Why I never use any bottle cap rejection

The bottle cap reject option on metal detectors has a great ring to it, it sounds like a cool exciting feature that can provide you with no end of benefits. If you don't want to dig bottle caps then it really can help! but we have to remember though, not all bottle caps have the same composition so you will end up digging some even with the feature engaged. As I've mentioned loads of times, I dig bottle caps because I want to get them out the ground, there are no advantages in leaving them. As I've mentioned before, there are no shortcuts in metal detecting, shortcuts leave good targets in the ground. BUT! the illusion of shortcuts make the tech machines tangible.

Lots Of Bottle Caps Have Different Compositions

Two statements I hear a lot  "There's Literally Hundreds Where I Hunt" & "It's Not Possible To Dig Them All"  Obviously there's nothing wrong with these statements, each to their own, but if you've got hundreds where you're hunting then imagine how many good targets could be getting masked. The law of averages would dictate that running the bottle cap reject will still allow you to hear some good signals, obviously this all depends on the proximity these specific targets are in relation to the bottle cap/caps and how high you're running the rejection feature. There is no easy way around this, you either dig them all or you risk leaving potential treasure in the ground. Does This Matter? no not at all, it all depends how serious you are in finding the good stuff. 

Most videos I see like to push the whole "Stop Digging Bottles Caps" concept, as though there's this amazing secret and benefit, however they rarely explain the risks of doing so. I've made a few videos on my channel touching on this subject but these are aimed more towards I.D ing bottle caps with some of my analog machines as opposed to demonstrating the potential problem with them masking good targets. In these videos I still state that it's best to get them out the ground. I will make a video so I can demonstrate where the whole bottle cap reject feature falls short. Why Bother Doing This? so there's a balanced conversation going on, I believe newcomers to the hobby can take things so literally with out hearing both sides to the point being explained. Am I An Expert On This? nope I'm simply sharing my views on this specific subject. 

Small Silver Is Easily Masked

I've shown my Nexus Standard MP V3 being able to discriminate out bottle caps and still see an array of targets underneath. But it has to be understood that all bottle caps are not the same and some will ring in with a good non-ferrous tone. So either way you look at it, you're going to still be digging a certain number of them. I believe it's best to just get them out the ground, the more you open your ground up the higher the chances of you hitting on something good. On the flip side though, if you're on a short hunt and you're wanting to up your chances of digging something good, I can totally see why some might want to discriminate them out. Using the bottle cap reject for a short hunt - Yes I see the point, but using it on land you've got a life time to search, I see no benefit at all. 

The same can be said for pull tabs, these fall into the same category for me, it's best to dig them, all my analog machines can disc pull tabs out and still see a vast number of non-ferrous targets underneath and in close proximity. However, they're similar to bottle caps because not all pull tabs are the same so a small percentage of them will ring up with a good non-ferrous tone. On the digital machines, notching both pull tabs and bottle caps out doesn't work because you're going to notch out other good targets. Also changing the tone break doesn't help you either, yes. .. you can assign an iron tone to both pull tabs and bottle caps but this isn't going to solve the masking problems. It all goes back to the very simple fact that there are no shortcuts in metal detecting, modern machines might give you the idea there is but there isn't.