Sunday, May 5, 2013

5/5/13 Report - Headstamps on Shell Casings & Beach Detecting Conditions

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.



50 Caliber Shells Showing Headstamps.
First, I just got back from the beach.  One beach had lost some sand and one gained.  The one that gained sand has been doing so for at least a couple of weeks now while the one that lost sand has been doing so for a while too.

I got almost no signals at the beach that was gaining sand, while there were more signals at the beach that has been losing sand.

If there were more beaches that were losing sand, I would possibly upgrade my beach detecting conditions rating.  It wouldn't take much more for me to do it now.  I do think a few, very few, cobs will be found.  

I suspect that at least one other beach is losing sand, but I didn't see that one so I can't say for sure.

The waves were nicely formed for surfing today, although not very big.

The better beach had a steep drop at the top of the beach, although generally more sloped than cut.

Down the slope a little the beach flattened out a good bit, and then near the water was fairly flat.

It was mushy in some places in the middle and high end of the slope, but down by the water was fairly firm.

There were some targets on the good beach.  Modern coins were in the middle to lower section of the slope around low tide. 

Where I got the most signals though, was at the bottom of the slope on the firm part of the beach.  Unfortunately those targets were buried one to two feet deep and were difficult to retrieve with the waves and rushing water in that area.  The targets were under a foot plus of sand, and on the top of a layer of shells. 

I left some targets that I will try to get some other time when the tide is lower and the seas not as rough.

The targets in the low tide area were pretty much in a line.  The modern coins were up the slope a little more.

Too bad I forgot to take my camera.  That is why I tried to describe it as well as I could.



Yesterday I posted a picture of a 50 caliber shell casing.  I said yesterday that I posted a site where you could determine the factory and date of manufacturer of those shells.  That previous post was on 2/17/12. 

I  encourage people to use the search box in the blog because this blog now has a lot of information in it and, you can often find what you are looking for by using the search box.  Give it try.

Back to the 50 caliber shells.   Here is the web site that shows how to interpret the headstamps for the 50 caliber shells, which are fairly common finds on Florida beaches.

Here is the link to that.

http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/50caliber.html


The surf today on the Treasure Coast is 3 - 5 feet.  It will be dropping rather steadily during the week, reaching about 1 - 2 feet by next weekend.

Low tide today was about 11:30 AM.  The tide change today isn't big.

The wind is from the north/northwest with the swell pretty much from the east.

There was some small improvement to at least one beach today, but not quite enough for me to upgrade my beach detecting conditions rating.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net