Results with your Bazooka Mini? (Not super mini)

[BrettCo124]

Kevin said it best......for me the mini is too slow under normal conditions, the prospector I can shovel into and make a dam where I want to dig, no bucket needed

Makes sense. Does the sniper work with significantly less flow than the prospector?

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Thanks Kevin. Do you find the sniper to need less flow than the prospector? 30"? Also, is the flow needed for the mini or supermini any different in your opinion? Maybe I should go with the 36" sniper? I have flow, but I don't know about "great" flow.

Yes the sniper needs much less water than the Prospector, that's why the company added that model in between the Mini and the Prospector.

The Mini and the Supermini have the exact same fluid-bed so they need the same water flow.

 

[BrettCo124]

Yes the sniper needs much less water than the Prospector, that's why the company added that model in between the Mini and the Prospector.

The Mini and the Supermini have the exact same fluid-bed so they need the same water flow.

Which would you go with if you had to make a choice. Sniper (30" or 36") or prospector 30"? Let's say the flows range from medium in one creek, to medium-high in another.

If you go with the sniper, do you think the difference between the mini and sniper is that big of a change? Obviously size is different, but being able to shovel more frequently and other things like that?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Which would you go with if you had to make a choice. Sniper (30" or 36") or prospector 30"? Let's say the flows range from medium in one creek, to medium-high in another.

If you go with the sniper, do you think the difference between the mini and sniper is that big of a change? Obviously size is different, but being able to shovel more frequently and other things like that?

If I could only have one Bazooka (I have 3!), I'd get the Sniper as it's the most versatile. It'll take about 1/2 shovelful at a time which is good. Also the trap is big enough to tolerate running at enough slope to self clear most of the time.

 

[BrettCo124]

If I could only have one Bazooka (I have 3!), I'd get the Sniper as it's the most versatile. It'll take about 1/2 shovelful at a time which is good. Also the trap is big enough to tolerate running at enough slope to self clear most of the time.

That definitely solidifies everything for me. A part of me wants to believe that the mini is adequate enough. Trust me, I LOOK to spend more money on my hobbies. But this one has just kept me wondering for some reason. I've put half a shovels full on the mini with zero problems before, and it works like a charm. But it's the trap that I think seems to be the only issue. I'm afraid of it filling too fast with material, to the point where it doesn't clear as fast as id like it to, possibly blowing out any gold. Especially since Pennsylvania gold is so fine.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Glad that helps. A 36" sniper is a great sluice, enjoy!

And remember a fluid bed is supposed to be loosely full of material the whole time it's in operation. That's a good thing.

 

[Duckwalk]

Here is my sniper (30 inch model)

 

[BrettCo124]

Here is my sniper (smallest model you can get)

View attachment 1293505 View attachment 1293506

This is awesome! Thanks for uploading that. The video really shows how effective that thing is. Are you also in an area with very little gold? I heard you say you have very little gold where you're at. I'm in PA by Philadelphia, so I'm in the same boat.

 

[Duckwalk]

Yes. the gold in my area is tiny! usually only -100s. In the blue pan pic, thats some of the biggest gold i have ever seen in Villa Rica.

 

[G-bone]

Sniper model - 24" and 30"
First run was with the 24"
The following two trips was with the 30"



And all this really shows is that I need to get out more.

 

[BrettCo124]

Sniper model - 24" and 30"
First run was with the 24"
The following two trips was with the 30"

View attachment 1293521

And all this really shows is that I need to get out more.

That's incredible! Did you find the upgrade (30") worthy of the difference from the 24"?

 

[Duckwalk]

Sorry my mistake, mine is the 30"

 

[G-bone]

That's incredible! Did you find the upgrade (30") worthy of the difference from the 24"?

I would say yes - I do notice a little difference.
I feel this is most noticeable when water flow is fairly slow.
I think the added length helps with boosting velocity in the fluid chamber as well as on the top deck.
And I can still get the unit in my backpack and fully covered up.

Cheers

G

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

For you guys trying to catch that flour gold...This was a little project that I put together specifically to be able to mine a little material in the draws that had dried up in the summer.

You could process a 5 gallon bucket of screened material in about 15 minutes if I remember right. I was using a scoop to feed it.

I mixed in a half once of flour gold, pickers and nuggets and ran the material through as a test. The only gold it lost was the big nuggets, they would just roll out. The fine gold - I could hardly get it out of the "riffles" when it came time to clean up. I'd say it was catching close to 100% of what was going through it, within the first 10" of the pipe. This picture was taken after I had run 3 or 4 buckets of very dirty clay/native soil through it.
I also ran straight river gravel through it and it seemed to work OK that way as well.
It was pretty cheap to put together.

I ended up using it to run crevice material rather than panning. It was proof of concept more than anything.

 

[BrettCo124]

I would say yes - I do notice a little difference.
I feel this is most noticeable when water flow is fairly slow.
I think the added length helps with boosting velocity in the fluid chamber as well as on the top deck.
And I can still get the unit in my backpack and fully covered up.

Cheers

G

Thanks g-bone, that helps understand what you're paying Attention to, and what I may not understand just yet. Looks like flowing more water velocity through the chamber is important, or it won't stir it up enough. I hope the mini can still successfully do the job.

I'm waiting for my birthday to get the 36" sniper. I wanted the prospector, but it seems to me that the sniper was created to be the perfect sluice in my opinion. It'll handle it all, and it's packable and lighter to clean out and carry. It's also at the exact length I would like. Not sure what else you could possibly need in a sluice?

Thank you for your response. Makes even more sense now to go for the sniper, but also reassuring that the mini will handle what I have for it until then.

 

[BrettCo124]

For you guys trying to catch that flour gold...This was a little project that I put together specifically to be able to mine a little material in the draws that had dried up in the summer.

You could process a 5 gallon bucket of screened material in about 15 minutes if I remember right. I was using a scoop to feed it.

I mixed in a half once of flour gold, pickers and nuggets and ran the material through as a test. The only gold it lost was the big nuggets, they would just roll out. The fine gold - I could hardly get it out of the "riffles" when it came time to clean up. I'd say it was catching close to 100% of what was going through it, within the first 10" of the pipe. This picture was taken after I had run 3 or 4 buckets of very dirty clay/native soil through it.
I also ran straight river gravel through it and it seemed to work OK that way as well.
It was pretty cheap to put together.

I ended up using it to run crevice material rather than panning. It was proof of concept more than anything.
View attachment 1295075 View attachment 1295076

Thanks for this. That is interesting. I'm looking forward to having a homemade setup as well, to test/recheck my material.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

If you look closely...
Poop tube --> tailings basket -->Silt basket -->"dirty side" of the water tank --> through filter to "clean" side of water tank -->1250 GPH 12 volt sump pump --> Poop tube

I used air conditioner filter material sandwiched between hog wire for a filter, but could not get a good seal between the largest tank and the filter.
No sand or tailings made it into the clean side, just some floating organic material.

I was throwing the very worst material I could imagine through this thing and it worked just fine.

There are only a couple drawbacks to using the poop tube.
1.) Limited capacity
2.) Large nuggets will roll through
3.) Can fill up quickly with black sand if you are in an area with lots of that type of concentrate material.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Poop Tube

I would say that tube would catch everything in the picture, but it was especially efficient catching the fine gold (in the upper portion of the picture).

When I say that large nuggets would roll out - I mean nuggets not the pickers that are shown.

It actually would work well cleaning up concentrates from a sluice box.

It's not how expensive your equipment is or how much material you can run - it's how good your dirt is.

 

[BrettCo124]

I would say that tube would catch everything in the picture, but it was especially efficient catching the fine gold (in the upper portion of the picture).

When I say that large nuggets would roll out - I mean nuggets not the pickers that are shown.

It actually would work well cleaning up concentrates from a sluice box.

It's not how expensive your equipment is or how much material you can run - it's how good your dirt is.

View attachment 1295171

Looks to me like you have yourself a perfect setup over there. I'm just starting off, but am quickly seeing the benefits of all different types of equipment for different applications.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Ya, it does help to have different tools.

That set up ended up rotting in the sun, but I proved to myself that you could easily process low quantities of material in a desert if you wanted to.
I did find about 20 grains of gold in the bottom of a creek that had almost dried completely up. Just took the poop tube, pump and battery.

My dad has had good luck using the Gold Cube to capture really fine flour gold. Again, you have to have decent material otherwise the capacity isn't there.