Angus MacKirk Sluice questions, information and questions

[Ag Man]

I have the Explorer. Very happy with it. Empties neatly into a bucket.
Very forgiving on flow rate. Just adjust angle.
With good flow, I classify with1/2" bucket sieve.
Low flow 1/4".
Big enough to keep you & a mate busy. One classifying one sluicing.

 

[cracka]

Well fellas, My new addition to the family arrived today. My new Angus Mac Kirk Boss II sluice. Have to say a special thanks to Brad at Detecta Den Canberra for being friendly and fast. Ordered it Friday Arvo, payment bounced (my fault) then tried Saturday morning, Hooray payment cleared and Brad told me he would post it first thing Monday morning. It arrived Wednesday morning and was patiently waiting for me to get home from work and unwrap it out of that cold dark cardboard box. It spent last night in my warm bedroom and even came to work with me today. Anyway cant wait to get to Tuena now, 13 days to go (whos counting?) and try it out. Heres a few pics.

What do you think?

Cracka.

 

[user 1769]

I love mine, but it needs good strong water flow.
Best of luck!

 

[Beagleboy]

That's a great sluice. You will love it as much as I love mine.

 

[McClutha]

Hello there..
Looking for some advice for the experienced sluicers out there..

I'm reasonably new to the sluicing side of things and am looking to purchase a river sluice.
I was originally looking at a Keene 45 but also like the look of the Angus MacKirk sluices.

The more I read and research, the Angus MacKirk seem to be the ducks guts...
It's just a matter of which one.

I'm lucky enough to have rivers and creeks around here that have good year round water flow, so am unsure to go something like the Foreman or Boss or stick withe the smaller Recon or Grubb..

Anyone that can give me the pros or cons on the bigger or smaller of the set would be great or if someone could point me in the direction of where I could possibly pick one up either new or second hand would be great.

Thanks in advance..
Cheers,
Chris

 

[user 1769]

I have a boss and love it, but you need quite a bit of water to get it running properly. Once set up it is almost impossible to overload.

 

[Sniffy]

Likewise on the Boss, very good sluice. I carry around a plastic sheet to help direct any waterflow through it when theres not much water around. Never seen one in action but another option could be the le trap river robber?

You could call Geoff from prospecting supplies Melbourne (google). hes a AMK importer and will happy to share his experience and advice depending on where you are. Having a yarn with him the other day, and he said they are bringing out a new sluice.

 

[McClutha]

Fantastic feedback.. thanks heaps for the heads up..
I'm from Gippsland way in Victoria..

I may just have to google and contact Geoff..

 

[casper]

welcome McClutha,

I have 2 small ones the RECON and the FIELD n STREAM from Geoff. A mate has the Grubstake (self import).
The RECON is fine all year round in Gippsland and the FIELD n STREAM bought specially for summer when my favorite gullies are reduced to a mere trickle. If you want to feed directly into them without preclassifying your gravels the bigger ones are better for this but you can loose gold with the surges this type of feeding creates.

I'll post a link to a vid of my RECON in action a couple of months ago......

casper

 

[casper]

welcome McClutha,

I have 2 small ones the RECON and the FIELD n STREAM from Geoff. A mate has the Grubstake (self import).
The RECON is fine all year round in Gippsland and the FIELD n STREAM bought specially for summer when my favorite gullies are reduced to a mere trickle. If you want to feed directly into them without preclassifying your gravels the bigger ones are better for this but you can loose gold with the surges this type of feeding creates.

I'll post a link to a vid of my RECON in action a couple of months ago......

casper

as promised here's some vids of my Angus McKirk RECON sluice in action.......

http://youtu.be/xJ1N3aZM7F8

https://youtu.be/xJ1N3aZM7F8

the pickers circled in RED

 

[casper]

Oooooops - i doubled up on a vid - here's the other...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nU-kVKRZpI

 

[McClutha]

Awesome.. thank you so much..

Wish I had got onto this forum sooner..

 

[Prospector B]

I prospect in some really tiny creeks in Gippsland and I use the grubstake, even this time of year there are creeks with to little flow to use it. I think the flow in the creek is about half of what Casper has in his videos and it does well with this volume.

 

[casper]

Here's a vid of the FIELD N STREAM sluice maiden run - I've since taken the feed hopper off

https://youtu.be/dtmi65UyKAk

 

[McClutha]

Sweet... Thanks heaps..

I was thinking about heading up today for a panning session.... but -1 to -3 degrees in the areas I wanted to go doesn't excite me.. lol

 

[XIV]

I use the Forman
is a great all rounder
but still need to classify 1/4" - 3/4"
Depending on water flow
it is big enough to run a fair bit of gravel
and small enough to fit in my backpack
so i can walk up the creeks without having to carry to much
it is also really good for testing
i can run a few buckets to find an area worth setting up the banker
the Boss is really light and good for volume
but needs a lot of water flow

Some of the Gippsland creeks-rivers have this all uear around
but a lot don't and you will be limited at different times of the year

Just my thoughts
Hope this helps

 

[McClutha]

Thanks heaps XIV..

Makes sense.. Good advice..
Thank You...

 

[user 1769]

Oooooops - i doubled up on a vid - here's the other...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nU-kVKRZpI

That's a great video to show the flow of wash through the sluice, thanks for sharing!

 

[elbowgrease]

I use the boss as well and as the first few replies to your question they are a great sluice.

They do need more water to get running than the smaller ones but the flip side is they have a huge capacity comparatively and if they are set up with "ideal" flow you can shovel pretty much unclassified straight into it (can't just dump shovel loads in, need to slowly drops them in bit by bit)

There is always trade-offs. I've you've got good water flow year round there is no reason to go the smaller models as the recovery rate is identical across the range and all you'll be doing is reducing the amount you can process. The smaller models are great for smaller and slower flow creeks or if you are doing sampling. I also borrowed a mates recon the last couple of years I've been to NZ as the Recon fits in my normal luggage and the Boss would be too big! Unfortuantely the recon is too small for the conditions and amount of black sand in the land of the kiwi and packs out in only a few shovels.

This is a video I did a while back with my sluice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYZJ6jx4s1Y
Since then I've grown in confidence with the amount of water I can run through it and the gold recovery so I run it with even more water than that now when its available.

As far as gold recovery goes you can't go wrong with any of the mackirk sluice range. Its all going to come down to how much you want to process and what will best suit the areas you generally prospect in!

Good luck
Adam

 

[go_fish89]

Hey guys,

Ive been looking at getting an agus mackirk sluice.

Im having a hard time deciding between an adventurer or a grubstake.

Most of the creeks i pan are small and completely stop running over summer. Id love to have the option of running on a recirculating system in the garage too.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Ben