An exceptionally great day with the XP Deus (9 inch coil) (Now with Day Two plus pics)(need a button ID'd)

Wow what a day!!!! I wasn't really going to go detecting today. I didn't have anyone scheduled to come and sit with momma so that I could get out, but a lady called and offered to come clean the house. Me being the bachelor that I am, I jumped all over that. It was 3 pm when she got here. It gets dark at just after 5 pm. I had two hours of detecting, minus the 20 minutes that I took in mid-hunt to go get a cappuccino with dark chocolate and caramel syrup added. Shaken, not stirred. I was hunting on a lot downtown where I had permission. I had never hunted it before, but they were tearing down the old house and they hadn't messed up the front yard, which went down to the sidewalk in town. The yard had been sodded with Zoysia grass. I wasn't thinking that my luck would be good. I turned the Deus on and ground balanced at 70!! Good!!! A little added depth would be welcomed!! I hadn't walked 5 yards when I got a repeating hi tone. I dug a 52 cal Sharps Carbine bullet. Things were looking up, but I figured that it was a fluke, and I was ready to be grateful for that one find. And hour later, my left pocket was bulging with 30 bullets, a Sterling silver Minie Mouse ring (.925 is stamped on the inside of the mashed finger band), and two wheat pennies. And I hadn't even gotten started good. Several of the plugs had more than one bullet in them!!!! There were round balls, 69 cal Minie Balls (bullet shaped), 58 cal Minie's, and some smaller diameter three ringers of some type. There was also some 45 cal Sharps Carbine bullets. I found some large globs of camp lead. One is in the uppermost part of the pic.
Some of these bullets where a good two or three inches past my predator shovels blade. The XP Deus made it through the 3 inches of Zoysia sod, and down into the ground to where the goodies lurk. Hope you enjoy.

The half of a round ball in bottom left of the pic was an unfinished pour. They ran out of lead, or got an air pocket in the bullet mold. It doesn't appear to be cut in half.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2013 04:01AM by Kevin B.

Hey Kevin Good haul there for sure...

I really like those .69 three ringer's..We dont get alot of those down this way...When we do we can name the unit's who had them that late in the war...

you must be in an 1862 site....

Keith

Awesome digs Kevin.

Thanks for the replies guys. Keith, you know your CW history, that's for sure. Yes, the Union army came and occupied Savannah TN in Feb of 1862. Grant set up headquarters at the Cherry Mansion on the Tennessee River. The whole town was covered with troops. Just before the battle of Shiloh, General Buell's Union forces arrived from Fort Donaldson and came down through town camping near the town water supply.
Incidentally, the silver ring was just an added bonus. I was secretly hoping that it was from the CW period but I don't think Minie Mouse had gained fame in the 1800's. What a day. But nothing like the day the man had who found the gold piece. That is the zenith. Congrats again to him.

Nice Kevin, hope you had a belt on.

Kevin...... you sure know how to: Get the lead out!
Very nice. Now.......... find a few coins of that era.
(Don't forget to dig the deeper 'foil' ID's).

Well Kevin it is very apparent with your post you have definitely learned the great thing about the Deus. Negative ground balancing makes the detector deeper than anything I've ever had my hands on. Great finds and great machine for sure. The machine will hit a gold ring at extended depths too, 12-14 inches and more! Way to go on using those ears. You just have to dig em.

Thanks guys. I am going back today with the intent of cleaning up what was left. I left alot of lower conductors in the ground. What if......what if.......(just thinking about the possibility of a golden Indian princess that just so happened to get lost.....on the nite before Shiloh, when they were dispatched quickly from Savannah to Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh). Ya gotta admit. This stuff is the greatest!!!!. I mean for past-times. As long as I keep my priorities straight, there is just no better feeling than a hi tone in historically human-ed ground. Like Keith Southern said the other day, and said so well: A metal detector is like a time machine.
PS: there are no carpet of nails in the front yard. This MAY have not been anything but an overnight camp when General Buell pulled into town with his troops for a quick sleepover. They left some ordinance behind. I was surprised to not find the first button. But today....maybe. I will follow NasaTom's advice and dig all foil signals and up as long as they are not surface (you know....when you get the three tones when you sweep across because each loop of the coil can hit it.....blip blip blip........blip blip blip). I like to hear: blip (one way) and blip (the opposite way) and then the same thing when I get 90 degrees of the target. Note: yesterday, in untrashy ground, one .69 cal bullet gave me a one way blip. I dug it any way. It was a .69 cal bullet, and a smaller .45 cal Sharps in the same plug. That one left me scratching my head. But something told me to leave the conventional (good, solid, two way blips) and dig any way. That one way 'blip' turned into two bullets. There MIGHT have been a piece of iron in the hole that I didn't notice.

This afetrnoon, my aunt (momma's sister) and my cousin came down for their regular visit with momma. Guess who was ready to bolt out of the door with a freshly charged Deus. I also took my Etrac. When I got to the site, I grabbed the Etrac and started using the coin's pattern/multi-tone/conduct......but there was constant nulling. I then switched to Two Tone Ferrous and used an open discrimination screen. Just watching the numbers rapidly change as I swept the coil semi slowly started immediately making me wish that I had grabbed the Deus first. No problem. I went and grabbed the Deus from the trunk. Besides, it performed well yesterday at this same site. I use program two/ 12 khz/ 97 sens/ 6.7 Disc/ iron volume at 3. The machine ground balances AT 70 at this site. Just like I posted yesterday, when pumped over a clean area of ground, it ground balances at 70. So I leave it there for quiet running. The Deus again today found me some good stuff including two "firsts". My very first Buffalo nickel!! And a button (front, the back with shank, was missing). I REALLY hope that Keith Southern will take a look at this button. I am including a close up pic. Anyway, I dug 19 more bullets!!! I decided to call a friend who doesn't get to hunt much because I KNOW that I left some good bullet signals in the ground. That rascal (Gary is his name) ended up digging more than 30 bullets himself!!! One hole, he dug 18 bullets!!!! No lie!!! He uses a F75SE (he purchased at my advice). he loves it.
There's a catch to this story. Yesterday, I noticed where someone had come a metal detected. The holes where not filled back. And the metal that was dug was left next to the hole. (I put it in my nail apron). Anyway, a guy pulls up today and said that he had hunted about an hour the day before yesterday. he said that he found a Large Cent there!!!!! I told him: Yeah, I knew someone was here before me because I almost sprained my ankle in one of their unfilled holes. Let me be clearer about my definition of REFILLED HOLES. The digger who had left the holes unfilled, had actually kicked the plug (in a few of his holes) back into the hole with no attempt at mashing it flat. I spent 15 minutes going around fixing his holes where no one would think it was me who did it. No....I'm not a spoil sport, but I depend on a spotless reputation to continue to get permission to hunt in some fancy yards.
A third fellow pulled up just before dark tonight. Turns out that I know him and used to work with him. We exchanged numbers. He said that he had some good properties to hunt in Clifton and near Shiloh. he invited me to go with him and said that he would call me. I told him to grab his gear (he knows the owner of the land I was on today) and he got a chance to hunt with his VX3 (?), a White's machine. That sucker weighs 4 more pounds than the Etrac!!! But I would love to have one. I let him fee of my Deus. he almost fainted at the weight of it. I was digging bullets while he swung his machine close by. But I went home, and left it to him and gary, Everyone was happy happy happy. Keith, if you read this, would PLEASE look at this button (found amongst the bullets). By the way, I also found several wheaties, and an Indian head with my lightweight little Deus. let me tell ya. That sucker was ringing out loud on deep bullets!!! I was proud of her (or him) today. He/She done me proud. This place has heavy machinery parked on it. It will no longer exist after this week. I have been trying to clean it out. I didn't mind sharing it with friends. Plus...it's fun to say: HEY LOOK HERE!!!! and hold up a relic. It's equally as fun when the other guy says it!!! I've been hunting alone TOO much. Hope you enjoyed.

Wow! Great finds Kevin! Looks like you have the XP Deus tuned in...

Thanks TracyJM, I appreciate it. Let me add one more question for Keith. The middle bullet in the very rear row, the bullet with the flared base, has a very shallow cone shaped hollow. The rear of the bullet looks like a hollow based Sharps carbine. The edges are thick. Not like the normal three ringers with the deep cone recess. Have you (or anyone) ever seen a bullet with a flared tail like that one??

looks like civilian blazer button...

That three ringer looks like a nose cast in the field....then set down hot before it cooled..

Nice dig's

Keith

Can you show the back of the button? Or are there any makers marks/etc??

Nice haul of bullets! Cool ring too :-)

HH

No, the back of the button is gone, I have had the worse luck with buttons lately. I found a local staff officer Union button the other day...just the front. And then this button. I would have almost bet that it was CW era, but there was old pieces of red brick in the ground plus old square nails indicating an old house stood here before the newer one that just got tore down. Anyway....it IS larger in diameter than any CW button that I have found. I'll just pitch it into my 'button butter bowl'. I am REAL surprised that no CW buttons (general service, Infantry, calvary, Rifleman, etc etc) has been dug from this obvious CW era site. It may mean that they merely used the area to cast bullets as there is ALOT of large pieces of camp lead amongst the bullets. I am a bit disappointed in the button I must admit. But there are two ways of seeing it. IF it had been a genuine Union Navy button, and been missing it's back...it would have been real heart breaking. Oh well. still a nice relic from the past. Since the only real CW relics that have come from this site is a LARGE number of bullets.....it must have been briefly used as an armory before the battle of Shiloh. But who knows.....all of my talk is pure conjecture. I must admit.....I dug so many bullets yesterday and today, I ALMOST got tired of digging them. Last week....I was lamenting the fact that I haven't found a very many in a while. I'm just plain hard to please I guess. But I must admit....this has been a GREAT metal detecting weekend. But with a sad ending: they will be digging up this place with a Track-hoe all week. New parking lot, new Bank building (bookkeeping). I would have liked to run a Vista Smart over this ground because everything was fairly deep. The entire yard had been sodded with Zoysia grass. But the ol Deus punched down through the ground and gave clear hi tones for the bullets and coins. Gary's F75SE did a great job too. Thanks for the replies guys. Everyone have a great week. Good nite.

Keep an eye on the excavation, if possible. Those boys will kick something up. As you probably know, they strip off the top organic soil and pile it up, usually for re-use if needed. Pretty exiting Kevin, good luck!!

Ozzie, Gary, my friend whom I called and had him meet me up there, said that he was digging in an old fire pit. He found something like 18 bullets In one hole. And he was right by where I had been finding bullets. I don't know how I missed them all unless his machine is deeper. But his hold had opened up tp about 16 inches deep and was as wide as 3/4 of a manhole cover. I'll go back as long as they let me. I still am vexed at why there was no different kinds of Civil Way artifacts from that place unless ot was merely a stash for ammo. I dug every mid tone thinking that it might be a button yesterday (one actually was, but not a CW button) but ended up digging alot of that deep foil that's been in the ground so long that it just falls apart. Anyway, I'll keep a good eye on what the constuction people do there.

What if it's 1890.......... and someone was casting new bullets for their old military rifle............ so they could go hunting with it. Just a random thought.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What if it's 1890.......... and someone was
> casting new bullets for their old military
> rifle............ so they could go hunting with
> it. Just a random thought.


NasaTom, there are 69 caliber three ringers, 58 cal three ringers, 54 cal three ringers (all three ringers also called Minie Balls), there is 69 cal round balls, 52 cal solid base Sharps. With such variety of calibers and styles (that I have also dug at other CW era sites and campsites) I would conclude differently. So far, with me and the other guy digging, there have been close to 90 bullets of varying types and calibers being dug there. It seems far fetched, but since I wasn't there, I have to form conclusions from the evidence. And too, I am about two city blocks from the campsite where I was digging pits and using my rare earth magnet. Locale, the difference in styles and caliber, the musings of a 25 yr detecting veteran who was digging with me yesterday, leads me to conclude that the bullets belonged to Union soldiers, or where being cast for Union soldiers. BUT, like I said before, I wasn't there when those bullets where dropped. Or cast. So I am willing to believe experience over my own intuition.

Great finds! I always loved getting different bullet types. That was always the big plus of hunting those VA camps...you ran into overlapping camps from all through the war, so the variety was crazy.

As to the sheer amount of drops and such at your latest site...I offer a theory. This was taken from a book about the battle of Shiloh:

"The Confederate army was in some confusion after the fighting the day before. Casualties had been high and many Confederate units had broken up and become intermingled in the difficult country. Heavy rain had driven the Confederate soldiers to take shelter in the various Federal camps left standing and abandoned in the confusion of the Confederate attack."

Note two words there....HEAVY RAIN. We know for a fact that it rained the evening after the first day's fighting...with it being in April, it could have possibly rained days prior to the battle as well. My guess is that maybe the site with all the bullets was part of one of the camps and their paper cartridges got soaked from the rain...thus rendering them useless...and they simply dumped them out. Or another part of the same theory...if they were cold and wet, they would have wanted fires built...and as I've often said, one of the easiest ways for them to start fires was via using the paper on their bullets to get the fire started....and thus they would simply toss the bullet down nearby or in the fire. So you find a ton of melted lead and drops in those type places.

Kevin - Nice haul man . . . reallly nice.

Jack Flynn - The machine will hit a gold ring at extended depths too, 12-14 inches and more! Way to go on using those ears.
Is thet right? That's huge! Thought people reported the range on those was pretty much avg. when they first came out?

There is a little known fact of Savannah TN lore. There was a battle known as the Mud Run. It happened when the Union army disembarked from their boats at Savannah TN. (Google the Cherry Mansion in Savannah TN, it was US Grant's headquarters) Savannah is located about 8 miles (by road) or a bit less (by river) from Shiloh (Pittsburg landing. But back to the Mud Run skirmish. The Confederate Army, which was thriving in the small town of Savannah in 1862, were driven out because they were outnumbered (again) and outgunned (again). I was about one city block from the actual skirmish site of the Mud Run battle. In effect, it was the Confederate Army being run out of town by the Union. To my shame, I proclaim the fact that Savannah were Union sympathizers. They actually cheered as the Union Army was walking off the steamboats (makes me a bit nauseous). So there could have very well been some overlapping of camps as i am sure that the deserted Confederate camps in the town proper were re-peopled by the Union soldiers. (I went by the site today. I regret to report that a huge bulldozer has removed about a foot of dirt from the entire site and piled it RIGHT OVER the bullet cache (for lack of a better term). I can no longer hunt here. They have telephone guys all over the yard installing underground wires. (I can tell you this now) This was for additional Bank offices. I know the president of the bank and he let me hunt there during the initial construction phase. But now they are beginning the installation of intricate underground wiring. Just another scenario where modernization literally ruined a historic site. A large cent was found there four days ago (but not by me).
While I am yakking...I will say this. I can see the highest point in town where I dug about thirty British Enfield bullets. I dug 13 Enfield bullets in one plug but I didn't know there was that many in the plug so I scraped 8 with my shovel. There was also a small square buckle amongst the thirtenn bullets. (This was a year ago). The part of our town that saw the highest concentration of troops (Confederate and Union) is now under pavement. Right next door (taco Belle) a bulldozer upturned a metal chest full of gold coins of various denominations about 18 years ago when the old restaurant was torn down to make room for the taco belle. I depend on the town for most of my detecting due to it's close proximity to my house...and momma, who I don't want to get to far away from due to chronic illness. Sorry for the wordy reply and I appreciate ALL the replies. I was really hoping to run a Vista Smart across the latest site I had been digging. But a big bulldozer has piled ALL the soil into a mound that is at least 20 ft high. But even if they spread it back out, with all the wires underground, i doubt the president of the bank will give me leave to hunt. But all is not lost. The country side, including my deer lease, contains springs and potential camps as it is near the river in the oldest civilized part of the county. I'll keep at least one detector for that reason alone. But stay one the lookout for a great deal on an Etrac that is about three weeks old. (Who would have ever guessed, right? lol

Kevin

Detect the pile. If they don't reuse the dirt they may haul it some where. Find out were.
To bad you didn't get a chance to hunt after they stripped a foot off. Tom always says we would be shocked at what was out of detectable range.

At least you got a few good days hunting!

Cheers
Tom

I saw the Century-Tel guys there yesterday. I am hoping that they don't intall an under network of telephone/computer cable. Yes, i will detect the pile. I had actually thought about it. I just have to wait until the weekend when they are through working. They have been working til dark. It really has been chapping my hind end to think of the possible artifacts that remained. If they haul it off...I'll ask the truck driver where it went and immediately deal with it. I BET they haul it off. Becase NOW the site is at the same level as the rest of the entire bank property. It just seems to me that developer go up and down through town looking for where the town property is still at the original level. They then lease dozers and track hoes to the spot at once: "LEVEL IT DOWN MEN!!!!!!!! IT'S AN EYESORE!!!!!": I can imagine them shouting as the men in hardhats crank up the dozers with a big cigar stub in the corner of their mouth....smiling at the chance to forever change the face of this historic town. (my mind works overtime sometimes)