What is a great beginners sluice to start off with?

I second the emotion, Keene A52. Ir's not punk azz, it's a solid piece of work. I paid too much at about $150, but it does what you want it to do without getting hysterical in your budget.
 

Bazooka Gold Trap (30" Sniper) is my first and it ain't failed me yet. Plus, cleanup is a breeze.

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Got to see a gold trap in action a couple of weeks ago. I know start the sluice / gold trap debate again. LOL! I have a Keene A52 the biggest thing I have seen between the two is that the A52 you can see if your on the gold in the rubber mat right away where the gold trap you have to test pan. Both are excellent products I like my A52 better seems to be more forgiving. Just my two cents.
 

I have a 30"bazooka 30" inch sniper. And it just caught the finest gold that I have ever found. At least 30 pieces So tiny its very hard to recover with out. Good lighting and a good loupe. And then its a project.Every one has to pick a sluice that it will meet there needs. Then a budget and hopefully the one that finds the most gold.Good research will help you make the best choice. And good luck.
 

Yeah my BGT really surprised me with its ability to catch the super microfines. I think the reason I went with the BGT is because I got tired of watching my buddy spend fifteen minutes cleaning out his sluice. I like the fact that I can just dunk mine in a 5 gallon bucket and I'm good to go.

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A_torres559 said:
Hi, I'm new to this hobby And still have a ton to learn. was wondering what would be a great sluice to start off in the hobby with. Any help would be very much appreciated.
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I have 3 different sluices. My first one was a A-51 which I modified slightly by cutting out the Hungarian riffles except one at top and bottom and ran hog moss with expand metal over it.
I got tired of being hunched over a bucket and a classifier and went with a 30" prospector. Love it !!! I have only used my Keene once since.
Soon after I ordered a 30" sniper for when I was hiking in farther.

What are the waterways like in your area, flow wise?
What's your main goal?
Are you looking to process as much material as you can? If so I would go with one of the bgt prospector models. They are really good at catching the fine gold. And you can run a lot of material over a conventional sluice. They do need a decent flow to work at their optimal performance.
Another thing to consider is how far away are you from your vehicle. If you have to walk a couple of miles you might get sick of lugging that heavy metal sluice in with you. I would look at one of the bgt sniper.
Seems like Angus Mckirk makes a good product with lots of different sizes and models.
Lots of good products out there. Let the areas your planning on working dictate what's best for you.
 

The A51 and A52 work great BUT
- they are harder to learn to run well than other sluices for new folks
- they take longer to set up and clean out (time spent NOT getting gold
- they require classifying which is just hard work

A Bazooka (pick the right one for your conditions) will get you 2-3X the gold of a Keene A51/52. Simple as that!
 

I In think I am going to have to go with the bazooka. Just gotta pick between the sniper or the prospector now.
 

A52 is a more forgiving / versatile sluice that is not so condition dependant. BGT is great once you know what you are doing AND have the right conditions. I could not in good faith suggest someone brand new to gold recovery start out with a gold trap. .. you shouldn't either. That's just asking for aggravation.
 

Golden_Crab said:
A52 is a more forgiving / versatile sluice that is not so condition dependant. BGT is great once you know what you are doing AND have the right conditions. I could not in good faith suggest someone brand new to gold recovery start out with a gold trap. .. you shouldn't either. That's just asking for aggravation.
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This is funny to me as I see it exactly the opposite. A BGT is much more forgiving than a riffle sluice. Much easier to set up and run. Second is a drop riffle sluice like angus Mackirk or Le Trap. A distant third is a Hungarian riffle sluice like the A51/52 etc.
 

Golden_Crab said:
A52 is a more forgiving / versatile sluice that is not so condition dependant. BGT is great once you know what you are doing AND have the right conditions. I could not in good faith suggest someone brand new to gold recovery start out with a gold trap. .. you shouldn't either. That's just asking for aggravation.
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I have to disagree with you on that. I couldn't in good conscience recommend a outdated piece of equipment when there's much better products on the market. have you run a bgt? The bgt has a much shorter learning curve then the Keene for a beginner. And much more forgiving at different angles then a traditional sluice. And easy to know if your running right. Simply poking your finger in the trap will tell you if your running correct. Setting up a dam for correct water flow only takes a 10- 15 minutes if you have some good rocks. If not a simple tarp will help with that.
Also with a bgt it's ready to run out if the box no modifications required to run at max efficiently.
Not the case with the Keene, if your after fine gold be prepared to lose it with that worthless green mat they put in. They do that to keep the cost down. Plus those Hungarian cause a lot of turbulence which will scrub the fine gold out. Now if you spend the money to outfit it with goldhog mats you'll have great fine and course gold recovery. Or better yet just buy the goldhog sluice and it will come equipped with what you need and be a little cheaper then purchasing the A-52 and converting to hog mats.
I've also heard nothing but good things about the letrap if your worried about enough flow for bgt. Plus a drop riffle sluice will clean out super fast.
 

I have to side with Kevin on this one. My Bazooka is the only sluice I've ever owned or operated, and I love it. Provided you have good water flow, it's effortless to use. You don't have to classify your material, it's super lightweight, it catches the ultrafines, and it cleans out in seconds. After using mine, I don't think I'd like to mess with anything else. The others seem like too much work. And with a Prospector, it'll take the dirt as fast as you can feed it, from what I hear. My Sniper isn't too bad, either. I can definitely move more material through it than my friend can move through his Keene (we've used them side by side)...and with a lot less work.

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a Thomas creek over and under if you can find one...... no classifying if you have a good stream flow 4 to 6" rock roll right out and dig right at the source no buckets other than clean up sweet unit!
 

Angus MacKirk Adventurer Sluice is a great beginners sluice

Runs well in slow water, is portable, and does not cost much compared to some of the other popular units

Short of buying a Mat from Gold Hog and building your own, try the Adventurer
 

You haven't dealt with seasonal water flows I suppose. So what happens when it's summer and you have but a trickle of water or perhaps you decided to explore a feeder stream where you will have a tough time getting appropriate water depth & flow... are you going to suggest a smaller bgt? Goodluck getting it to clear the plate properly while you feed it with a hand trowel. In the meantime it takes maybe three good scoops full size shovel and a quick shake and you got plenty of surface area exchanging material in just about any situation a prospector might come across. How about an area with large hematite / magnetite particles yet fine gold... you'd still recommend a bgt? Better clean out often! I get it... they pay to get people to talk them up... it's not a bad product, it is not a one stop shop either.

I like AM sluice but you need a loooong and wide sluice or you better clean out every half a bucket if you don't want to start losing most of your fines. Nor do they excel with flakey gold... nothing creating turbulence to break surface tension to allow flat pieces to settle.
 

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Yeah, I ain't been paid by nobody. I just know that the BGT works for what I use it for. No one ever said it's a do-all sluice for every environment. But if you got the flow, it'll get the gold. That's a fact...

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Golden_Crab said:
You haven't dealt with seasonal water flows I suppose. So what happens when it's summer and you have but a trickle of water or perhaps you decided to explore a feeder stream where you will have a tough time getting appropriate water depth & flow... are you going to suggest a smaller bgt? Goodluck getting it to clear the plate properly while you feed it with a hand trowel. In the meantime it takes maybe three good scoops full size shovel and a quick shake and you got plenty of surface area exchanging material in just about any situation a prospector might come across. How about an area with large hematite / magnetite particles yet fine gold... you'd still recommend a bgt? Better clean out often! I get it... they pay to get people to talk them up... it's not a bad product, it is not a one stop shop either.

I like AM sluice but you need a loooong and wide sluice or you better clean out every half a bucket if you don't want to start losing most of your fines. Nor do they excel with flakey gold... nothing creating turbulence to break surface tension to allow flat pieces to settle.
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I've run the Supermini size in a really tiny brook very successfully. Large hematite? Sounds like lots of spaces for the fine gold to drop down thru. I've watched a Bazooka spit out volumes of iron sand and hold onto the gold at the same time. And No, I'm not paid to say nice things about their sluices. Several years ago they did send me a sluice for free when the Sniper was launched but that was because I'd already said nice things. And after that I still had to pay for my purchases including my latest 36" Prospector (after I gave my original 30" Prospector to my nephews in WA).

All this said, I'm glad you have confidence in your A52, its proven technology from the middle of the last century. I similarly loved my dad's '72 Corvette but given the choice I'd take a 2016 'vette instead!
 

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