| Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys Mk.I Boys Anti-tank Rifle Mk.I 13.9-mm Panzerabwehrbüchse 782(e) | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | Great Britain |
| Produced In | 1937-1940 |
| Type | Anti-Tank rifle |
| Effective range | 300 m |
| Rate of Fire | 10 rpm |
| Magazine | 5 rounds |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Debut in FHSW | Debut in FH mod |
| Used by | Great Britain Canada Australia France Germany Finland United States Greece |
| Used in vehicles | Universal Carrier |
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The Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys commonly known as the "Boys Anti-tank Rifle" (or incorrectly "Boyes"), was a British anti-tank rifle in use during World War II. It was often nicknamed the "elephant gun" by its users due to its size and large bore. There were three main versions of the Boys, an early model (Mark I) which had a circular muzzle brake and T shaped monopod, built primarily at BSA in England, a later model (Mk I*) built primarily at Jonathan Inglis in Toronto Canada, 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. Although adequate against light tanks in the early part of the war, the Boys was ineffective against heavier armour and was phased out in favour of the PIAT mid-war. It was used in vehicles like the Universal Carrier. The gun was put in place of the Bren Gun. This 5-shot magazine, bolt-action rifle fired .55 inch (13.9 mm) caliber ammunition and had an effective range of almost 300 m, while it penetrated up to 20 mm at 100 yards. This made it somewhat useful against more lightly armored early tanks, but it became progressively less effective against their later, more heavily armored replacements. More than 60.000 were built. It was followed by the British No.68 AT Grenade, a rifle grenade mountable on the Lee Enfield No.4 Mk 1 and finally the PIAT anti-tank launcher during the war. These fired hollow charge or shaped charge projectile which despite muzzle velocity were more effective at penetrating armour.
The Boys rifle is a common anti-tank rifle for the allied forces. It has a five round magazine compared to the Wz. 35 anti-tank rifle which is the most common anti-tank rifle used by the Axis and that only has four rounds. Its relatively low weight means the sway while standing or crouched is low. Maximum penetration for Mk.I is the lowest of all anti-tank rifles at 25 mm, the Mk.II is more effective.
Besides the British army and commonwealth forces the Boys rifles were used by many more armred forces. In the French campaign of 1940 French units traded some of their 25 mm anti-tank guns for Boys rifles so that the allied forces had a greater variety of anti-tank weapons available to them. After the evacuation at Dunkirk and the French surrender the Germans ended up with a lot of Boys rifles which they put to use, these were called 13.9-mm Panzerabwehrbüchse 782(e). Boys rifles were also sent over to Finland were a couple hundred were used in the Winter War and the Continuation War.
Following WWI, the .50 cal machine gun was deemed a good and relatively light anti tank weapon there was litte interest in the development of anti-tank rifles in the US until the late 1930s. The Solothurn S-18/100 and the Solothurn S-18/1000 were tested, but these weapons were about three times as heavy as the Boys rifles that were bought from Canada and issued to the troops after the Japanese offensives. Compared to the .50 M2HB Browning with its tripod the Boys rifle weighed almost four times less and fired a more powerful cartridge so the utility of it was obvious as an mobile anti tank weapon. The rifles are only used by the United States Marine Corps on early maps set in the pacific such as Wake Island and Guadalcanal since the M1 Bazooka had not yet been introduced.
Mk.II[]
| Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys Mk.II Boys Anti-tank Rifle Mk.II | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | Great Britain |
| Type | Anti-Tank rifle |
| Effective range | 300 m |
| Rate of Fire | 10 rpm |
| Magazine | 5 rounds |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Debut in FHSW | v0.5 |
| Used by | Great Britain Australia Finland France |
| File:BoysmarkIIreal.jpg | |
This variant was designed for the British airborne troops and where predominantly used in North Africa. This rare variant, that very few of which survived the war because of the low numbers produced, had a shorter barrel and was lighter. This variant can be recognized ingame by the flat harmonica style muzzle brake which also was added on the late model Boys Mk.I rifles
In FHSW it can penetrate 30.5mm of armour, which is 5.5 mm more than the Mk.I.
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