Basic tips/experiences coin shooting on beaches

Hi all

Around 6 years ago I purchased a Tracker IV metal detector and headed off to Brighton Beach to see what I could find. Unfortunately I pricked my hand on a discarded syringe and spent the next 2 years having tests to rule any nasty diseases out. This put me right off metal detecting until this year when I saw the Aldi detector for sale and saw a video of it in operation. I have since purchased it and also am awaiting on a plastic beach scoop I've purchased on Ebay.

I headed off to Edithvale last weekend and looked around on the beach with the Aldi detector but not finding any coins, just the odd bit of aluminium. I was just about to give up hope when I thought I would try the little paths that lead off side street and are situated between fenced off nature reserves on the side. I found a $2 and a $1 in one of these paths although the other path I checked was bare. At this tiem a bad squall started up and next moment I was in a sandstorm so that was the end of coin shooting for the day.

Later it occurred to me that many beaches are swept by machines to pull out needles and other trash and they probably pick up a lot of coins as well so there may not be much to find on the popular beaches. Of course the machines can't get into the little paths leading to the beach.

I'd be interested to hear from experienced beach coin shooters as to what are the smart areas to look for coins and for those in Victoria, which are some good beaches within driving distance of Boronia (eastern Melbourne) to try out. I'm hoping to try out Kilcunda beach next weekend. It is one of my favourite beaches and looks unlikely to have had any machinery sifting through the sand due to the inaccessibility of the beach.

cheers Peter

Here are some of the tricks Ive learned!

I rekon one of the best things you can do (if you live close to the beach) is to go midday and see where people hang out at the beach and head down later in the arvo. Also think about where people would instinctively sit, even where you would sit on the sand! both for people swimming and not swimming.
- on rises and mounds near beach entrance paths- and flat areas not too far from the water ( look for marks in the dry sand where towels were layed out - but do not hop from towel marks to towel marks as not all the good stuff is dropped here!).

Over all though you need a good method for covering the richest baring areas in good time. Being right handed I go in large rectangular anti clockwise circles, dragging one foot to make a line in the sand and follow my path round and round and continue many of these up the beach. I use clumps of seaweed or even where the sand changes wetness or colour as points to move to or whatever other objects I can see to help with the circles.

Also have a swing around the headlands where you can see bedrock and cracks or where you find eroding banks. I especially love detecting areas with potato/ rockmelon sized rocky areas on headlands etc here you should be lucky enough to find some old stuff!

Hope this helps a little!

Josh

Good tips, I do something similar. I also use google maps to review an area before I go there, sometimes google maps shows groups of people clumped together so I can make a mental note of where to go, along with paths to follow.

To ensure I know where I am going, I tell passerbys I am checking the area for land mines, that way they don't walk on my tracks and disturb me...... ok I kid on that part. But dragging a foot or in my case I make the odd X or Y mark on the sand if I am on a beach so I know where I need to go. In parks I try to use land marks or trees or cars in a car park as a point of reference.

If you do go to a park, please do small holes and don't dig too deep. If stuck get a Prp Pointer to help.

Happy hunting.

being new myself i have been trying to get pointers on the beach. so as many of us do i jumped on youtube and just watched how others were doing. I find that you definitely need to be methodical with your search otherwise you will walk right passed targets. What i mean by this is walking from the top of the beach and down towards the water back and forth in rows. If you have seen my beach gear i use my scoop to drag behind me to show where i have been.

I have read that you dont want to walk across the beach with the water on your side , rather it to your back or front, not sure but think its to do with falsing with the water. the only thing that sucks if turning up and down the sensitivity with dry to wet sand.

to find targets all it takes is your time going back and forth - with this you are more likely to find something

hope it helps

When detecting on a beach I have found that a small good hand sand sieve is essential for the dry sand.
It provides protection from any nasty items that may be buried.
I also carry two bumbags, 1 for any finds and 1 for the rubbish.

Ok tips for beach detecting { A}get there early there are a lot of people doing the beaches including myself
{B} you left when there was a wind squall i stayed and got over 110 dollars in a day my best effort so far
{C} grid the area you are doing by dragging a sand scoop or shuffling your feet so you cover an area completely
5 days of heat will net you


{d} look for towel marks or rubbish to see where people have been sitting
{E}Wait for storms or weather events i was waiting for the squall as i watched it come in on here http://www.portofmelbourne.com/Community-and-recreation/View-the-port/Webcams

Think like a coin go early and follow the crowds

The beach cleaning machines do not scoop up coins or rings or else you would not find the copious amount of bottle tops and ring pulls

Hope this starts you off in the right mindset

Great tips there guys. I have to have a go at this soon.

Thanks for that

Today I drove down to Kilcunda to do some detecting on the beach there. I brought along my Tracker IV and Aldi Machine but mostly used my Tracker IV.

I was amazed at how little there was on the beach to find. I even tested a few of my own coins to make sure the detector was working.

The trash I found was a metal rod and I found 3 coins - 2 x5c cent pieces and 1 old coin about the size of a penny which had deteriorated a lot so I couldn't make out what it was. It seemed much lighter than a penny though.

The coins were found in traffic areas - under boardwalk steps and also areas back from the beach. I was amazed at how little there was to find at this beach including rubbish. I detected for about 2 hours.

cheers Peter

There is altona beach in melbourne when after a hot spell about 10 people detect it you can run a detector in all metal mode flat out and you may not get a signal not even a bottletop
You have to get there first after the depositors have gone
Its not unusual to get just a few coins from a beach, in winter i dont go to the beaches, for me its back looking for gold in the triangle

I must be lucky here. I only know of three others who do it in the Gladstone area. And so far we have only seen eachother by driving by at different parks or beaches but never in person.

Probably why I get good picks when I go for a few hours a week as it's not fished out.

One thing I hope people might be able to clarify.

I realise people lose stuff at the beach and it lodges in the sand but what are the dynamics of a heavy object like a coin when the tide comes in. Does it simply sink or is it washed out to sea?

The videos I see online talk about looking in low lying areas and also just a after a major storm. Why?

A storm surge on a beach can remove up to a metre or so of top sand, any coins sunk so deep in the beach that most detectors would normally not find, will now be within detector range. Most of these coins will be 3 years or older ( it is amazinig how fast a coin will bury itself in soft sand ) and can be decades old.
Just be aware of eroded sand dunes as the face of these can fail at anytime and larger waves than ususal can be a potential hazard. Be aware of your surroundings and you can be fairly safe on a beach or in the outback.
Common sense works wonders.

They say that there is a sweet spot on every beach and that the alternating currents eventually move things there and then line them up on the way out to sea. If you find this spot it's supposed to be full of coins like at the end of the rainbow !!! Every sand scoop so heavy with coins you could hardly lift it !!! Some say it's all just a dream(ha-ha), but I like to think it's true !!!

Thanks for the replies.

I mentioned the corroded item I found at Kilcunda which I could not identify. After using some electrolysis I was able to remove a lot of the gunk and buried within was a 1918 penny which was a real surprise. Its amazing to think that that penny has probably been there for 70 years or more but has never been found by anyone before. Its older than I am.

Interesting I looked up the penny in Google and it turns out there is a little stamped 'I' on the coin which shows that the coin was minted in India during the war.

Speaking of erosion, the dredging in the bay apparently has caused massive beach erosion out at Portsea. I wonder whether this has revealed many coins.

cheers Peter

The massive beach erosion at portsea has been caused by northerly winds. this year we have had the most amount of northerly winds for over 50 years and strong too

Has this resulted in a coin shooting paradise at Portsea?

Freshly eroded sections usually do seem to hold a lot of metal. One of the best places to try in my opinion.

Keep an eye out for beachside cafes as there will usually be a sweet spot where people sit spilling their coins! Usually on embankments or retaining walks sand mounds too.

I would just like to add that although the beach cleaning machines do not pick up all rings and coins they still manage to grab quiet a bit. Almost 10 years ago my father almost took over the business of my grandmothers friends business. His business was making, running, and maintaining the beach sweeps. The idea was my father was going to be his agent in Dubai and then after some time also take over the business in California as the owner had no kids that were interested and no partner to run it when he retired.

I have never seen so much loot in one spot when we went to his house to visit him. It absolutely blew me away, jars upon jars of gold, silver, clad, and collectable coins. He said in the early days he started the business that the precious metals he would find were more profitable than the business of cleaning beaches and he won the contract in the city against a competitor because he took a risk to lower his rate and also rely on his finds at the end of the day to stay profitable.

I'm not saying those cleaners get nearly everything, but they grab enough to make a difference. I will still hit those areas and when I lived in Dubai I loved them because I wouldn't have to deal with as many buried beer cans and bags of fast food garbage and still found the goods.

There are also different meshes the machines run or bear bars depending on what you call them. Some are made to leave the beaches consistent fine white sand removing all the rocks bigger than a couple cm wide and most of the shells with it. That mesh picks up alot of coins and jewelery. The larger mesh for bigger trash and rocks leaves most of the goodies though. I haven't seen one on the beach yet since I've been here but the tracks were there on alot of beaches so they must be somewhat common.