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OPERATING MANUAL
Detecting Activities
Coinshooting
are not causing damage. Sometimes such ordinances do exist.
Administrators and security personnel often have the legal authority to prohibit any activity
they do not like even if there is no ordinance against it. If there is a metal detecting club in
your area, someone will usually know what areas can and cannot be searched.
Be prepared to always put your best foot forward when using a metal detector in a public
place. Pick up any trash you recover; put it in a pouch or pocketed apron. This way you can
explain that you are performing a public service by helping keep the place free of trash,
especially pieces of metal or glass that could endanger a child at play. Be proficient at
recovering targets without causing damage to the lawn. Explain that whenever you find
jewelry which has personal identification marks, such as a class ring, you make an attempt to
determine the owner and to return it. When someone who questions what you are doing
understands that you are causing no damage and are actually performing a public service, you
will usually be welcome.
Relic Hunting
Relic hunting is searching for historical artifacts. The most common desired objects are
battlefield debris, coins, jewelry, harness hardware, metal buttons, trade tokens, metal toys,
household items, and tools used by workmen and trades people. The most common
unwanted metal is iron (nails, fence wire, rusted cans, etc.), but some iron and steel objects
such as weapons may be valuable. If you are at a site where you may encounter unexploded
ordinance, use caution.
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GUIDE TO METAL DETECTING
Coinshooting is searching for coins, usually in places like parks,
schoolyards, church lawns, and people's yards. In most places where
coins are likely to be found, there is also a lot of aluminum trash like
pull-tabs and bottle caps, as well as steel bottle caps and often nails.
Sometimes there is jewelry present. You will usually search using
discrimination to get rid of the iron and the aluminum trash, even
though this mode will cause you to miss some of the jewelry.
Much coinshooting is done in lawn areas, where digging holes would
cause damage to the grass. We recommend use of an accessory
hand-held pinpointer in such cases. Recovering targets is usually
done by first accurately pinpointing the target, then carefully cutting a
slit in the turf with a knife, and tamping it firmly when you are
finished. In these situations, you cannot recover deep targets for
fear of damaging the turf, so you can cut down on nuisance signals
by reducing the sensitivity.
When searching on private property, first get the permission of the
property owner. Most of the public places where one is likely to do
coinshooting are city, county, or school district property. There is
usually no ordinance prohibiting use of a metal detector as long as you
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