New to prospecting, advice on sluice?

[time2fish]

Hello All,

I'm brand new to prospecting, and wanting to put together my entry-level equipment set. My initial goal is simply to be out on the river with my family, get some hikes in, learn a bit about geology, and share anything I learn with my two boys (3 & 7yrs old). I can easily see where a person could really get hooked, and scale up their efforts, but I'd be thrilled if we even managed a few grams. I just want them to play & work in the water, and hopefully have something to show for it. For myself, it's more about family time, and the chase, than the gold itself. I'm in western WA.

For the sake of them actually seeing some color, I'd like to be reasonably productive on the water, but still be packable, so that we can hike in. I plan to bring concentrates home, and work with them there.

Right now, we have two pans, a snifter, and a couple (empty) 1/2oz vials. I plan to add another pan or two for variety, plus some hand tools.

My biggest question is on sluices. I've been looking at the Angus Mackirks and the bazookas. I'm leaning towards a bazooka, because I think it would be more forgiving of young children, and I could let them scoop material, but they are also nearly twice as expensive. So... Are the bazookas really worth it? I'm not opposed to classifying materials, as that gives us a chance to look at rocks.

Thoughts?

Thanks to everyone who posts to this forum. I've been reading a bit over the past week or so, and it's been an education.

 

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[wildminer]

Short answer........get your order in for a bazooka 30" sniper now as it takes about three weeks to have it built and shipped. With those youngsters you'll have plenty of time to look at rocks and have fun! Good luck to you.

 

[Aufisher]

Bazooka!!!

 

[BrettCo124]

You could look at my Stephen King of a novel thread I started months ago for similar answers to your question (I, too, am a newbie). I forget the title of my thread, but I'm sure I used the word "newbie" in it.

Or I can save you the time and tell you to order up your bazooka now, as wildminer and aufisher has suggested.

If you are going to be wanting to go out on your own, as well, I would suggest just going straight for the 36" sniper. If you want your kids to operate their own sluice for fun, you could also get the bazooka mini, which is small, packable, and good for kids. I actually use the mini as my main right now, and it's great.

The only other thing you need to tell us is if you have decent running water. A bazooka needs decent flow in order to stir up the dirt in the trap, or it won't work. Look at videos and photos of bazookas online and you will see examples of what type of flow you will need.

BrettCo

 

[time2fish]

Thanks for the replies. There seems to be a fair amount of people who favor the bazookas. Can anyone speak to their effectiveness at retaining ultra-fine gold? I understand some of the Angus Mackirk models do very well. I'm hoping the bazookas are comparable. My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of what I will encounter is likely to be quite fine.

 

[kcm]

Brett, are you referring to this thread?:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/495628-results-your-bazooka-mini-not-super-mini.html

If you're looking to save some money, you can learn a lot by building your own sluice - free plans are available in many places online. However, they will not be as portable. If you're looking for light and portable, go with a manufactured unit.

There is Old School (Hungarian riffles and such) and New School (GoldHogg matting and others). The newer matting isn't cheap, but seems to work unbelievably well.

In either case, might I suggest reading up on sluices and gold on multiple forums, as well as on BLM and other gov't websites.

 

[time2fish]

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/434834-do-bazookas-really-catch-fine-gold.html

Found this thread, reading it now...

I don't have a problem with the price of the bazooka, if the value is there. The #1 reason I'm leaning towards a bazooka is that it seems more more difficult to have a kid-induced blowout with the trap. If there is a significant difference in fine gold recovery, though, I might take a chance on letting them scoop into an open sluice.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Fine gold isn't a problem. Bazooka and it's not close.

 

[Aufisher]

Bazookas catch the fines just fine!

 

[arizau]

There is probably no meaningful difference in the recovery rate with a bazooka compared to most other styles as long as they all are properly set up. Here is the kicker.....The main advantage of a bazooka is that they are usually easy to set up where streams provide sufficient flow and, most importantly, you can run a lot of material quicker and with less effort than with other styles and that, IMHO, is why they are much favored. Larger volumes of material run in a day usually equates to more gold recovered.

Keep your boys safe and have a good time with them. They grow up too fast.

 

[Aufisher]

Try running the Bazooka and then go back to classifying with a different sluice. Guarantee you wont do it twice!

 

[BrettCo124]

Brett, are you referring to this thread?:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/495628-results-your-bazooka-mini-not-super-mini.html

If you're looking to save some money, you can learn a lot by building your own sluice - free plans are available in many places online. However, they will not be as portable. If you're looking for light and portable, go with a manufactured unit.

There is Old School (Hungarian riffles and such) and New School (GoldHogg matting and others). The newer matting isn't cheap, but seems to work unbelievably well.

In either case, might I suggest reading up on sluices and gold on multiple forums, as well as on BLM and other gov't websites.

Hey kcm,

I am referring to my post called "gold panning creeks" under this forum (gold prospecting). I am on the treasurenet app and can't figure out how to link to that specific thread.

I asked a ton of beginner questions which all lead me to buying the bazooka. But the thread you had posted was another good one with info specifically on my bazooka mini. Lots of great responses from all of you.

 

[kcm]

Gold Panning Creeks:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/494027-gold-panning-creeks.html

 

[goldenmojo]

A bazooka is a great choice and the easiest to use for the family. They just scoop the material in and collect the gold from the end of the box by lifting it up and shaking it into the gold pan. There are different sizes which helps you specialize for your amount of production but for a family sluice that is lightweight and portable any size of the sniper is a functional gold catcher. Here are a couple of pics of a bazooka in action. Good luck. Any one you choose will work well and your family will enjoy the fun.

 

[Jeff95531]

You need a good to better flow to feed a bazooka. Sometimes you can create enuf flow with a self made wing dam... sometimes you can't. Food for thought.

 

[et1955]

Before you choose get experience on the area you want mine and the type of material you will run. Look at the area's where you could run a sluice or bazooka. A sluice has more options than the BGT. I can run my A52 with 1inch of water the BGT can't. Water flow is a major issue. I have heard several time's recently of miners using BGT's could not get them to run because of insufficient flow and ended up panning. Also consider this 2 guy's I know were mining up here on the Skykomish river, wa and discovered a rich deposit but the only place they could run there BGT's was several 100ft. up river, so they hauled a hundred 5 gal buckets upriver to run the material. My A52 runs nicely at the place of the depost, I know I discovered that place last summer. Also the right sluice will show you immediately if you are finding gold, how excited your boy's would be if they saw that.

 

[goldenIrishman]

ET1955 is right. Check out the area you wish to mine BEFORE you spend your money on gear that's not suitable for the area. ALWAYS let the terrain tell you what you need to work it. Doing so will save you lots of money in the long run. Nothing is worse than dropping a ton of money on gear that won't work for you. You should also learn how to do proper "Due Diligence" so you're sure you're not working a claimed area. Prospecting is an activity that takes a lot of foot work before you even leave for the trip. By learning how to do it right from the start, you're helping your sons to learn the correct ways of doing things and should the bug bite them as well, they'll know how to do it right.

To help you with learning the "due diligence dance", check out the resources available at My Land Matters. The link is in my signature below. Prospecting is a game of hide and go seek with Mother Nature and she has been playing the game for a very long time. Being informed and educated ill help you to level the field and give you a much better chance of getting on that yellow stuff we all love hunting for.

BTW... Welcome to T-Net!

 

[Jeff95531]

2x what et1955 said. Digging like a mad man to fill a dialed in BGT is difficult at best when you are trying to dig softball size rocks out of a hole with a shovel.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The Bazookas are indeed the most kid-proof. Get the little Supermini if low water flows or scale up to the Sniper or Prospector on bigger rivers. I ran a 30 inch Prospector very successfully two summers ago on a river near Issaquah and it worked great. I plan to be back this summer with more time, more research done and more gear....hoping to get more gold!

 

[time2fish]

Lots of great advice. There are certainly situations where water flow could become an issue, especially later in summer. I also don't imagine myself shoveling for all I'm worth for hours on end, trying to maximize the material I'm putting through a bazooka, so some of it's value may not be realized in my hands. A super mini or one of the smaller Angus Mackirks might be fine. I appreciate all the feedback. Lots to consider.