Tag Archives: bullets

Masked Barber

24 Apr

I met Steveouke at lunch for a quick hunt around the spot where I found the Indian Head yesterday. I got there a couple of minutes before he did and got to swing the detector a few times before I got a solid nickel signal. I dug a relatively shallow hole only to find an old piece of tin instead of a nickel. I ran the coil over the hole out of habit before covering it again and I got the sweet, silky, tell-tale audio signal and a solid VDI of 91. Gasp! This signal did not exist prior to me removing the tin from the hole! I dug maybe an inch deeper and out came this pretty thing:

1900-dirty 1900

I was taking the picture of the dirty coin when Stevo arrived. He was just in time to see the coin with the fresh dirt on it.

When I find a coin with very little wear as this one, I infer that it was dropped soon after it was minted. So someone lost this precious in the early years of the 20th century. How cool is that?

Soon after, I dug a signal on the wheat range and I found an old bullet. Now, about 100 yards away from where we were hunting, there is a row of houses. I know for a fact that one of those houses was built in 1901. Would someone be firing their rifle so close to these houses? I’d like to think not and I’d like to think this bullet is pre 1900’s.

bullet1

It looks as if the bullet hit the Buffalo.

My lunch hour went much quicker than I like and I left Stevo hunting in the park.

AT ANOTHER PARK, AT AN EARLIER DATE

I hunted my deep silver park the other day and found a bunch of wheats as always and these two things.

tax

I remember the first time I found a Kansas tax token. I was so intrigued by it. Now, they don’t excite me as much although they are an old and cool find. This one is one mil. Rarer for me are the 2 mil ones. They are made of aluminum and they never come up in good shape.

During that same hunt, I dug a deep iron signal and I found this:

saint

A tiny lead Saint Christopher. The fact that it is made of lead and the fact that it was over 8 inches deep tells me it is an old relic. The mystery to me is that it doesn’t appear to be part of a pendant but rather it seems to be a tiny statue. As you can see, it has a flat base that allows it to stand. There are remnants of the black paint that covered it at one time and the word GERMANY is stamped on the base. The Barber is used for size comparison. Interesting.

I am taking a trip this Saturday to the Eastern Kansas border for a Karate tournament. I hope to have an hour or so to hunt an old park I know about.  I am going back to the 1840’s and 1850’s time-wise and maybe, just maybe, I may be able to find a Seated coin.

Wish me luck.

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The old bullet

13 Feb

Yesterday at lunch time, I met up with Friendly Metal Detecting Forum member, Stevouke for a quick hunt at the oldest park in Wichita. Stevo was sick with the flu but he gallantly charged on.

After 45 minutes or so and after having dug two wheat cents and an assortment of rusted iron bits, I got what I thought was a good dime signal. I dug the plug and somewhere between six and seven inches, I found this:

Civ

I don’t ordinarily get excited about bullets as I find so many of them in our parks (!). In fact, during this hunt I found another bullet, that one with the cartridge attached. However, the bulk and weight of this bullet, plus the rings at the bottom, were strikingly reminiscent of Civil War bullets dug by the guys down south.

Obviously this is not a CW artifact as it was found in a most definite non-civil war site, but it could be from the period. I know next to nothing about bullets but Stevo found a web site with excellent pictures of various bullets used during that terrible conflict. There was activity in these parts around that time. Traders and others were venturing across the plains before the Civil War even started. The Chisholm trail cuts right through Wichita and other trails ran nearby.

At any rate, I now understand the excitement the relic hunters feel when they find stuff like this. Relics, I’ve said before, connect you to the past in a much more personal level than coins do.

length width

My boys were very excited to see the bullet and this led to a conversation about the Civil War. They were both solemnly silent as they felt the heavy weight of the bullet in their hands. I could see their imagination churning as they admired the massive projectile. And even though we are not gun owners or gun fans, the history that was brought to life by this bullet, made the bullet the coolest find of the year thus far.

Thank you for looking!

The Deus and the Iron Pit

11 Jul

I took the XP Deus metal detector to the Iron Pit. The Iron Pit has become the proving grounds for all my metal detectors.

The Deus p-owned the Iron Pit!

I have said that I have hunted the Iron Pit until there were no signals left except ferrous signals. Then I took the Tesoro Compadre and was floored that I was able to get a few non-ferrous targets out of the Iron Pit.

Well today, after work, I hit the Iron Pit with the Deus. In essence and for all practical purposes, the Iron Pit has become a live site again, with LOTS of non-ferrous signals.

various metal objects

Iron Pit, p-owned!

I even managed to get a silver earring!

Not pictured are about a dozen pull tabs and beaver tails that were invisible to my other detectors.

silver earring

This was so loud and clear, a deaf man could have found it.

Getting non-ferrous targets from an iron-infested site with the Deus was like taking candy from a baby.

I used the Deus Fast program that came installed from the factory. I am so excited at the prospect of gridding the Iron Pit with the Deus and seeing what amazing goodies I missed before.

Oh, and I only took the targets that were easy to extract. I left many signals that were deep and will wait for me and the Sampson T-handle digger.

Thank you for looking!

30 minutes at the bad park

16 Sep

Went back to the bad park at lunch. Unfortunately, I got rained out about 20 minutes into the hunt. I managed to find some can slaw, some bottle caps, and these three things:

heart lock, bullet, 1964 memorial penny

My finds

The memorial penny is a 1964 D. I hope to find some silver in this park soon.