Bazooka gold trap mini

[preshrunkmilk]

I used a prospector all summer in indiana on the wabash river. It catches gold that you can only see under a loop. I also have a gold cube. I just used my gold cube stand for the sluice. I can get any angle depth in water ect. I want that way. Put a board on top with a rock to hold sluice down. I never have to worry about clearing the tailings pile because of the current unedr the stand does it for me. Also added a grizzly of a 1/4 to and any gold larger will stick right to the grizzly. Shovel right into the sluice and never look back.

 

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[norcalsteve]

Kevin, if i don't need the hold downs what keeps the bgt from drifting away? I don't see anybody in the videos ive seen putting rocks on them which i would imagine since i don't have to classify would get in the way of any bigger rocks going through the sluice.
Also, bazooka must have upped their production. We just got an email notice from ups that it has been shipped and schedualed for delivery on Monday. My wife ordered it on Tuesday.

 

[bazookagoldtrap]

Kevin, if i don't need the hold downs what keeps the bgt from drifting away? I don't see anybody in the videos ive seen putting rocks on them which i would imagine since i don't have to classify would get in the way of any bigger rocks going through the sluice.
Also, bazooka must have upped their production. We just got an email notice from ups that it has been shipped and schedualed for delivery on Monday. My wife ordered it on Tuesday.

Steve,

The hold downs work well for the smaller boxes or where you dont have much to wedge between.. but the taper of the sluices allow you to wedge it between rocks, and you can also put a rock at the discharge side to keep it from moving downstream (just be sure that it doesn't impede the discharge flow). After the scoop and trap pressurize the box shouldn't move upwards much.

Hope this helps,

Chris
Bazooka Gold Co.

 

[norcalsteve]

Chris,
Thank for the info. That all makes sense.
Steve

 

[KevinInColorado]

Right! (What Chris said) ;-)

In really variable water (water level prone to rise and fall,etc) where there weren't many decent rocks at hand I stuck a 2x2 stake thru the carry handle into the riverbed to reassure myself it wouldn't float off.

 

[Leonard F.]

Kevin, you've talked about owning the Prospector and the Supermini. In your opinion, does the Supermini clear material fast enough to make it a good choice for an all around sluice. I am still on the fence about which one to buy. Love the idea of the smaller, easier to carry Supermini.

Right! (What Chris said) ;-)

In really variable water (water level prone to rise and fall,etc) where there weren't many decent rocks at hand I stuck a 2x2 stake thru the carry handle into the riverbed to reassure myself it wouldn't float off.

 

[fowledup]

In my opinion I'd say the mini in the video needed to be flattened out. With that amount of flow you could see the fines going over the top and not thru the box. Don't be afraid to run the thing darned near flat it will still process quite well.

Be careful covering the grizzly bars you will deflect a lot of material over the top instead of thru it. I've tried all kinds of mods to mine it's my nature, I can't help myself. I'm currently trying out some quarter mesh in front of the grizzly, old habit I still like to see gold being trapped, which is honestly my only complaint about it- you can't see,what it's doing inside. But in all honesty I'm going to remove that as well, it's just another way to bounce material up and over the grizzly.

Not Classifying- doesn't seem right, and I did classify up until recent. You have to learn to trust it. I've salted a test bucket or two of classified vs unclassified- no real difference. I will still classify if I am hauling buckets a ways, more material for the effort.

Imho, the side clips are a great mod, it does want to ride up at first, and I hate covering the top. The best mods you can make to this sluice are your gathering and production methods.
Cool thing about this sluice is if your packing in with buddies. You don't have to pack in a ton of equipment. One sluice, one pan, one catch pan, one or two 3 gal. buckets a piece, and whatever implements of destruction you like. Each person can do a clean up after they have ran their bucket or do a group one 10-12 buckets in. Or if your prospecting an area you can do a quick clean out after each spot. Not as fast as pan prospecting but you process a larger sample for less effort and not much more time. Any who I'm rambling, Good luck with it.

 

[fowledup]

My two cents- Prospector vs supermini. If your the only one running it I think the mini is perfect. Despite its size, it will run material as fast as you want. For a pair or small group I'd bring the Prospector. We frequently have three folks sharing it and there's not much down time if any. If we are in a new spot and have a ton of overburden to go thru well bring the big one just for the ducks of it, you gotta move it so you might as well process it.

 

[KevinInColorado]

My two cents- Prospector vs supermini. If your the only one running it I think the mini is perfect. Despite its size, it will run material as fast as you want. For a pair or small group I'd bring the Prospector. We frequently have three folks sharing it and there's not much down time if any. If we are in a new spot and have a ton of overburden to go thru well bring the big one just for the ducks of it, you gotta move it so you might as well process it.

Leonard, I think FowledUp is exactly right. I can shake material right off of a #2 shovel onto the supermini so it's big enough for one person. I do feel I can work faster with the prospector so I'm really happy to have both tho!

 

[Goodyguy]

In my opinion, for around a hundred bucks there is not a better sluice out there than the super mini bazooka.

GG~

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Kevin, how much material do you run thru your prospector model before doing a clean out? I know you shovel direct when you can, but how many buckets worth before a clean out do you think?
Thanks

 

[preshrunkmilk]

Kevin, how much material do you run thru your prospector model before doing a clean out? I know you shovel direct when you can, but how many buckets worth before a clean out do you think?
Thanks

I run all day in mine. I dug a 4x5 ft hole 4 feet deep one day with out a clean up. When I did the cons where so heavy and had micron gold in them. I checked tallings at end no gold was found. I had good flow that day using my gold cube stand for the sluice it processed every shovel full before I could dump the next.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Preshrunkmilk, thanks for that example. I myself have not tried to test it's limits as you have. My usual use to date has been running 1 or 2 bucket samples to test various spots in an area. Given your results I am going to have to try a serious volume test.

 

[Prospector70]

Hi gang, man I am really interested in this sluice tech. After a day of dealing with the leaves in my Keene A51 all day yesterday I have to ask how the Bazooka's handle leaves?
How is the best way to deal with the things? Do you put a screen or something in the water? I'm thinking about bringing a small roll of chicken wire or something and make a barrier to keep them out (I'd rather clear that barrier than cringe as a leaf face plants on my assayers mat and doesn't move off)

 

[Goodyguy]

Hi gang, man I am really interested in this sluice tech. After a day of dealing with the leaves in my Keene A51 all day yesterday I have to ask how the Bazooka's handle leaves?
How is the best way to deal with the things? Do you put a screen or something in the water? I'm thinking about bringing a small roll of chicken wire or something and make a barrier to keep them out (I'd rather clear that barrier than cringe as a leaf face plants on my assayers mat and doesn't move off)

Best way I've found is to create a screen from heavy duty 1/2" hardware cloth and attach each side to the wide end of the bazooka
That way the leaves have more of a chance to self clean off the screen.

Here is a photo of mine to show what I just tried to describe....
The screen is set at a 30 degree angle to make it self clearing.





GG~

 

[preshrunkmilk]

If leaves get into the bazookas lower water feed and stop the spray tubes from working the sluice will loose gold. I have never had this happen thou they always seem to wrap around the upoer level and lower level. The flow over the top of the sluice just fine for me. Moss however has got stuck. I just don't use the sluice when the river or creek are cleaning themselves but I thi k it would be the same problem for any sluice.

 

[tweeta_bear]

ok so im saving my change in a crown royal bag... you know the purple felty bag with the gold string on it... well ive saved up about $75 in change so far to buy one of these bazookas. i seen a video of the miner sluice where a guy was feeding material right from a 5gallon bucket... he said in the vid that no classification is necessary, i seen rocks the size of softballs rolling through it. im thinkn about getting the prospector but im having trouble deciding. do i go with the 30", 36" or the 48"?
is the prospector the same... no classification is necessary? should i go with the heavy weight or the regular weight? should i get the regular grizzlies or the big grizzlies? i know kevinincolorado has one... which one do you have kevin? any one you would have got instead?

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Tweet, it seems everyone that has used in loves it. Whatever size, model. You are correct, no classifying for any of the models, although I think I'd at least classify to 1" with the super mini size. I guess the size you pick all depends on water flow at your site, and how much material you want to move. My buddy and I have run as much as 25 buckets in 6hrs thru my A51.... My guess is that with a faster available feed speed, maybe we could up that to 30-35 buckets if we didn't have to classify.

 

[tweeta_bear]

well i like the idea of no classifying. i want to try to get one that will be versatile in any situation. i guess a lower flow would be best cuz in faster water i can divert it much easier then trying to speed it up. so im probably going to go with the 36" prospector with the regular weight and the regular grizzlies. im liken the fact that bazooka isnt going to charge shipping and handling.

 

[tweeta_bear]

Tweet, it seems everyone that has used in loves it. Whatever size, model. You are correct, no classifying for any of the models, although I think I'd at least classify to 1" with the super mini size. I guess the size you pick all depends on water flow at your site, and how much material you want to move. My buddy and I have run as much as 25 buckets in 6hrs thru my A51.... My guess is that with a faster available feed speed, maybe we could up that to 30-35 buckets if we didn't have to classify.

the more i use my keene A52 the more i dont like it.