Very Strange/Intriguing Observations About "War" Nickels; Looking For Info

Hello all.

I am a metal detectorist and -- as such -- a "mild" coin enthusiast (though certainly nothing close to a "numismatist" with the experience of most of you here).

My questions surround "war" nickels. I'm familiar with the basic facts surrounding these nickels, when/why minted, etc., and that the "stated" composition that was arrived at (though apparently Congress originally approved a 50% silver, 50% copper alloy for the "war" nickels) was a 35% silver, 56% copper, 9% manganese alloy. Apparently, this alloy was the one ultimately chosen, as it was apparently an alloy that would work properly in vending machines, as I understand it?

In any case, on a metal detector, a "war" nickel will generate an ID number very, very close to a "regular" 75% copper, 25% Jefferson nickel -- i.e. within about one ID number (and this is consistent across metal detector brands/models). This ID number is MUCH lower than where a dime, or pre-'83 95% copper penny, will ID.

HOWEVER, and this is where it gets interesting, there are rare occasions where a detectorist will receive an ID for an in-ground target that suggests a penny/dime type target, and upon digging, it very surprisingly turns out to be a "war" nickel. As I said, this is rather rare, but there are nonetheless many documented cases from many states, where these extremely high-reading War Nickels have been found. For instance I can document that twice this year, one of my detecting partners has found TWO of them (both 1943) that were ID'd by his detector up in the "penny" range. He later tested both of them, out of the ground, on a DIFFERENT detector, to verify the readings.

I can state with near certainty that this is almost positively suggestive of a different metal composition within a small subset of "war" nickels. Metal detectors operate on the principle whereby they receive, and then "read," an electromagnetic field generated by electrical "eddy currents" that have been induced on the surface of a metal target by the electromagnetic field transmitted by the detector. In other words, The detector transmits EM energy, and when that energy contacts a metal object, electrical current is induced in the object. This object's "eddy current" then generates its OWN electromagnetic field, that is DIFFERENT from the field transmitted by the detector. The detector receives this "new" electromagnetic information generated by the metal target, and through the "magic" of electronics and software, "computes" ID information about the target. So, bottom line, the metal detector's ID of a target is (roughly speaking) a sort of "conductivity measurement" of whatever metal/alloy the target is composed of.

Based on how detectors operate, and based on my experience in both the hobby of detecting and in my career as a scientist, the only logical explanation I can hypothesize for this, is a metal alloy in these "high-reading" War Nickels that is substantially more "conductive" than the copper/silver/manganese alloy.

My GUESS is that some nickels WERE minted with that 50% silver/50% copper alloy that Congress originally approved (or perhaps a "mistake" in the creation of the alloy in certain batches of planchets, where the manganese was barely, or not at all, included). That would completely explain the "high ID" characteristics of this "rare breed" of War Nickels; I can confirm that silver/copper alloys read "high" on a metal detector, while the normal copper/nickel alloy of regular Jefferson nickels reads "low." Also, like a copper/nickel alloy, the silver/copper/manganese alloy that was "officially" used in "normal" War Nickels also reads "low" on a detector.

The reason that I bring this up is that I have never seen any information stating that there were ever any War Nickels minted with any alloy ASIDE FROM that copper/silver/manganese alloy. So, I was hoping that someone here has some information to that regard, and could shed some light on this. Perhaps this is a "known" fact in numismatic circles, and I'm just ignorant. However, if not, and if no one knows of any "official" information that a different alloy was ever used, I feel I may be onto something here, because I would state with 99% certainty that there absolutely are some reasonable number of "war" nickels out there that are of a different, or at least incorrectly forumulated, alloy -- presumably the silver/copper alloy WITHOUT the manganese (or at least, a lesser amount of manganese). They are rather rare, judging by the frequency they are found by detectorists, but not EXTREMELY rare (as they are found MUCH more often than, say, a 1916-D Mercury dime...)

Thoughts?

Steve