First run with my BAZOOKA!!!!!!!

[b.jmining530]

Today I took my bazooka 30inch sniper out for the fist time. Keep this in mind I have never used a sluice box before so I didn't really know what I was doing so to speak. At first I was getting extremely mad that the bazooka wasn't doing what it should be doing, then after spending way to much time like a hour to run a bucket of unclassified material I was pissed off. So I thought maybe I'll try it in some faster water where I would have to build up a little platform out of these huge clay ball/rocks. Once I set it up on my platform I was ready to go. Well at first I was barely feeding it with a trowel full of material at a time, if seem to be processing the material pretty fast I thought , so I decided to see what would happen with a half a shovel full of material, well the bazooka took care of business. I found a couple decent flakes and a lot of fines. Need to run it through my buddy's blue bowl to clean it up nice. I would like to give a shout out to the guys at bazooka gold trap for having great customer service( letting me come see the bazookas where they are made and showing me the ones I was interested in) and a badass American made product !!!!! I will definitely be getting another one for little creeks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[pealer]

Can I ask what made you decide on the 30" Sniper?

 

[425jesse]

I also have the 30" sniper. I decided on it based on what other Tnet members were saying...the sniper is a great little box for lower water flow situations. ( not lowest water flow, but the snipers don't need all that much). The last couple times I took it out, I also brought my Keene A52. Last weekend I set up both...with a lot of work and building a pretty serious dam to direct water into the A52, I was able to run the 2 side by side. I just can't help but say, the sniper really is an amazing trap, period. I cleaned both sluices after running a few buckets thru each. The bazooka caught even smaller fines than the A52, like the smallest I've caught for sure. Now, please don't think im dogging the A52, it's a great trap that catches tons of gold, but I think the bazooka is better for me. The pictures below are this and last weekends takes combined, cleaned in a blue bowl. Notice that the largest stuff didn't make it thru my -50 classifier, and the smallest had no problem. I believe my sniper is able to catch anything from 1/2" to 1/100" or more no problem. Just look at those fines!

B.jmining530 you are gonna love that box. That's a great catch for your first time out. Most do not do that good! Congrats!

 

[b.jmining530]

What made me decide on the 30 Inch sniper was it was bigger then the supermini but smaller then the prospector and I thought Itwould be a good choice for my first sluice. The name is pretty cool also the bazooka gold trap 30 inch sniper , it just sounds badass lol. I am going to get a mini of super mini for slower current water situations.

 

[b.jmining530]

Jeese how offer do you clean out and how do you tell if it's full or not ? I wasn't sure when I should be cleaning it out so I did relatively often. Any suggestions?

 

[425jesse]

When I am trying to find a spot to get set up at, I will dig about 3-5 gallons of material per spot I am prospecting, run it thru the sniper, and pan the cons. Which ever has the best result I go back to, and run more. Today I ran five 3 gallon buckets thru, and then cleaned out.

When your trap is running in the water you have a pretty easy way to check if the trap is too full or not. First, put try looking thru the water flow into the collection chamber, if you can see the material shuffling around in the trap, you are still good. The other way is to put your finger in the chamber from the end of the trap. If the material feels solid, you need to clean out. If the material is easy to put your finger into, you can keep running.

BTW, your BGT will not loose gold sitting in the river while you dig, so feel free to set your sluice and start getting material ready with it set or even after you have run materials. The fluid bed keeps it safe and sound!

Check out posts by Kevinincorado, he knows his stuff about the BGT line of sluices.

Enjoy!

 

[pealer]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. I asked because I recently ordered the 24" Sniper (haven't received it yet) for backpacking in to more remote locations. I've never even seen a Bazooka in person but figured with all the good press it'd be worth a try. My reasoning for the 24" is I can get it inside my pack rather than strapped to the outside. I'm hoping I made a decent guess about its usefulness for smaller mountain streams and rivers.

 

[425jesse]

You are gonna love it!! Great sluice.

 

[b.jmining530]

Jeese can you see the little holes on your snipers trap area? Because when I was trying to see the to see how big the holes are I could not see them. So when the the trap area is full and should feeling is when I should clean out?

 

[425jesse]

To put it into time perspective...

You can feed you sniper for quite a while (hours?) before the chamber is too full to grab anymore (Assuming water flow is keeping the bed fluid).

Because clean out is so easy, do it as often as you want, but I can assure you, you don't need to do it that often at all!

JB

 

[b.jmining530]

Ok I am just wondering because it was my first time and wanted to make sure I wasn't loosing g gold and stuff like that

 

[425jesse]

You can be pretty darn confident in your bazooka, it is a great investment. Look up the "proper set up of a BGT" on the BGT site, very good article!

 

[b.jmining530]

The final clean up from my first bazooka run

 

[425jesse]

That is absolutely awesome! See how you got gold of very different sizes?! That's the proof that the BGT was a good idea! Way to go!

 

[goldenmojo]

Great work you guys on getting on the gold. BJM I see you picked your Bazooka up at the factory and your in 530. I live near Folsom. If you want to hit some place sometime I will help you with setup and get you on some gold. PM me.

Goldenmojo

Here is a pic from yesterday direct from the snuffer.

 

[KevinInColorado]

When I am trying to find a spot to get set up at, I will dig about 3-5 gallons of material per spot I am prospecting, run it thru the sniper, and pan the cons. Which ever has the best result I go back to, and run more. Today I ran five 3 gallon buckets thru, and then cleaned out. When your trap is running in the water you have a pretty easy way to check if the trap is too full or not. First, put try looking thru the water flow into the collection chamber, if you can see the material shuffling around in the trap, you are still good. The other way is to put your finger in the chamber from the end of the trap. If the material feels solid, you need to clean out. If the material is easy to put your finger into, you can keep running. BTW, your BGT will not loose gold sitting in the river while you dig, so feel free to set your sluice and start getting material ready with it set or even after you have run materials. The fluid bed keeps it safe and sound! Check out posts by Kevinincorado, he knows his stuff about the BGT line of sluices. Enjoy!

thanks for the nod but your advice here is golden, well said! I will add that I often dig for a couple of hours between clean outs...I think you could go all morning or all afternoon UNLESS you have lots of larger flat rocks slipping thru the grizzly and filling up the trap. In that case, either clean out more often or add some 1/4 mesh to the grizzly.

The final clean up from my first bazooka run

looks like a first time out success, congrats!

 

[b.jmining530]

Goldenmojo that is from one day? Because it looks like you are in the right spot!!! That would be cool to meet up some time and do that. Does that place require a 4x4, I have a Toyota matrix. I just need to plan out a couple of weeks so I can save some money to drive there and back I live in oroville.

 

[b.jmining530]

Thanks Kevin, I think I might put some 1/4 mesh across the grizzlies to avoid a bunch of smaller rocks going in a clogging up the fluid bed

 

[KevinInColorado]

Adding the mesh is only smart if you have a lot of long flat rocks that are slipping thru. Otherwise don't do it as it makes more material hang up on the grizzly thus wasting your time clearing it. As always there's a trade off. I run without the mesh and have no problem going a couple hours between clean outs.

Having a loose gravel bed in the trap is an important part of how the fluid bed works. My tests have shown that a fluid bed will lose some of the -100 gold if there is no gravel in the fluid bed before you feed in beach sand with -100 gold BUT if the bed is filled with fluidized gravel, it will catch the -100 gold efficiently! So, don't be scared of a full but loose trap, that's a good thing!!

 

[b.jmining530]

Ok because every time I would notice it's full I would clean it out lol