10 Top Tips for Metal Detecting

Are you new to metal detecting? Perhaps you are looking to brush up on your metal detecting skills? If so, Regton has provided tips to help you get the most out of your hobby.

1. Do your research before you buy a metal detector. There are many different types and models on the market, and choosing one that suits your specific needs is essential. Regton stocks a wide range of metal detectors for professional use.

2. Get a decent metal detector if you’re serious about finding valuable items. While some good-quality consumer-grade detectors are available, they won’t have all the features or attributes of a more expensive model.

3. Make sure you have a waterproof control box on your new metal detector if you plan on using your detector in anything deeper than 6 inches. Some models’ control boxes are only weather-resistant, so they won’t be able to withstand being submerged in water. You can view our range of underwater metal detectors here

XP Deus II Metal Detector

4. Brush up your knowledge of local laws and regulations in case of finding treasure. Research the Treasure Act 1999, and remember that you must report all finds of treasure to a coroner for the district in which they are found within 14 days after the day you made the discovery.

5. Practice using your metal detector in different terrain and soil. Open countryside & beaches are very different detecting experiences. This will help you get a feel for how it works and what kinds of objects it can detect.

6. Be patient, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different settings on your metal detector. It takes time and practice to get good at metal detecting, and you may need to adjust the sensitivity or ground balance depending on the conditions you’re detecting.

7. Keep an eye on the weather forecast before you go out metal detecting. If there’s a chance of rain, it’s best to take precautions, so take a sandwich bag that could be placed over a non-waterproof control box if you get caught out.

8. Wear comfortable clothing and footwear when you go metal detecting. You’ll be doing a lot of walking, so it’s essential to be comfortable. Remember, no steel toe caps. Have you ever seen a dog chase its tail?

9. Bring along a small shovel or trowel to help you dig up objects you find. Make sure you fill any holes you make, so the area is left in its natural state. This is equally important on farmland despite it sometimes being a rough terrain; it’s all about etiquette, making good your holes & remove any rubbish, and helping the farmer.

10. Have fun and enjoy the outdoors! Metal detecting is an excellent hobby for people of all ages. 

For more information, you can look at Regton’s beginner guide here

Be sure to check out our range of professional metal detectors and waterproof metal detectors at https://regton.com

Rodney Cook Memorial Metal Detecting Rally – May 2022

by Aaron Reynolds

Firstly, I’d like to thank all the staff and marshals at the Rodney Cook Memorial one day metal detecting rally. It was truly amazing to speak with you all and express our love of metal detecting, charity events, and the love of the hobby together. This doesn’t begin to mention the countless detectorists who attended, and it wouldn’t have been possible without you. I have not seen how much we have raised so far, but I imagine it will go a long way to help the RUH (Royal United Hospitals of Bath) Forever Friends appeal, which supports patients who require more care than the average patient. Raising over £100,000 so far, the RCM rally continues to support local charities. I couldn’t be more proud of the whole team for getting it so far along, raising an incredible sum that will make a big difference in many lives.

The briefing.

Arriving at the dig, we drove in to see lots of smiles and people setting up, and we quickly parked up and followed suit. After getting geared up, Seb and I had a chat with some detectorists and made our way over to the briefing area, ready to start. The briefing was to-the-point, clear and well communicated by Gary Cook himself, and then the hoards of detectorists were off.
As usual, I waited 15 minutes for everyone to disperse and had a chat in the meantime with some of the marshals, who were incredibly helpful and kind. Walking out into the first field I wanted to tackle, first hole and boom; A ship halfpenny, all the way from 1946, right in the entrance to the field. Considering my usual find rate, it was a good sign for me.

First hole!

Getting further into the field and a couple of buttons later, I had a fantastic signal ringing in my ears, and I plunged the spade in after pinpointing. Turning over the clod, I found the target straight away, staring me in the face; A broken crotal bell. There were small fragments around a considerable chunk, including the top loop, with the ‘ringer’ still nestled inside. The ringer was iron and had rusted over and loosely bonded to the shell of the bell, keeping it in place until I had it in my hand. It had decoration, and I believe (from the little knowledge I have on crotal bells) that it was an older variant, with a drilled casted loop at the top as opposed to the more common later method of adding a sprew after casting. Broken or not, it was my first crotal bell, and I was over the moon. I have been searching for one for a long time, and it finally came up for me.

Broken but glorious!

After an hour or so, following a quick stop at the food van for a snack, Seb and I decided to try the other fields. The second field we tried was the main field (the field we parked in for those who attended), and we slowly made our way up to the top field near the Saxon church. These fields were buzzing with detectorists (naturally, considering the location and what others had found there in the morning). I didn’t have much luck on these fields, but I did pick up a couple more buttons for good measure. Speaking to other detectorists, I found that there were quite a few with hammered coins, even some lucky souls with a few of them in their finds box. It was great to see them nonetheless, especially the Gold Louis (XVIII?) in the find’s cabinet for the event. Well done to that lucky finder.
I also had a great chat with Mike and Dennis, part of the RCM team. They were delightful to talk to, and I can’t wait to see them at the next RCM weekender. I hope they managed to get a bit of detecting. The marshals deserve it more than us for the fantastic job they do!

I HAVE PADLOCKS ON MY DEUS II REMOTE!
As I was sweeping with my XP DEUS II, I approached another detectorist’s hole and received a great tone. I’m used to checking holes and retrieving the trash from them that some detectorists leave behind, but it seemed this target was slightly off from the existing hole. Reopening the plug, I manually pinpointed the target and dug in my spade, pulling up a find many would consider trash, but I quite like – a lock, still clasped around a bracket. Long past its days of operation, I still class this as an intriguing find. There might not be hundreds of years of history behind it, it may not have seen the rise and fall of various empires and tyrants, but it has its own story that will likely never be known, same as every other artefact or relic. Before spending its life drowning in soil and worms, it probably once acted as an attempt to keep something or someone safe from others, and based on where I found it, still locked, it did its job until the end.
We have all had the padlocks on the Deus II remote at some point (diving mode, for those not in the know), but now I can say it literally!

Locked up!

We made our way back to the main area for the raffle, which was a great success. Lady luck wasn’t by my side, but many lucky detectorists got their hands on some detecting equipment, RCM merchandise or some other donated prizes and bottles of bubbly. I’m sure everyone left with a smile and was content with their finds and/or rewards. Most of all, we all got together as a community to raise some cash for a great charity. Of all the rallies we visit, the RCM is always guaranteed to be a great event to attend, and I will always recommend it as one of the friendliest and well-run rallies in the UK.
Lastly, I’d like to give a big shoutout and thank you to Gary Cook, whom I consider the leading architect of the RCM team. He ensures the events are as enjoyable as possible, makes sure everyone is safe and happy and sets a new bar when it comes to rallies. If you have attended an RCM rally, or are considering joining them for a weekend, be sure to give him a firm handshake and a thank you. This wouldn’t be happening without him. Thank you for having us, RCM. It was an absolute pleasure.

Gary Cook (right), Seb (behind) and I, Aaron (left).

Deus version 4.1

Dear XP Customers,

Please note that from last week we started to deliver the DEUS with version 4.1 installed and will continue after our Christmas holidays.

The Deus version 4.1 update will be available to download from XP website at the beginning of January only.

Don’t hesitate to contact Nigel or Marcus at Regton, Gary Blackwell or any of the XP authorised dealers if you need further technical explanation about the 4.1.

All at XP would like to wish you a happy and exciting 2018!

Regards

ALAIN LOUBET – XPLORER Sarl

Adam Coil and Cnut penny

XP Deus Elliptical HF Coil

XP Deus Elliptical HF Coil

Adam Staples

I’ve been waiting 7 years for an elliptical coil for the Deus. Ever since I first tried the Deus on iron-infested ground, and realised its potential to open up these sites, I have longed for XP to take it one step further with a smaller coil. The small footprint of the new 9.5” x 5” coil combined with the higher frequency choice of 14/30/80khz meant I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one.

XP deus Elliptical coilAfter a few weeks of experimentation with the new coil, the combines finally started to roll and some of our favourite sites were becoming available. The elliptical had already proven itself useful, searching amongst the oilseed rape stubble and pulling out tiny finds that we had missed on previous searches, but now was the time to really put it to work on a contaminated site.

Our venue for the day was a large wheat field, the stubble had been harrowed down and conditions were near perfect. Last year we had discovered a small Roman site, field-walking had revealed an abundance of Roman pottery and an area of occupation approximately 100m x 100m. The soil was black here, littered with iron targets both large and small and the good finds were mainly small Roman coins, a perfect challenge for the new elliptical coil.

Adams XP Deus Elliptical findsI started detecting around the edge of the main area using my 2 tone HF program, 30khz and reactivity 2.5. I really like the new 2.5 setting of V4, it is fast enough to get amongst the iron but still gives good depth on targets. Detecting in a straight line, my first pass of the site produced a few small pieces of lead before I hit the first Roman coin, a small bronze of the Emperor Gratian (AD 367 – 383). The HF coils really boost the signal from small items and this sounded much larger than it actually was.  A few more bronze coins followed as I continued my line and then a much larger signal produced the first artefact of the day, a lovely 1st century Roman brooch from around 6” deep.

Adam Coil and Cnut pennyWhen searching a productive site I always detect up and down in parallel lines to ensure thorough coverage. Eventually my search pattern took me to the edge of the most iron-infested and mineralised area of the site and it was here that I switched programs. I chose a customised version of the HOT program, running at 75khz, that I have been using recently with great success. The HF coils do not have the ID NORM feature of the standard coils, which means that at higher frequencies the numerical ID of a target is greatly increased. For instance: a medieval cut quarter coin typically registers around 45 at 18khz, but at 75khz it is around 85. When using a full tones program such as HOT, this means that the tone from a low-conductive item is much higher and stands out much more clearly. Combining this with the new negative discrimination of -6.4 meant that I was able to hear the full range of large and small iron in the ground whilst easily recognising the small non-ferrous targets lying within. The GB was set to 75 in manual, quite a difficult setting for general detecting but the HF coils are more stable than the standard coils at low GB and using full tones helped here. In full tones the good targets are clearly distinguishable from any ground noise and the new X/Y screen profile is another useful aid to target identification.

Adam Cnut pennyI set to work on the busy area and many more Roman coins followed. The elliptical coil is so precise amongst the iron and, searching slowly, it was possible to pick out the high tones right on the edge of iron signals. One of these signals produced my best find of the day, an Anglo-Saxon penny of King Cnut (1016 – 1035), a real surprise as this was my first hammered silver from this site. A second hammered, a small silver Venetian Soldino turned up shortly afterwards.

Adam Medieval ringThe elliptical coil is really well suited to sites such as this and the higher frequencies enable the Deus to see through difficult ground, to find the tiny items and also larger targets that are being partially masked by iron or heavy mineralisation. The slim design makes it ideal for use when conditions are difficult either above or below the ground. Not only does this coil excel on contaminated soil, it’s also a very useful tool for searching amongst vegetation, stubble or on rough ploughed fields. This coil is only tiny but has had a big impact on my detecting, I finished the day with over 200 non-ferrous targets including 45 Roman bronze coins, two Roman brooches, a Medieval ring and two hammered silvers… my best day ever on this site.