Metal Detecting Article...Two Ladies in Waiting.

Civil War Relic Hunting Part VI

This month I ordered and received from Kellyco the new White's DFX300. Actually, it is a regular DFX with the 12" 300LTD super coil for greater depth along with a different paint job and fresh decals to make it stand out from the regular DFX. I also got a few books to better understand the programming ability of the DFX. Understanding White's DFX by Jimmy "Sierra" Normandi and Digging Deeper with the DFX by Jeff Foster. If you own a DFX, I highly recommend either or both books.

While reading the books I tried out the various settings to see how they effected the detector. I put together two custom programs, one for relic hunting and one for coin shooting. I couldn't wait to try out the detector so I emailed a friend in Virginia to see if he would have some time to take me out to a few places. Fortunately, he did have time and as a bonus the weather was extremely co-operative as there was 4 straight days of sunshine. I also contacted my relic hunting buddy Jeff Herke in Atlanta and although it was short notice he drove up to meet me in Remington, Virginia.

I arrived in Remington around noon on a Wednesday. Again, I was visiting my uncles property and had the afternoon to get acquainted with the DFX before the relic hunt the next day. After getting all my gear on I headed down to where I hoped there might be some deep targets. I fired up the DFX, loaded my custom program, ground balanced and started swinging the coil. First thing I noticed was how easy it was to swing the detector with this 12" coil. Also, the DFX was more stable in areas where my XLT was not. Just to let you know, I have the Audio ID turned off in my custom relic program. I want to hear all signals and use the signa-graph to determine whether or not to dig. The VDI numbers are also used, but for the really deep targets it may not display a number or be heard.

I couldn't locate a deep target to dig, but I did find two .69 caliber round balls about a foot apart and 8" deep. The DFX had no problem locating them and the signal was loud. I continued to hunt this area until Jeff showed up but I did not find any more bullets. Later in the afternoon I did pick up a .58 caliber three ringer at 6" deep in some very bad ground on the side of the property. I also picked up the business end of a spur.

The next morning we met our friend who took us out to a farm to hunt on private property located near the Brandy Station battlefield. The first area we hit was a hill known for .69 caliber fired bullets. Our friend also told us that our detectors would lie to us. I knew exactly what he meant. Hot ground causes a detector to react differently to targets - so differently that some hunters don't dig the targets. For instance, I was digging targets that registered -25 on the VDI scale that would normally mean iron and they were bullets. Sure, some targets would go as high as 94 and once I got a target that registered 69 and up popped a .69 caliber bullet (very ironic). What I figured out with the DFX was that in the pinpoint mode a bullet gave a loud and large signal. Junk, like nails was more narrow.

.58 caliber star bullets

It wasn't night time, but the stars were out.

After tiring of digging fired rounds we moved to an area that was known to produce buttons. A half hour went by and our friend came up to show us a beautiful Maine button with most of the gilt remaining. That got us all fired up, but all I found in this new area was a piece of lead. Later we moved to yet another field and I did manage to pull up a .58 caliber bullet. Our friend got yet another button, a union eagle and a .54 caliber Sharps ringtail bullet. We ended the day around 5:00pm and made plans to come back that Saturday. For this day I managed to dig up 26 fired bullets and one flat button. I also found my first .69 caliber bullets.

On Friday, Jeff and I were back to my uncles property. We decided to hit the property next door since we had done so well there last year. After talking to the owner, permission was granted. This time his garden was not planted and this small area produced three bullets. We searched very thoroughly but only came up with a few more bullets. We had hit this area a little too hard! After lunch we were back on my uncles property and decided to hit the side yard again as Jeff had found 7 bullets there on Wednesday. The ground here is extremely hot and the signals here were also erratic. I dug just about every signal and ended the day with around 23 bullets. Of the 23 bullets dug (see picture below), there were 8 different calibers. I also dug up a brass hotel tag from Roxboro, NC. Jeff did very well and also had a variety of bullets.

L-R: .54 three ringer, .54 Sharps, .54 Merrill carbine, .50 Smith, .50 Smith, .44 Colt Revolving Rifle (Bartholow), .44 Caliber unknown, .36 Colt pistol

Saturday found us back at the .69 caliber hill hunting with our friend. He had to leave early, but cleared it with the landowner for us to hunt out the rest of the day. By noon I had a few fired .69 and .58 calibers with a couple of round balls. I also found my first shell fragment. You can still see the threads where the fuse would have screwed in. In the same area we found around 6 round balls which were probably from this shell. After a quick lunch I meandered over to another field to try my luck. I found one dropped round ball .54 caliber. I worked my way back to the .69 caliber hill and started digging bullets once more. At the end of the day I had a total of around 40 bullets and Jeff with a few more.

All total for the trip Jeff and I dug 169 bullets, one flat button, and two shell fragments.

Click Picture to Enlarge

[top]