|
Civil War Relic Hunting...part 7
(using the White's Vision/Spectra V3 metal detector)
Civil
War Bullets for Sale
Civil War Photos
Day One:
The weather forecast finally predicted four
straight days of sunshine in conjunction with a weekend. With a few days
off from work, I decided to make a trip to Fauquier County, Virginia for some
relic hunting using my White's Vision/Spectra V3. My local friend could
not take me out so I was restricted to my uncle's 14 acres. If you read
the other Civil War Relic Hunting stories, you know that the home on the
property was occupied by Union forces during the war.
I was using the relic program with some tweaking for both depth and preferences.
I decided to try the lower part of the property to search for the deeper
bullets. These were almost always the dropped .58 caliber three ringer.
After about a half hour of searching I dug one at 9.5 inches according to the
depth meter. A little later another .58 caliber at the same depth.
After four hours of hunting this was all I could find in this area. I knew
Jeff and I had thinned the bullets out over the years but was sure I could pull
out a few more. The soil in this area is not as mineralized as the soil on
the upper level of the property. I started detecting my way back to the
house through the pines. I didn't find anything in the pines and the
property opened up to a large field which is mowed by my uncle. The soil
in this area is extremely mineralized and gave my XLT and DFX fits. Not so
with the Vision. I was using the standard 10 inch DD coil.
Within thirty minutes I had dug five bullets in
an area that I had hunted many, many times over. The only difference this
time was that the bullets were in the 6 to 9 inch range. The VDI would
read anywhere from +95 down to 0. If I could get a solid hit both ways, I
dug it. I could not however, tell the difference (at the 6 to 9 inch depth)
between a nail or a bullet...they sounded the same. Nails that were closer
would give the old double blip and were not dug. This first half day I
ended up with a total of 7 bullets.
|
 |
|
L-R First four are .58
caliber three ringers. Last three are .52 caliber Sharps. |
Day Two:
The next day I started
hunting exactly where I left off from the previous day. The
bullets were all in the 6 to 9 inch range and were sounding off loud and
clear. The digging was hard. The soil was extremely rocky.
It seemed like every time you would place your foot on the shovel and
press, it would be right on top of a rock. Move over a couple of
inches and bingo, another rock! And then 9 inches down - a nail!
Or the nail would be on the side of the hole causing you to dig to
China. That's all part of relic hunting. If it is a sold
signal, especially in mineralized ground, dig it. There were times
when I dug thinking it was not a bullet but had better check it anyway
and a bullet would pop up. And along the same lines, dig a target
that I was sure was a bullet only to be presented with a nail.
I found 27 bullets on the second day. 24 three ringers, 1 fired
Williams Cleaner, and 1 pistol bullet. I was very happy with these
results and knew that it was because of the Vision and it's depth
capability in the mineralized ground. |
Click here
to enlarge. |
Day Three:
Day three was
variety day. I continued to hunt from where I left off on day two.
The bullet on the first row, left is a .54 caliber Burnside with a
cupped bottom. Other bullets to make an appearance are .54
Merrill's carbine, .44 caliber Colt, .44 caliber Colt Dragoon, .36
caliber Colt, .52 Sharps, .51 Smith's carbine, and of course the .58
caliber three ringer.
The .44 Colt Dragoon was the first one I have ever found on the
property. It is on the bottom row, first bullet on the left.
While digging a target I found a small piece of a pipe bowl. The
feathers can be seen on it. Also found was the top portion of a
spoon (unmarked), a rivet, and a belt hanger.
Again, all of the bullets were in the 6 to 9 inch range and were
easy targets for the White's Vision. I was also using the wireless
headphones which made digging easier since I was not "tethered" to
the detector. The only complaint is that the headphones get
uncomfortable after a few hours. After the fourth day, my ears
were actually bruised. The headphones need a deeper padded earmuff
to make them more comfortable.
The brass items were found in one small area along with the brass items
from day four. This area needs to be gone over again and searched
at a different angle. I also have the 12" DD super coil but did
not use it on this trip. The closer I got to the house the more
junk signals I received, to a point that it was too difficult to hunt.
I have the 5.3" coil and will use this near the house on the next trip.
I finished the day out with a total of 36 bullets. |
Click here
to enlarge.
|
|
Click here
to enlarge. |
Day Four:
Day four was
also variety day and brass day. I continued the hunt where I left
off on day three. The bullet on the top row is a carved .52 Sharps.
At first I thought it may be a .54 Starr, but it is the same diameter
and length as a Sharps. Another .54 Burnside (cupped base) made an appearance
along with the .54 Merrill's, .51 Smith's, .52 Sharps, .44 Colt,
and the .58 three ringers.
More brass was dug on this day. Two different belt hangers, a snap
hook which is part of a rifle sling, and a ball-rivet. The rusty
object is either the tip of a bayonet or a three sided file. It is
too rusted to further identify.
Total bullets for the day was 33. This comes to 103 bullets from a
field that I have been hunting since 1974. I have used just about
every White's detector on this field, but it took the Vision to bring
these relics to light.
This is the field that was hunted for four
days that produced 103 bullets. |
Click here
to enlarge.
Click here
to enlarge. |
|
|
[top]
|
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}