Bazooka sniper maiden voyage

[tyeechinook]

Hi so I got my sniper 36" out for its first run last weekend. Did a test pan and came up with about 30 specks to flakes! So let's rock! I ran 6-3 gal buckets through. I love not classifying!!! Panned out the cons and only came up with about 50 specks to flakes? Strange so I did another test pan and sure enough the same result as the first test pan. I'm pretty sure I had it set up right, kept sticking my fingers in the trap and could feel the tubes, so I don't know what happened. I should have set a catch pan to check tailings, but I was so confident in the way it was running, I thought I didn't need it. Material only got up to 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the top lip of the trap. Anybody have any advice other than the obvious set a catch pan? I really am looking forward to learning to run this thing to its max efficiency. Very cool to watch the material go through. A lot of flakes stuck to the slick plate...
Thanks!


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[mytimetoshine]

I have a prospector 36 and used to have the mini. They mini just wasn't working for me and honestly I could beat it with a pan in most water flows so I sold it. My prospector catches pretty good. Some may disagree but I think it does lose "some" fines. The thing that I have noticed is unless you have ripping water flow (which makes the zook a blast to run) you are going to see literally every speck of gold that you have on the plate. When ever I see flakes they stick to the plate And I think oh imagine what I'm not seeing !!!.

Now I haven't ran my bazooka anywhere near as much as a lot of others on the forum but I know most would recommend if you worried about losing gold just do a quick clean out after each bucket just to see if you are still on the gold and or catching the gold. Since it's so quick and easy... If you clean out on a smaller run you could compare it better to what your getting in the pan.

I just had my prospector out today and had the best flow and set up I've ever had. The ground isn't that great but there is gold. When it's running optimally like that it's just a joy to run. The thing really is amazing. I was using a 2 gal bucket unclassified and I could run it through in about 30-45 seconds. At that speed I couldn't see anything on the plate. The sound of just dumping in rocks makes for a "wash plant" type of feeling. I love that. Another tip that I've noticed is while feeding in the material try to spread the material from one end to the other in a smooth constant motion. This keeps much less rocks from hanging up on the grizzlies... It actually makes a huge difference I've noticed. I'm sure you will get it dialed in, no doubt.

The only thing that puzzles me still is, if the fluid bed trap "sorts" everything by density. Why do I get so little black sand retention? Don't get me wrong my cons are heavy as F---. But it makes me wonder why I'm kicking out black sand when others say or worry the trap wil lock up with black sands...cause that black sand holds a lot of fines in my area.

 

[goldog]

You don't say how fast / deep it was running. May have been a little steep. I have a good feel for the Prospector. It seems pretty forgiving. Sniper has a smaller box. Try running deeper and less steep.

 

[KevinInColorado]

You don't say how fast / deep it was running. May have been a little steep. I have a good feel for the Prospector. It seems pretty forgiving. Sniper has a smaller box. Try running deeper and less steep.

My thoughts too. I think you were running too steep an angle.

 

[goldog]

Where's that "Not Worthy" button.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

That
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[tyeechinook]

I was running it pretty flat. Good flow the slick plate would clear after about 30-45 seconds. Had to rake most rocks over the grizzlys. A few would go over on their own though. Very little black sand and mostly small pebbles in the trap


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[KevinInColorado]

I would say that is too slow of clearing if you mean it took 30-45 seconds for the fines to flow into the trap. Sure would like to see a video of it running You may have had too slow of flow to get fluidization...the exact opposite of our first guess

 

[Goldwasher]

When running fast...the deck clears almost instantly....your describing pretty slow flow....I have to say that " specks"n a pan vs. take at clean out is not a good way to gauge recovery if you don't know the real amount of gold in the dirt...and in the field you just can't know that....Also f you find a good amount od 50 meshish gold in a pan ....half of that could blow right through any sluice if it just hits the flow and goes..One time out is not a good gauge of performance for any sluice.

On black sands and exchange....drop riffles hold a lot less compared to traditionals....and Gold hog which I run in my pwer sluice exchanges out A LOT of black sand and holds super fine gold really well. having less black sand in your recovery area is not a bad thing or metric for gold recovery!!

 

[goldog]

I would guess your small bucket should go in 3-4 minutes at production speed. Maybe less. Should certainly eat a big trowel full in well under ten seconds.

Try some different things. Be sure it has some drop as well as good "take-away". Once you see it working well it's a beautiful sight.
On your sample pan I would guess it was fortunate. We tend to hi-grade our samples. Taking from the juiciest layer or spot. Test pans oftentimes don't equal buckets just because we're less discriminating in production.