper-nickel. The U.S. dimes, quarter dollars and half dollars struck since 1965 are a clad coinage. If you look at the side of the quarter dime or half you can see that there appears to be a ring of copper around it. This is clad coinage. It would pay for you to go to a local bookstore and invest in a book called BLACKBOOK Price Guide To United States Coins by Crown Publishing. Each year they publish a coin guide and it is a GREAT book. There is MUCH to be learned in this book.....If I can ever be of any help...JUST HOLLER

WELCOME to the site....PAPPY

P.S. Are you Sure there was nothing in the old bucket you covered back up?

[sue,uk]

hi Amberly! welcome to the most adictive hobby in the world (my opinion), once you start its be becomes an obsession; even driving out you are thinking i wonder what lays out there? well it looks like you did really well on your first time and i am sure you will just keep turning out more finds each time! once you get used to your machine and all it says to you. i definately would advise a set of headphones most come with the jack adapter so you can hear even the faintest beeps! also welcome to the greatest forum you will get loads of helpful feedback from the friendliest bunch of people! cant wait to here of more of your finds from sue

[rip]

dont give up on that ax head as my brother just sold a rusty ax head on ebay for $50 .

[PAPPY]

AMBERLY, You may want to send a letter to Bounty Hunter and request a instruction manual for your machine. They are usulally free for the asking. Or log on in the forum by clicking the Bounty Hunter button and request one on line.....Keep up the good work....PAPPY

[Gregory]

Welcome to the forum Amberly
I'm sure someone here is familiar with them BH settings but its best to get and read the manuel..read it several times for a good understanding on your settings.

Good luck with your hunts

[hoser]

Welcome to the forum Amberly, and congrats on your first finds. I've been hooked on this hobby for twenty plus years now and never get tired of it.

[ambam]

So I didn't find anything that wasn't a bottle cap or rusty screws/nails/metal bits today, but I did fool around with more of the settings...I like the ground balance, I think I've figured out how to make it quite when I first hit the button on the handle (discriminator? threshold? something like that...) so I don't have to deal with the static...I just worry it might block finds (yeah..so going to happen...no more nails please?)

Didn't mess with tuning or the discriminator knob, left the first in the middle and the last on minimum.

As to the other settings, I've been using "all metal" picks up everything under the sun, including larger items that are really deep (ok, for me, 12" is really deep).
I tried "spd", which I would only get a reading if I swung quickly and kept very even with the ground, it was difficult to control and use. It did however have one odd quirk that might make it worth learning, when I passed over aluminum or coins (which I planted to practice over) the signal got louder, when I passed over iron (didn't have anything else ferrous with me) it went dead. No signal at all. Is this what is supposed to happen? Should I try to practice the fast swing to use it so I find less nails? I don't really want to dig up every nail in every location.
The last setting, "tr", picked up most everything, but I had to move VERY slowly and if I lifted it the tiniest bit above the height I had started at, it signaled a find. Probably not a bad choice if I am in a target heavy area, since it pinpoints really well.
Overall, I just reallized how much I want a manual, and a way to stop finding iron. Maybe a metal detector will be going back on my wish list...

Happy Hunting,

Amberly

-may be a few days before I post again, I'm a college student and do have to spend some time studying.

[Wyatt Earp]

Hi Amberly.......I don't know anything about Bounty Hunter machines, but if you can get the manual, you'll be able to quickly get the hang of things. Welcome to the greatest hobby going. It' s like eating potato chips....once you start, you can't stop. If I were starting into this hobby today and wanted to find older coins, I'd stick to asking permission to detect around the yards of older homes rather than the public places. The parks and such have been hit so hard that even skilled, veteran detectorists, while they do still manage a find or 2 now and again, will have to admit....if you are a newbee...and if you want to start finding old coins, the parks can be counterproductive to that effort because of having been detected for 30 years.

Wyatt

[RingDancer]

Hi Amberly! Welcome to the forum! My first detector was a bounty hunter and it found me some great finds! Some of those iron objects can be really neat and worth a few bucks when you get them cleaned up! Can't wait to hear of your finds!

HH
Pat