Talk:Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55 in, Boys
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Clearly there is not a lot of excitement or interest generated by this page in Wikipedia devoted to the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle - so I write this into an aching void! My interest is through my father being equipped with a Boys when he was with the 1939 British Expeditionary Force [Grenadier Guards]in WW2. He reminisced [in his writings] about the awful recoil of the Boys - it was necessary to have someone to kneel on the firer's shoulder so as to prevent the recoil dislocating the collar bone - and of its weight - it was a very heavy tool. My father said that in use, the Boys would stop any vehicle dead in its tracks - except tanks which remained impervious to any number of hits. By '39 the armour on German tanks had so improved that the Boys had been rendered obsolete. The projectile was designed to disintegrate as it penetrated armour and in doing so release saucer-shaped shot pellets; these were designed to ricochet off metal surfaces. Thus it would slice the crew into shreds whilst the tank trundled on! I understand the Boys was the only hand-held anti-tank weapon available to the British Army in '39. Incredible! I read somewhere that the Boys [not being very successful in tests] was sold to the French Army. With war imminent Britain, in a panic, bought back the patents. But the French charged them double the original selling price. C'est la guerre!
- FWIW, a small number were purchased and employed by American forces in the Pacific Theatre.
Very surprised to see the Boys described as a "semi-automatic bolt action" weapon. It can't be both. I suggest delete "semi-automatic".
- Good call. They certainly cannot be both.
Nevertheless this rifle was used in anti- personnel role also setting the grounds to large caliber sniper rifles
- If you have a citation, perhaps add this factoid.
The recoil is not that bad, I shot about 5 rounds back in the 90's, my Lt had gotten hold of one of those monsters and some ammo. We shot some at a military range, and we put the bipod (which I remember being U-shaped and attached to a straight bar going up) against a wooden rail that ran across teh range. The helped some with the recoil. Was a cool gun, though. 216.111.97.126 01:27, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
