NavList:

Fellow navigator,

I have a curious problem.  I obtained and refurbished an old Link A12 bubble sextant.  It had 2deg 44min of error.  This was obtained by shooting a series of sunlines, compared to other bubble sextants that I have and my plath bubble sextant.  I very carefully adjusted the error and now have + 10.9 min of correction.   I can obtain positions with sunlines to within less than 2 miles from my gps position.  

Ok,  now for the problem.  When shooting sunlines I use the indirect method and shoot through the eye piece. However,  when shooting stars and using the direct method I cannot get a decent shot.  I'm always 20 or more miles off in altitude.  It would seem using the same bubble and mirror the error would be the same I've tried to shoot stars using the indirect method, but can't seem to get the light to the needed brightness for a shot. Much easier to use the direct method for stars and in fact is suggest in the manual.

Any suggestions??