Rookie relic hunting an 1850's fort site.

I'm more of a coin guy, but, I've been wanting to hit this spot because my buddy has taken out a couple of Dragoon buttons. I met up with a couple of guys today for a relic hunt at a fort that was occupied from the early 1850's to the early 1860's, unfortunately one guy had to cut his hunt short due to a plumbing problem. He did manage to score a couple of nice relics before he had to head out. I started out using the CTX, but, due to the excessive amount of iron, I ended up using the Equinox which performed wonderfully.

This was my first time to hunt here, so, I wasn't sure what to expect, but, it turned out better than I thought. Ended up with a nice assortment of finds, the better ones were the Eagle button and the medallion thing with the guys face on it. Not sure, but, we think it may have had a ribbon attached through the eyelets on each side. I believe next time I'm back, I'll use the 6" coil on the Equinox to try and work through the iron a little easier than the 11"

I'm also going to take a magnet, some of the bits of wire and iron were almost too small for me to see without my glasses. I was amazed at how well the 800 hit the small items among the iron debris. 90% of the targets hit between 10 and 15, a couple rang higher, the brass rivets and the 3 ringer(?) hit between 18-22. The thing with the guy on it hit at 10-11 solid. My setting were as follows:


Park 2

2-tones

Tone break at +8 thru 40

Sensitivity 22

Recover 7

Iron bias 0

Ground balance 0

No disc used ran it wide open















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Nice finds, thanks for sharing...

Those are pistol percussion caps Dan, pretty common at 1850’s sites.

Lotta stuff there, probably a lot more under all the iron.

Try digging a pit where the iron is excessive, remove the iron w a strong neodymium magnet.

Thanks for the pics

Aaron

Nice digs, looks like a good site Buttons sound real nice on the EQ800.

Do you recall what TID# those percussion caps hit?

The 4-hole buttons are pewter undergarment buttons...… and ID quite low.
Those are rifle percussion caps. (Most folks never find the pistol percussion caps...…. because they are tiny; yet, they are there).
Although a Iron Bias setting of '0' is more fatiguing …….. it is the primary reason as to 'why' those non-ferrous targets were found.
At this particular site...…. don't be afraid to dig targets that ID 5, 6 or 7.

VERY good (historical) finds!

Wow! Good day for you. Let us know how you make out with the 6" coil. That face looks like George Washington, looks gilded.

Great digs, Dan.

There's a fort here in Oklahoma, from the same time frame as the one you hunted, and all those finds look quite familiar (except for the cool piece with the head/face on it). NICE.

But yes, the "camp lead," the military button, the 4-hole buttons, round balls, percussion caps -- all very familiar-looking! Great job! I haven't been able to hunt my fort site with the Equinox, yet, but I sure hope to be able to...I generally hunted it with FBS (which was fine for the less iron-polluted parts of the site), or with a Gold Bug Pro/F19 (in the iron-filled areas). I REALLY would love to get in there with the Equinox. Looks like yours did quite well!

Steve

Nice finds.
If using 800 model. You are in a good site to use gold prospecting modes.

TNSS is right. You've done the preliminary pass. Now go back with Gold mode for the deep stuff. Gold mode gets inches more depth than Park or Field.

You might also try Park mode using 40kHz in the iron.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2019 11:54AM by Badger in NH.

Prospecting modes can find shallower nonferrous too a person may not hear using park and field modes masked by ferrous.
A two fer bonus when using prospecting models.

Or said this way.
A site, any site really especially sites loaded with ferrous materials, site can not be said to be Equinox 800 nonferrous depleted until considerable use of prospecting mode(s) have been achieved.
Been there and done (proved) this.

Cal_cobra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice digs, looks like a good site Buttons so
> und real nice on the EQ800.
>
> Do you recall what TID# those percussion caps hit?


Thank you, the caps came in at 10-11 in park 2.

nice!

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 4-hole buttons are pewter undergarment buttons
> ...… and ID quite low.
> Those are rifle percussion caps. (Most folks never
> find the pistol percussion caps...…. because they
> are tiny; yet, they are there).
> Although a Iron Bias setting of '0' is more fatigu
> ing …….. it is the primary reason as to 'why' thos
> e non-ferrous targets were found.
> At this particular site...…. don't be afraid to di
> g targets that ID 5, 6 or 7.
>
> VERY good (historical) finds!

Thanks Tom, my plan was to move my tone break down to 0 next time out, and your right, 0 iron bias is an earfull

steveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great digs, Dan.
>
> There's a fort here in Oklahoma, from the same tim
> e frame as the one you hunted, and all those finds
> look quite familiar (except for the cool piece wit
> h the head/face on it). NICE.
>
> But yes, the "camp lead," the military button, the
> 4-hole buttons, round balls, percussion caps -- al
> l very familiar-looking! Great job! I haven't be
> en able to hunt my fort site with the Equinox, yet
> , but I sure hope to be able to...I generally hunt
> ed it with FBS (which was fine for the less iron-p
> olluted parts of the site), or with a Gold Bug Pro
> /F19 (in the iron-filled areas). I REALLY would l
> ove to get in there with the Equinox. Looks like
> yours did quite well!
>
> Steve


There are spots where the CTX may have done well, but, where this stuff came out, it was useless. Each swing of the Nox sounded like a machine gun, 6 or 7 hits each pass.

Here's a better pic of the "thing with a man on it" I flattened it a bit.[/img]

It looks like a handle to a fancy dresser, furniture ect.

Aaron

Dan(NM) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a better pic of the "thing with a man on it
> " I flattened it a bit.[/img]


It's a little bit too small I believe for a handle, it's only about an inch in hallf long, by maybe, 1/16 of an inch thick. It could be some kind of decoration for furniture.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2019 04:53PM by Dan(NM).

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 4-hole buttons are pewter undergarment buttons...… and ID quite low.
> Those are rifle percussion caps. (Most folks never find the pistol percussion caps...…. because they are tiny; yet, they are there).
> Although a Iron Bias setting of '0' is more fatiguing …….. it is the primary reason as to 'why' those non-ferrous targets were found.
> At this particular site...…. don't be afraid to dig targets that ID 5, 6 or 7.
>
> VERY good (historical) finds!

I have a Union Army camp I enjoy getting to annually, and have dug a ton of those percussion caps, fired and non-fired. The sound great on the Racers, and I enjoy digging them as their a fairly uncommon find on the west coast. I'm planning to detect this site for the first time with my EQ800, so I was curious what TID# they may come in at, but to be honest, I'm digging anything there conductive as we've made some nice finds at that site (although it's been ultra stingy on coins, perhaps the EQ800 will change that!).

Tom how can you tell the difference between rifle percussion caps and pistol percussion caps? I did a quick G search and they almost appear to be interchangeable, and come in different formats

Dan(NM) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cal_cobra Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nice digs, looks like a good site Buttons sound real nice on the EQ800.
> >
> > Do you recall what TID# those percussion caps hit?
>
> Thank you, the caps came in at 10-11 in park 2.

Thanks! I'll dig anything conductive there, but nice to know where these are likely to come in.

I'll probably stick with Field2, it's been kicking butt for me, so I see no need to change it.

Dan,

FYI...please put something like a coin next to your relics so we have idea of size...; )

Aaron

Cal...…. the rifle PC's are about the size of a pencil eraser.... with the 4 (sometimes 6) wings.... laterally/radially outward ….. at the bottom. Some of the pistols used the exact same PC; yet, many pistols used straight-shank PC's (with no ears)….. that were slightly larger than a air rifle BB. Era dependent.

Aaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dan,
>
> FYI...please put something like a coin next to you
> r relics so we have idea of size...; )
>
> Aaron


Thanks for the tip Aaron.....here's one for perspective.[/img]

Ahh...ok I see what you mean, that item w GW is pretty small.

I bet Keith would know what is.....

Thanks

Aaron

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cal...…. the rifle PC's are about the size of a pencil eraser.... with the 4 (sometimes 6) wings....
> laterally/radially outward ….. at the bottom. Some of the pistols used the exact same PC; yet, many pistols used straight-shank PC's (with no ears)…..
> that were slightly larger than a air rifle BB. Era dependent.

Thanks Tom. I believe the ones I've dug from our Union encampment have all been the same, like what Dan posted, I'll check them out closer. Their pretty rare to find out here, but great age indicators.

And percussion caps like to disintegrate to nothing..... fairly fast...…. due to the corrosive black powder/chemical mix composition of the primer; hence, good/solid ones are even more rare//hard to find.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And percussion caps like to disintegrate to nothing..... fairly fast...…. due to the corrosive black powder/chemical mix composition of the primer; hence, good/solid ones are even more rare//hard to find.

That's interesting to note, because the ones I've found at this encampment, some not even fired at all, tend to be in fairly pristine condition, as do most of the eagle buttons and other finds. The soil is pretty funky at this site too, so perhaps there's a chemical reaction in the soil that counters this black power corrosive condition? I'm hoping to get back to this site soon (haven't been in a couple of years), I'll post my finds and hopefully there will be a handful of percussion caps to show