Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
From OMGWiki
The Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys commonly known as the "Boys (or, often and incorrectly,"Boyes") Anti-tank Rifle" was a British anti-tank rifle. There were three main versions of the Boys, an early model (MK I) which had a circular muzzle brake and T shaped bipod, a later model (Mk II) that had a square muzzle brake and a V shaped bipod, and a third model made for airborne forces with a 30-inch (762 mm) barrel and no muzzle brake. There were also different cartridges, with a later version offering better penetration.
History
The eponymous creator of this firearm was Captain H C Boys (the Assistant Superintendent of Design) who was a member of the British Small Arms Committee and a designer at the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield. It was initially called Stanchion but was renamed after Captain Boys as a mark of respect when he died a few days before the rifle was approved for service in November 1937.
A bolt action rifle fed from a five-shot magazine, the weapon was large and heavy with a bipod at the front and a separate grip below the padded butt. In order to combat the recoil caused by the large 0.55 inch (13.9 mm) round, the barrel was mounted on a slide, and a shock absorber was fitted to the bipod along with a muzzle brake on the barrel. The Boys had been designed with numerous small narrow-slotted screws of soft steel set very tight into the body of the weapon, and its repair and maintenance proved a nightmare for British ordnance repair crews.
The cartridge was an adaption of the Browning 0.5 inch, with a belt added firing a 47.6 gram bullet.
At its introduction, the weapon was effective on light armor (16 mm thick) at 100 yards (91 m). There were two main service loads used during the Second World War, the W Mark 1 (60 g AP at 747 m/s) and the W Mark 2 ammunition (47.6 g AP projectile at 884 m/s). The W Mark 1 could penetrate approximately 16 mm of armor at 100 yards, about the thickness used on the frontal armor of a half-track or armored car, or the side or rear armor of a light tank. Later in the conflict, a more effective round was developed, the W Mark 2, which fired a tungsten-cored projectile at 945 m/s. The W Mark 2 was able to penetrate up to 3/4 inch (19 mm) of armor at 100 yards (~91 m), with the plate inclined at 70° from the horizontal (i.e. 20 degrees from the direct line angle of fire), the effective thickness being ~21.5 mm at 0°. Its effective range against unarmored targets (e.g. infantry), was much further. Despite its recoil slide and cushioned buttpad, the felt recoil of the weapon (along with noise and muzzle blast) was terrific, frequently causing neck strains and bruised shoulders. Consequently, the Boys was almost never fired as a free weapon (i.e. not affixed to a support) except in emergencies.
The Boys rifle was used in the early stages of World War II against lightly armored German tanks and combat vehicles. Britain also supplied a large number of Boys anti-tank rifles to Finland in 1939 and 1940 during the Winter War with the Soviet Union. The weapon was popular with the Finns, because it could deal with Soviet T-26 tanks which the Finnish Army encountered in many engagements.
Although useful against some early German, Italian, and Soviet tanks in France, North Africa Campaign, and Finland, increases in vehicle armor during the Second World War left the Boys largely ineffectual as an anti-tank weapon. A shortened version was issued in 1942 for issue to airborne forces and saw use in Tunisia, where it proved completely ineffective because of the reduced velocity due to the shortened barrel. In the European theater it was soon replaced by the PIAT. In other roles it saw some use against bunkers, machine gun nests, and light-skinned vehicles, but was rapidly replaced in British and Commonwealth service by the U.S. .50 BMG calibre M2 Browning machine gun as quantities of the latter weapon became available. Using armor-piercing (AP), armor-piercing incendiary (API), and armor-piercing incendiary tracer (APIT) ammunition, the .50 Browning was equally as capable in armor penetration and more devastating when igniting thin-skinned vehicles, while it could also serve as an effective anti-aircraft weapon. Even the British Special Air Service, which made much use of captured or cast-off weapons from aircraft and other sources for their jeeps and reconnaissance vehicles, quickly got rid of their Boys rifles in favor of .50 M2 Brownings or the Italian 20mm Breda cannon.
However, in the Pacific theater the Boys was used against lightly-armored Japanese tanks in Malaya as late as 1942, when the 1/14th Punjabis knocked out two light Japanese tanks at a roadblock. As British and Commonwealth forces lacked a longer-range rocket-propelled anti-tank weapon such as the Bazooka or Panzerschreck, the Boys remained in inventory for use in that theater.
Tactics & Tips
- This weapon will be release within Tales of Valor.
Media
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