Me and my Bounty Hunter 505 metal detector

Day 7 of the beach hunt.

2010-08-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well,
I didn't get to do any detecting on the last day at the beach. Rain rolled in and since my detector is not waterproof, day 7 was a no go. But all was not lost, I love to listen to rain at the beach and as an added bonus, I got to watch a lightening show over the water.

I learned a lot of things taking my 505 to the beach. Contrary to what some people say, the 505 can succesfully used in wet sand. While I found no expensive treasures, I did learn how to set up the detector for wet sand and what to listen for, at least at Holden Beach, NC. I know all beaches are different, but I am willing to bet that most of the beaches in SC and NC are similar. I was able to hunt the wet sand with a very high sensitivity setting and almost no discrimination. There was a little bit of a "bounce" issue if you hit the sand while doing your sweep, but once you know what is going on you can avoid/adjust for it.

Dry sand detecting was easy too. I was running sensitivity at almost 100% and 0 discrimination. It hit hard several times on bread ties that were well over 8" deep. I did a test with a gold ring at 10" deep and it picked up with no problem. As stated in an earlier post, I feel that if this had been more of a commercial beach, like Myrtle, instead of beach that has 100% rented houses and no motels, more valuable targets would have been identified.

I consider this past week a complete metal detecting success. I may not have found a platinum ring, but I know a lot about how my detector works and how to use it. I would say that I have a better understanding of my machine than most people who have had there machine only a couple of weeks.

Day 4 and 5

2010-08-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Well I did do some detecting on Tuesday and Wednesday, but decided to take the day off yesterday. Well, days 4 and 5 yielded no more than the previous days. Dug a lot of bottle caps, some foil, some discarded metal, and some pocket change, all of which was found in the dry sand.

Wet sand detecting has not turned up anything at all, but I am not going to give up. I plan on heading out this evening to try my luck. The ocean was pretty rough yesterday, must have been a storm at sea, and moved some sand around. Several low spots can be identified and I found a couple of spots where some new sand came in. Should be interesting.

Keep Diggin

Day 3

2010-08-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Well day 3, Monday, didn't produce much. We headed down to the wet sand for most of the hunt and had very little success. The problem here is this is a family beach where most of the people who come out for the day rent houses along the beach. There really is not a lot in the way of concession stands and arcades and such along the beach so the chance of people droping valuables is a little less.

We did make a short pass through the dry sand. Found some some junk.

Total money found to date ..........$1.41

1 - piece of plastic coated chicken wire from a crab trap

2 - Fishing hooks

1-random wire

1- tent stake

2 - pcs of foil

1- bobby pin

3 - bottle caps

1- piece of what looks like a piece of an aluminum can

1 - modern dime

Keep On Diggin!

Day 2, and still no treasure chest

2010-08-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Well yesterday was and interesting day with the metal detector. I took it out with the kids and played around a little. I guess total detecting time was about an hour and a half again but this time I was working with the kids. I was trying to show them the correct way to use the detector and how to dig. Well, we ended up with a lot of stuff but not a lot in the way of valuables.

The plan for today is to hunt the wet sand. Now that I have had some time to see how this thing performes around some wet sand, I think I have the right settings and techique for this beach.

As always, below is a picture of yesterdays finds, along with an inventory.

Total money found so dar with my metal detector......$1.31

1 - oz fishing weight (I'm keeping that)

1- Capri Sun pouch

2- tent stakes

1-large shell incrusted washer

1 very large rusty bolt

10-bottle caps (no clear winner as to the most popular yet)

7-pull tabs

1- peice of nicoret gum, still in the foil package

1 - metal bracelet from the 80's

1- lighter

1-foil cap from a drink

6 - peices of foil

1- peice of a shreaded aluminum can

1- random peice of wire,

1 - quarter

1 - nickle

9-pennies

Keep on digging!

Day 1 of metal detecting Holden Beach

2010-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I got to do about and hour and half of metal detecting yesterday after the long drive. I mainly just stayed in the dry sand and didn't get in the wet sand all that much. The metal detector worked great and I didn't have any problems in the wet sand either. Today it has been raining, so I do't know how much I will get to do today.

Below is the picture of the first day finds, along with an inventory list. No great finds so far, but I know where the people are hanging out now. For those keeping track, the total amout of money found to date is $0.92

1 lead weighted piece of rope

2 modern pull tabs

1 old school pull tab

11 bottle caps

1 lead barrel weight

1 bread twist tie

2 peices of foil

1 blue ice vodka mini bottle

7 pennies

1 dime

1 quarter

You got to dig a lot of junk to find the treasure.

Getting ready

2010-07-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

OK, I have everything ready for my marathon week of metal detecting. I plan on doing at least 2 to 4 hours a day for the next 7 days or so. I will be working some of the beautiful beachs of North Carolina to see what I can find. I plan on making daily post so, with pics, so that anyone who is interested can see how I am doing.

Hope you follow along. It should be interesting.

First outings

2010-07-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend J and I took out the new metal detector just to play around with it a little and start to learn the machine. J suggested Winthrope Lake so I said why not. I guess we were out there about an hour in an admittedly "low trafic" area. While we didn't find a whole lot, I did learn a lot about how to use the machine, how to listen to the tones (the Bounty Hunter 505 only uses 3 tones) and how to put together what I was hearing with what I was seeing to help ID the target.

I left the detector in the truck last night when I got home so today on the way back from taking off trash I decided to stop at a local school playground and see it there was anything waiting to be found. I think the playground a was hunting on is used by very young, 5-8, children so I didn't know what I would find. I spent about 20 mins in the HOT sun and found 2 quarters. More importantly, I have gained more valuable knowledge about how my machine performs and lets me know what it is detecting.

Total time detecting.......about 1hr 20 mins

Items found...... 1Nail
                         2 metal straps
                         1 pc of possible lead roof tile
                         1 Zinc Penny
                         2 modern quaters

BTW, if you are looking for a new metal detector, go by http://www.kellycodetectors.com/ and check out what they have. They have everything at great prices and wonderful customer service.

How it all started

2010-07-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Well, about a week ago I decided it would be fun to take a metal detector to the beach in a couple of weeks so I happened to mention to my dad my idea to see if he knew anyone with a metal detector that we could take to the beach. Well, low and behold he offered to buy us one, along with a couple of accessories.

While I was in college I worked at a hobby store that sold White's metal detectors. I learned a lot about metal detectors back then and even went through the White's factory training. I got to take one out several times and do a little coin shooting and such, but never have owned one.

Well, not wanting to try and take advantage of my dad's generosity I looked around and even though some people don't like it for beach use, I decided that the Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 was probably what my family and I needed right now.

So, now we have a metal detector and I have decided to keep on online log/blog about our adventures with it.