how to see gold in a bazooka before cleaning it out?

[Goldwasher]

Verizon at&t sucks most everywhere in the hills

 

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[goldenmojo]

Phone service is really hit or miss. My bud has satellite text only. No phone but can get and send messages when far away from the crowd and great as a safety procedure. You might look into that.

 

[Underburden]

" how to see gold in a bazooka before cleaning it out?"
Keep your eyes open for this...

 

[ebuyc]

Bazooka slick plate action

i've noticed than on a conventional sluice like a Keene, which has a mat at the front, small nuggets collect on there so you get a pretty good idea right from the get go if you are on pay

it seems to me all the magic in a bazooka is totally hidden from view until you do a clean-out (although not sure, i did see one video when someone said small nuggets collect in front of the grizzlies)

i was wondering about putting a mat in front of the grizzlies to catch small nuggets. anyone try that?

there's a lot to choose from Gold Prospecting Equipment - Sluice Mat

The texture of the Bazooka slick plate holds the gold behind, so you see instantly how much gold you are getting (Miller table like action.) I love this action - each dump into the sluice shows several flakes of gold when you are in a good spot. The gold will move down and drop into the trap - but you get to see it before that happens.

I think this is superior to a conventional sluice... the gold gets covered up to a point and you look for it AFTER shoveling usually. The Bazooka shows you the color as you go...

My two bits.

 

[socalal99]

A number of prospectors up on the EF San Gabriel have glued low black matting to the front of their bazokas or LeTraps, and all of them like it. You can easily see if you are on gold or not. I even put black matting on the front of my CalSluice.

 

[bobw53]

A number of prospectors up on the EF San Gabriel have glued low black matting to the front of their bazokas or LeTraps, and all of them like it. You can easily see if you are on gold or not. I even put black matting on the front of my CalSluice.

I don't know sluicing from shinola (desert here and all), and I'm not sure exactly where you are putting the matting, or how much turbulence it creates.... But.. Isn't the slick plate an important part of the Bazooka? Its there
for a reason, its LONG for a reason, and the bigger the Bazooka, and the bigger the scoop you can toss on there, the longer it is....

From my understanding, and I may be wrong, its happened before (every couple of minutes my whole life). A slick plate allows the material to sort itself out naturally in the water, heavies sinking, lights being displaced and
rising.. I'd think this is more important on a Bazooka than on a standard riffled sluice.. Seems to me from what I understand of how a Bazooka works, Materials sort, or start to sort themselves out on the slick plate, and
then the bottom of the material falls into the fluid bed, and then the lights blast straight through over the fluid bed... It seems a fluid bed doesn't work THAT fast and you only want the heaviest stuff to actually
get in there.

Seems to me if you mess with the stratification that occurs on the slick plate with some kind of matting, you could induce turbulence that could un-stratisfy(is that a word) the material and allow gold to blow right through.

Just my thoughts, I don't know if I'm right or not. Any thoughts? Is my thinking off? or am I just thinking too much?

 

[mytimetoshine]

Like putting aftermarket parts on a Ferrari.

 

[goldenmojo]

 

[Adventure_Time]

I'd take a dremel to it and epoxy in a plexi window along the trap sidewall.

 

[Goodyguy]

I'd take a dremel to it and epoxy in a plexi window along the trap sidewall.

In order to see into a plexi window on the sidewall you would have to lift the sluice up out of the water and even then your view would be limited to only the side of the the trap.

i've noticed than on a conventional sluice like a Keene, which has a mat at the front, small nuggets collect on there so you get a pretty good idea right from the get go if you are on pay

it seems to me all the magic in a bazooka is totally hidden from view until you do a clean-out (although not sure, i did see one video when someone said small nuggets collect in front of the grizzlies)

i was wondering about putting a mat in front of the grizzlies to catch small nuggets. anyone try that?

Any sluice is a piece of production equipment to be used after a pay streak has been located by first sampling using a pan. Trust that the Bazooka will trap the gold that has been fed into it and just keep on feeding it paydirt. To empty the trap into a 5 gallon bucket filled half full of water only takes a few seconds and then another minute to pan out those cons.

Putting a mat on the slick plate would be up to you but with experience you will realize it's not only not necessary but counterproductive as well. As Kevin in Colorado suggests "Think Less-Shovel More" And I'm sure that applies once you have test panned first to know you are on the gold.

Can you find gold without test panning and just shovel dirt and gravel through a sluice hit or miss style? Only if you're lucky and you are too green to know that sample panning first is the real key to getting on a worthwhile pay streak.

Go for the gold
GG~

 

[KevinInColorado]

If sample pans are encouraging, I often do a timed, bulk sample by shoveling into the Bazooka for 10 or 15 minutes and then doing a cleanout to estimate the productivity of a pay streak. I find that sort of test more accurate than just a pan or two and it's quick and easy.

Of course GG is right about my "think less, shovel more" comment. ;-)