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How to Nugget Shoot With a Metal Detector

Nugget shooting is the practice of using a metal detector to locate gold nuggets. Gold is a metal, and all metal detectors will detect it in larger quantities. However, proper adjustments of the metal detector are necessary to improve the chances of locating small nuggets and even fine gold, according to the gold prospecting website The Rocker Box.

Things You'll Need

Gold pan
Tweezer
Magnifying glass
Stakes or flags
Trowel or hand shovel

Instructions

- 1
  Adjust the discrimination function of the metal detector to an "Off" or "No Discrimination" setting. A metal detector designed specifically for gold prospecting will not have a discrimination function at all. The discrimination function allows coin and relic hunters to tune out junk metal such as nails or metal trash but would also preclude finding any but the largest nuggets.
- 2
  Use stakes or small flags to lay out areas to systematically search with the metal detector. Cover the area slowly. If you get a reading, excavate the area.
- 3
  Use gold prospecting tools, such as a gold pan, to search the soil of the area of the signal. The nuggets located by a metal detector with the discrimination off can be as small as the head of a pin. Searching the soil removed from the spot located by the metal detector will take patience as well as tweezers and even a magnifying glass to locate a gold nugget. Fill all excavations when done.

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