Snuffer bottle vs Sniping bulb for sniping.

[crumbaker]

Haven't ever tried underwater sniping before and going to give it a try soon. Tried doing a search on this but came up with nothing. The sniping bulbs have a tether which is nice, but does it actually do a better job of capturing gold vs a standard snuffer bottle? Any other equipment I should know about besides standard crevicing tools for this?

 

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[fmrUSMC_0844]

Haven't ever tried underwater sniping before and going to give it a try soon. Tried doing a search on this but came up with nothing. The sniping bulbs have a tether which is nice, but does it actually do a better job of capturing gold vs a standard snuffer bottle? Any other equipment I should know about besides standard crevicing tools for this?

I just got a sniping bulb for crevices and holes. I have noticed with the bulb, make sure you let the bulb expand all the way. If you dont most everything falls back out of the tube.

 

[Goldwasher]

This is my snuffer there are many others like it

But this one is mine.

My snuffer is my best friend.

It is my life.



You pull it out when there is gold around in the creek or in the clean up room. Sniper bulbs are cool, hand dredges work too.

But, when my face is in the water and I'm either watching the end of a nozzle or a snuffer and a screwdriver.

Give it some weight ( 1/4 oz sinkers 5 or 6 of them they're easy to pan out) so when it gets away from you it stops or is at least slower than Goldenmojo. Put it in your pocket instead of at the waterline says guy who has done it himself and chased them for others

Side note just because you can find snuffers and balloons on strings in flood snags doesn't mean that's where the gold will be.

Except for whats in the the snuffer if it is midday or after.

 

[dave wiseman]

Don't know what your equipment is but mine 35 years ago was something like this.Pry bar,single jack(three lb sledge)chisel and a pimento jar with holes in the lid for the yellow.Besides the pry bar all were kept in a sleeve maded from a blue jean leg with holes punched ikn the top for a draw string and the bottom sewed shut.Light and easy to carry.The weights that Goldwasher does is a great idea I never thought of as opnce my bottle floated away downstream and I didn't find it for two years.It held a trade token and a small nuggett.Facing upstream and prying/brealing open the crevices was called fanning,as you let the water do alot of the work for you.

 

[Hoser John]

I have a nice sized fanny pak that hangs in front of my waist and not the backside. All my tools sit inside with zippered pockets so no loss and good to go. I use both sniffer bottle and bulb(fishing weights inside) as some nuggets too big for snuffer. 6" tweezers are a great tool also with my mini prybar and screwdriver also. John

 

[Underburden]

Never heard of such foolishness

 

[dave wiseman]

Don't you break those cracks open?

 

[Underburden]

I use a modified putty knife to make the crack wide enough to get a pinch bar into the cracks.
I show no mercy to bedrock.

 

[infotraker]

I use the large sniper sucker bottle with the long metal tube . I tie good string around under the bulb and tie it to a belt I wear around the wetsuit. Never gets away as I slide it under belt when not in use.

 

[mytimetoshine]

This is my snuffer there are many others like it

But this one is mine.

My snuffer is my best friend.

It is my life.

.

HA! This made me LOL

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[mendoAu]

I use these:

Super Start 01334 - Battery Filler | O'Reilly Auto Parts

They do have drawbacks. The bulbs don't seem to like the sun allot...but I get at least a season out of one. I also had to "adjust " the tube to extend into the bulb further. Got a tab w/ hole to attach a lead weight/heavy mono. to hang out on the bottom. And they hold a lot of gold, ha! Almost forgot... if you need to get into some tight places I carry a short piece of clear tubing that fits inside the tube and "reduces" the size at the tip. Nothing better to do tonite so I'll babble a little more. It dawned on me today when I was tearing the old awning off getting ready for a steel roofed new addition....anyhow I'd forgotten that we had one of those "toy" water blaster guns that we had hanging on the awning post to persuade the cats not to claw the new tent storage unit. That dang thing shots a stream of water a good twenty feet away....so I'll be back to let you know how it works and what kinda MacGiver thing I cook up.
One more detail, the tube needs to be cut off at the connection with the round thingy, drill the hole slightly larger, insert the tube in about 1 1/2" and fill with 2 part apoxy on the INSIDE. there ya go...go suck some dirt and get that gold.

 

[delnorter]

That's the type of bulb I use as well mendoAu. Heavy mono-filament line to a pyramid fishing weight.

Mike

 

[MadMarshall]

A snuffer bottle is good to have. I usually keep one in a fanny pack when I am sniping. For me the tool to use recovering gold when underwater sniping is a hand dredge. I got lucky and came upon a really good one a few years back. It has a canister that can hold a pan of dirt.. I like this for underwater sniping as I find that its very time consuming sucking up a piece at a time and fanning dirt away. The hand dredge allows me to retrieve dirt easily from underwater and it increases the depth on which I can work.. Also you will find that when flows are stagnant fanning is a pain in the ass and it takes time for the water to clear so you can see again. Even more so for algae. And you can always dump dirt from the hand dredge into a bucket and store dirt so you can continue to snipe uninterrupted.. When gearing up for underwater sniping you want items that are easy to get to and put away and allows you to be mobile and float.
For me I think it should take longer finding the gold then recovering what you found....

 

[Jeff95531]

A snuffer bottle is good to have. I usually keep one in a fanny pack when I am sniping. For me the tool to use recovering gold when underwater sniping is a hand dredge. I got lucky and came upon a really good one a few years back. It has a canister that can hold a pan of dirt.. I like this for underwater sniping as I find that its very time consuming sucking up a piece at a time and fanning dirt away. The hand dredge allows me to retrieve dirt easily from underwater and it increases the depth on which I can work.. Also you will find that when flows are stagnant fanning is a pain in the ass and it takes time for the water to clear so you can see again. Even more so for algae. And you can always dump dirt from the hand dredge into a bucket and store dirt so you can continue to snipe uninterrupted.. When gearing up for underwater sniping you want items that are easy to get to and put away and allows you to be mobile and float.
For me I think it should take longer finding the gold then recovering what you found....

Got a pic or video of the hand dredge MM?

 

[Ragnor]

I like snuffer bottles and they work well. Problem is when I'm finding the kind of gold I want to find it tends to get stuck in the tube or it wont fit up there at all. I really like the look of them sucker bulbs with the little catch vile attached to them. But they are kind of hard to find and pricey when you do see them. I don't have one yet for those reasons. Some folks likes the hand pumps and I can see they have a place, but they are a little too bulky for my kit and would be a pain if your laying flat in the creek.

I tried poking around looking for flakes with a mask and snorkel last summer and I did manage to spot some and suck em up. I thought that was pretty cool. I still do better just blindly scooping up dirt and tossing it in the sluice box or a pan. Some places have allot more gold then we have around here. I would suppose the method you use would have to be tailored to your specific area. Stream type and the size of gold your looking for.

A good stiff bristled brush is indispensable when cleaning fine gold from bedrock! I got more gold the second time I went over an area with the brush than I did the first time busting cracks without it.

 

[Goldwasher]

the tip of a snuffer can be cut and a bigger tube put in 3/16 ID is a pretty decent size tube you will get most gold into it.

For the bigger battery bulbs putting a hose clamp where the rubber bulb separates gives it a good seal and prevents it from separating when you don't want it to. Use one of the new plastic wing nut hose clamps

I just unscrew my snuffer hold straw in my mouth drop pickers in replace lid. I don't like dealing with too much stuff when i'm sniping.

 

[crumbaker]

With the hand dredge doesn't the top half to be above the water? Or are there models that don't need to be?

 

[MadMarshall]

 

[Jeff95531]

That's a lot bigger than I was picturing MM. Thanks for posting.

 

[NeoTokyo]

I've been gone for too long, you guys forgot about me! lol

Here are my old plastic tubes, I still make the 12oz version on the left and the copper tube is a new one that I made last year and it uses a 24oz bottle.

The copper version does extend half way down into the bottle, making it requires soldering and simple tools (An offset wrench or long socket.)

Both are still sold locally if you ever find yourself in Redding.

My opinion on Bottles VS Bulb VS Hand Dredge - I prefer the bottle.
I have used all 3 and own a Hand dredge as well, I just like the bottle a lot better.
I do use the hand dredge though when I have to process more material or get down into a deep crack.
Honestly, eventually you should have both, a Sniping bottle and a hand dredge.

My plastic versions dont clog because the inside gets larger as it goes through, if a clog does happen it stays at the tip.
You also dont have a problem with gold falling out like the bulb type because there is more volume in the 12oz bottle when you squeeze it than in the bulb style. It can happen, it just depends on your squeeze, how full it is and if it is at the end of the suction.

The copper 24oz version can be cut to your desired length and if you can solder you can easily reverse engineer it to make many different length versions.
I found on this design that a 12" tube is about as long as you want to go, sometimes gold doesnt go all the way through so you tilt it up.
When reduced to 10" overall length that does not happen nearly as often.

I used the copper version in the picture all last year without a single problem.
The tip of the tube is slightly bowled over to prevent clog ups.

I am not a contributor right now so please don't ask me how much they are or if I will ship one out, I want to be respectful of the site.
I will register again here next month to start selling again, I just don't have enough materials on hand to fill orders at the moment.


-Eric-