Coin shooting means searching for coins. This is usually done in high-traffic public places like parks, ball fields, church lawns, or school yards.

In most of these places, you're likely to find a lot of aluminum trash, like pull tabs and bottle caps; sometimes you'll run across steel bottle caps or nails. Most coinshooters search in discrimination mode in order to ignore the trash. If there is jewelry present, you may miss it using discrimination mode; on the other hand, you won't keep digging for bottle caps.

If you're shooting in an area where digging holes could damage the grass, it's helpful to use a handheld pinpointer. This lets you accurately pinpoint your target, then carefully cut a slit in the turf with a knife to recover it; afterward, you should replace the turf you removed and tamp it down so that the grass can re-grow. In places like this, where you can't dig down to deep targets because of turf damage, reduce the sensitivity of your detector to pick up targets closer to the surface.

Always get permission from the property owner when searching on private property. If you're searching on public property, it's likely to be owned by the county, city, or school district; usually there's no ordinance prohibiting metal detecting, as long as you don't cause any damage. Sometimes these ordinances are in place, though, so be sure to check before you set out. Sometimes administrators or security have the legal authority to prohibit metal detecting even if there isn't a pre-existing ordinance. Your best bet is always to ask before hunting. If there's a metal detecting club near you, someone in the club may know which areas are okay to search.

Give people a reason to want you around! Pick up trash while you're searching, especially glass or metal fragments that could hurt children. Get good at recovering targets without damaging grass or lawns. If you find jewelry or other objects with personal identification marks, try to find the original owner and return it. When people see what you're doing as a public service, they're likely to welcome you.

Relics are historical artifacts like coins, jewelry, metal buttons or toys, tools, or battlefield debris and weapons. Always be careful when exploring a site that may have unexploded ordnance (grenades, mines, or other explosives).

Relic hunters usually search forested areas, fields, and vacant lots. Because it's acceptable to dig deeper holes in these places, you'll want a detector with good depth sensitivity. Good relic hunting locations are often littered with unwanted metal, especially iron in the form of rusted cans, fence wire, or nails; in this case, it will be easier if you set your detector to discriminate for iron, even though you may miss some iron relics.

Always get permission from the property owner or site administrator before you go relic hunting! Some sites, private and public, are protected from relic hunting by law. It can be useful to check with a metal detecting club in your area, since members may know rules for local sites.

Relic hunters who are interested in history have the most fun. Usually a relic's value isn't in the object itself, but in the story of where it came from (historians call this “context”; archaeologists call it “provenance”). A scrap of rusted metal can open up the world of the past.

Good relic hunters always document where their finds come from and store them in an organized way in order to preserve value and context. Understand your sites, and keep detailed descriptions of where and how you find relics. If you can, include a sketch of the site. Some Fisher detectors, like the F75, actually let you map a site's soil; you can see areas that have been dug out, filled back in, or fired on.

Relic hunters find promising sites by doing research in local libraries, old newspapers, and on the Internet. Look for sites where buildings once stood, but have since been torn down; where stagecoach or train lines ran; where people gathered for events like fairs or dances; or other places with notable activity. Town historical societies and local history museums can be a big help; often curators can help you identify finds. As a bonus, working with a local museum or historical society can make people more willing to let you onto their property.

Another good bet for relic hunting is land that is about to be cleared for development. You can make a good case that the site should be searched before it is built on.

In the United States, people have found gold in Alaska, a few areas of the Appalachians, and many places in the West. The best way to find gold is to search in areas where people already know gold can be found.

When gold prospecting with a metal detector, hillsides are your best bet. They can't be cleared of gold using panning or dredging, the way streams can; and gold nearer a source vein on a hillside is usually larger since it hasn't been broken up by rolling downhill or been worn away with gravel in a stream.

Gold is valuable to people because it's rare, so gold prospectors need patience. Even in an area that's known to produce gold, you may search all day without finding anything. And in order for a metal detector to register gold, discrimination must be off or set very low, so you'll spend a lot of time digging up little bits of trash metal like bits of barbed wire, chips off of mining tools, and birdshot. Many gold areas have “hot rocks” that contain iron oxide concentrations; these register as metal on detectors and can be a nuisance. Remember though, if you're finding these things, you will also find gold if it's there!

Most gold finds are tiny nuggets discovered in soil with lots of iron oxide minerals, so serious gold prospectors have detectors with true, ground-balanced motion all-metal operation and high sensitivity. When you're getting started, run your detector with the sensitivity set high enough to hear the ground minerals; learn what they sound like. Headphones are particularly helpful (unless there are safety considerations, like rattlesnakes in the area). Move the coil deliberately and slowly, taking care to keep a constant distance from the ground to reduce any noise from iron minerals in the soil. If you're hearing ground noise, you may need to adjust your ground setting. Remember that in gold areas, ground conditions tend to change very rapidly, so it can help to check your ground setting frequently. If your detector has a Fe₃O₄ indicator, you can optimize gold finds by focusing on areas with higher concentrations of iron mineralization.

As with any kind of metal detecting, check if it's okay to be there. Lots of gold-producing areas are under claim, so always check first. You can also join a prospecting club, like the GPAA; some chapters own gold claims that members can use, or sponsor trips to gold-hunting areas.

A cache (pronounced like “cash”) is a collection of valuables that someone has hidden away. Buried caches are usually sealed in strongboxes or jars.

Unless you have miraculous luck, you need to do research to find a cache. The best source of information is often family or friends of the person who might have buried it, or older people who live in the area. You can also check old newspapers and records in a local library.

Always find out who owns the cache before you dig it up! This can be legally complicated; a cache can technically belong to the heirs of the person who hid it; to the property owner; to the finder; or to a combination of those three. Ownership is more complicated if the objects in the cache were ever stolen.

It's usually best to search with your detector set to Motion All-Metal mode, since caches are usually large and deep (especially compared to coins). For very deep caches, it may help to search with your detector in STAT mode; pull the trigger frequently in order to get the most out of the sensitivity.

All Fisher search coils are waterproof, so you can use any Fisher metal detector to search in shallow water up to about two feet deep. (For deeper water, consider our underwater metal detectors.) Don't let the electronics housing get wet, and watch out for salt spray on beaches; water damage isn't covered by the warranty.

Salt and freshwater places are great for metal detecting. People frequently lose jewelry and money in the sand and water, and it's usually easy to dig in siftable beach sand. Sometimes you can even help people find things they've lost!

For beach detecting, you'll find most value in jewelry instead of coins, so set your detector to Motion All-Metal mode or set the discrimination just high enough to eliminate iron. This means you'll find a lot of trash, but digging on a beach is easier than digging elsewhere, and you can help keep the beach clean and safe for bare feet. Fisher recommends using a sand scoop for easy recovery.

Watch out for false signals from the water itself – water is electrically conductive, too. To avoid this, keep your search coil either in or out of the water, but not touching the surface.

Underwater metal detecting can be exciting and rewarding, but it can also be more dangerous. Consider the following tips before trying it:

• Get training! Know how to properly operate all your equipment, especially your scuba gear.
• Scout your location! Metal detecting is more effective in more populated areas. You should also study the currents, wildlife, and other underwater conditions of your search area.
• Use the right gear! A better-quality metal detector will yield better results. Bring along a sand scoop for easy recovery of buried objects.