XLT and silver, not finding any

I've had my XLT for a few yrs now but mostly it was in the closet, so I joined a club and I'm just getting started on how to use it, but I'm having trouble with silver. I did some exparimenting in my backyard at different depths with some silver coins I had and started adjusting some of the settings, mostly AC sens. and Preamp gain, but when I turn the PAG. up around 10 or so even at lower settings around 6 I have to turn the AC sens. way down in the low 50's to get it to stablize and it just doesnt pick up silver very good especially at depth. My goal is to gain depth 5"-6" and deeper, but still find silver. I'm reading what I can on this site and reading understanding whites DFX. Is this machine just not a good silver machine. I know I have a lot to learn. Oh ya I'm starting in the coin jewlery program. Thanks for all the help   Dean

you have to balance out the 2,  lower the PAG and increase the sens.
think of it as the PAG as a multiplier and the sens as a fine tuner

I've been hunting with my XLT for 4 years and have found a couple hundred silvers (coins and jewelry).  My best advise is to start simple.  There's nothing wrong with starting with the preset "coin" program until you get comfortable with the machine.  This program should have no problem finding silver coins at 5-6".  You can increase that depth a little by simply tweaking the AC sens up to 70 or so (or as high as the machine will stably operate).  There's really no need to do any more advanced adjustments to get silver at 6".  I'd leave the preamp gain alone for now.  Now, the preset coin program will discriminate out a LOT of good targets (indians, war nickels, highly corroded nickels... and the biggie, a lot of gold)... but if its silver coins you're after, that's where I started.  I will say that the XLT, in my experience, is great with silver... just learn your machine and also focus on your swing technique as well.

thanks sniffer and desecrator, I will give your advise a try this weekend when I get a chance to get out. I think it's just a matter of practice and experimentation   Dean

good luck,  keep us posted