Buy a sextant

[Douglas Denny]

               

Douglas,

I've never seen a SNO-T up that close.  It looks like a remarkably well made instrument.

Does the box sextant lend itself to marine navigation?

Do you have a Plath sextant by chance?

Paul

The SNO-T is a very well made instrument.  My friend Bill Morris who wrote 'The Nautical Sextant' (a must for anyone interested in sextants) considers it probably one of the most accurate sextants ever made. 
As with all Russian equipment for the military ( like the T-34 tank) - solid, rugged, excellent for its purpose, better than most of its kind, no frills and probably no expense spared for it  providing it will do the job required,  but no more . .

Here is another picture of it with the higher magnification inverting telescope attached.
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The Box sextant is a beautiful instrument with an amazingly finely engraved silver index scale read directly with vernier reading on the index arm to one minute of arc.

I believe they were designed for desert navigation in WW1.  As such they are good for taking sights when on a stable platform (i.e. terra firma),  but as with all sextants,  not quite so easy at sea on a small boat with a moving horizon.

I have used it successfully on a boat but it has one main problem: the telescope is very small and the field of view is narrow;  this makes finding a star very difficult unless the sextant is already preset to the expected altitude.  It is not so much of a problem with the Sun and easy when altitude is pre-set.
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No I do not have a Plath marine sextant and will probably never own one as they are just too much money for something that my SNO-T can equal. They are a wonderfully made instrument however, for those who can afford to lash out and not worry about the expense.

I do have two Plath aircraft sextants of WW2; one is a gyro horizon sextant.

Douglas.