beaches and gold

[brickie58]

hi, any tips for the best areas to search for a chance of a gold ring this will be on an atlantic surf beach no piers groynes etc just sand, should I look at the dry area, surf line, half tide line? I have an explorer se and have found coins I use very little discrimination so dig a lot of rubbish but never found a ring and getting a bit disillusioned with it now so any tips would be appreciated thanks

[dances with badgers]

i have had rings all over the beaches but tend to get more at the low tide line.some american detectorists recomend the mid section between the low tide line and the dry sand.look for low spots,gullies and troughs.also if you see large pebbles that have been thrown up onto the surface and have'nt sunk back down check that area.
 you aint doing nothing wrong and got a good machine so just keep at it.
 good luck
  mike

[Chef Geoff]

Hi Brickie
There is no one size fits all when it comes to beaches and those detectorists who do the best are the ones who have "learned" their beach.
Obviously Summer is not the best time as there is usually far too much sand on the beach, you can loose over 2 foot of sand in the winter, even more after a good storm (Minehead lost its entire beach in the 80's after a storm).
Even without groynes your beach may have some long-shore drift especially after a storm from the North West and it's worth finding out how yours works.
There are a few rules of thumb which state that the size and shape of an object causes drag, rings tend to dig themselves in pretty well and 99.9% of mine I would say have been found in the first third of the area between low and high tide lines, so closer to the low. Be guided by your finds and as Badger says the pebbles if there are any, the sea grades things pretty well.
Try and read the beach in the same way a golfer reads a green, look for any low points (cuts) areas of different colour sand showing through.
If your distance between high and low tide isn't that great then try zigzagging between them if you hit a good target spiral outwards and see if there is a natural low point which is trapping finds.
At the end of the day there is no sure fire way of finding them but some of the above may even up your odds.
Good luck and good hunting

[Lady Marian]

the best advice i can give you is only detect the most popular beaches in your area common sense tells you more people equals more losses.  remote beaches that dont attract the summer sun worshipers may hold a few coppers or gold rings but their just not worth the time searching them your better off concentraiting on the beaches you know will have lost rings on and you know the saying THE FIRST ONE IS ALWAYS THE HARDEST TO FIND  

[alun]

Solid advice. These guys know their stuff, as it was not so long ago I asked the same questions. The first gold i hit was by utter luck, and as Lady Marian stated the more popular the beach the higher your chances are.
Recently I detected a beach in the Gower which turned up a small but decent find in a gold earring with a small diamond, along with a fair amount of modern coins. But I visited the same beach last weekend which has a load more sand on the beach. Totally changed.

[musket ball]

your right there they certanly know there stuff.they have helped me out no end.you may not get a ring for twenty outings but keep at it as badger said to me and it will pay off for you.nice feeling when you find your first gold

[brickie58]

thanks to all who posted, I have detected this beach for 7 years its busy if the weathers nice, I tend to hammer it in the winter after the storms im beginning to think theres no gold there! any older detectorists noticed if ring finds are down from years ago? ive been thinking that less and less people are getting married so not so many engagement wedding and eternity rings to lose I know obviously people still wear jewellery, just something to ponder on, I think maybe I need to find another beach!! pity because this ones on my doorstep.

[dances with badgers]

i have seen a trend of peeps buying titanium,stainless and tungsten wedding rings because obviously they are cheaper.
 try another beach ,they are out there

[brickie58]

cheers badger will do im determined to find one somewhere.

[Chef Geoff]

If anything it's more a case of people not going in the sea as much as they did. Yes, rings can fall off anyway but the cold water is the big mover.

[Val Beechey]

I'd had noticed Geoff   

Val

[dances with badgers]

took me 8 months of searching 3 times a week before i had a ring,its bloody frustrating lol.