Boyes Anti-Tank Rifle RB-1

[danish21]

BOYS ANTI-TANK RIFLE RB-1
CALIBER 13.2MM BSA

MARKED WITH THE 13.2MM CALIBER

BELIEVED TO BE ONE OF ONLY TWO WEAPONS MADE




Danish

[penpusher]

BELIEVED TO BE ONE OF ONLY TWO WEAPONS MADE

What is so rare about a rifle mass produced during the IInd WW?

penpusher

[Risala]

Dan
This would do little or nothing against present day MBT's.At best it might just dent an APC or penetrate a B Veh (basically a truck)
Even the T 72 AAC a 14.7 mm NSVT would perhaps be more effective than this.
Most modern MBT's have Chobam Armour,beyond the normal range that Armour is meant to protect the crew inside if fired at from an opposing tank with a 120 to 125 mm gun firing
a APDS or APFSDS round.A HESH or HEAT round might not be as effective.
Though the same might not hold true for a DU (Depleted Uranium) projectile,which is the preferred round these days.
PS is this one up for grabs in the civilian market abroad.
Best
Sanjay

[Mark]

I've fired one of these before, there are a few of them around here in the US.

They were made around 1917 or so if I remember, to counter the then-new threat of tanks. It weighed around 35 pounds, so recoil wasn't too bad.

Also, the correct name is Boyes, who I believe was the designer. The round looks similar to a 50 BMG but I think is more properly a 55 caliber.

[mehulkamdar]

Danish,

I am not very fond of military or military style firearms though I have shot a few but the Boyes/Boys 55 is one that I'll probably own someday. There were more than 60,000 of them made during WW-1 and then they were quickly discarded as they proved ineffective against tank armour even back then. The Germans had a Mauser anti tank gun which also met the same fate and there were others from Steyr-Solothurn and the most powerful was the 20mm Lahti though that wasa two man proposition which required two soldiers to carry it and one of them would shoot it. A friend of mine in Texas whom Mark knows even before I got to know him, has both a nice Boyes and a Lahti.

The rifle's belted 55 cal round was the only one of a number of experimental anti tank rounds made around Europe that was based on an experimental sporting round at the time, the round coming into being during the early horsepower wars during the pre WW-1 era. If I recall right, it was the only belted rimless round adopted into military service in the world. And the belted rimless design was what proved to be it's undoing - it would not feed well in a machine gun and the 50 Browning became an almost ubiquitous round afterwards.

I've discussed this with Grumpy before and I am sure that it is only a question of time before someone goes ahead and designs a modern bolt action rifle to shoot the round in the new horsepower wars these days. The Boyes/Boys rifles are legal to own in every state of the USA except Commiefornia. Depending on their condition they go from $ 6000 to as much as $ 11,000 here and even turn up on auctions like Gunbroker or Auctionarms from time to time.

I know that Wikipedia is not the best source of information on anything but it does have a basic page on the Boyes/Boys rifle that details the approximate numbers made, the reason why it was brought into service and taken out equally fast. I know of one shop in the USA that has made a bolt action in sporter configuration for the 50 BMG and ifsomeone with enough money were to go to them and ask them to make a modern Boyes/Boys sporter, they would, perhaps, be the best people in the world to put one together. The founder of this business, Fred Wells, was considered the maker of the best Mauser type actions in the world through his lifetime and after his death last year, his son Reuben took the business over.

[danish21]

Mehul
I think must must be talking about this rifle ....

MAUSER ANTI-TANK RIFLE MODEL 1918
CALIBER 13mm
BOLT ACTION RIFLE FIRING THE TUF CARTRIDGE


Danish

[Grumpy]

The Boys ( named after Captain H.C.Boys, leader of the design team that developed the rifle ) anti-tank rifle was approved for service in November 1937 so definitely didn`t see use during WWI. The .55 calibre bullet was propelled @ 3250 fps and could penetrate 21 mm of armour @ 300 yards.
It is reckoned that at the time of its introduction it was capable of piercing any contemporary tank although having done so it is doubtful that the bullet retained enough energy to do any further damage.
All anti-tank rifles were obsolete by 1941 - including the Boys, even though a tungsten cored bullet had been introduced in 1940.
One of the dafter developements was a short barrelled version intended for use by parachute troops which was tried ( and abandoned ! ) in 1942.
I`ve never shot one but have seen a Boys rifle in use with original military issue ammunition and the recoil is pretty evil. US handloaders tend to load the cartridge to a much lower velocity to make it more pleasant to shoot. I`ve seen data for velocities in the 1600-2500 fps range.

[mehulkamdar]

Danish,

I DO know the difference between the Mauser Tank Gewehr and the Boys. I suggested the Wikipedia page on the subject which could be accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_Anti-Tank_Rifle

FYI my number of 60,000 was not off. 62,000 were made, not only two in the world. If there were only two in the world as you put it they would not turn up for sale regularly over here.

[danish21]

Actually Mehul, i just copied this from a web site of collectors gun, same as it was written there "BELIEVED TO BE ONE OF ONLY TWO WEAPONS MADE". May be some thing special in this gun !!!!

Danish

[Grumpy]

I wonder if the significance might be in the calibre ? 13.2 mm is approximately .52 "....... rather less than .55" which is about 13.97 mm.
I`ve never heard of a 13.2mm Boys rifle and know that the rifle was developed in .55" calibre but suppose that it is possible that a couple were rebarrelled by or for a foreign government.........or something.

[mundaire]

That mauser looks like it has been through some rough times!

Very worn out etc.... like a lot of the rifles that are sold to buyers here as NIB pieces!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Grumpy]

"Very worn out etc.... like a lot of the rifles that are sold to buyers here as NIB pieces!"

90% Condition you mean !

[eljefe]

Danish, to add:
the fin stabilised discarding sabot ammo and the other 'super penetrator' type of ammo as used in modern tanks is way out of the book for designers of the WW1 era.As is the reactive and chobham armour...
The Boyes in 55 cal was issued i limited no's even upto WW2 and went belly up immediately-not effective for anything more than the 8 seater half track.The Panzer and other tanks were far ahead of their time and had features which are widely copied today !
Denel makes an anti materiel rifle, weighs about 25lb and is about 6 feet long.issued to Indian SF, saw them at an IOFB exhibition in Pragati Maidan.These are Semi auto , magazine fed.
If you are interested, search for Barrett 50 cal sniper rifle-documented /recorded kill at 2200m by a US sniper during Gulf War1!
Best
Axx

[penpusher]

and this is the IOFB's copy of it (of the Denel rifle)http://ofbindia.gov.in/products/data/weapons/wsc/26.htm

penpusher

[Grumpy]

The Boys ( no `e` ) wasn`t issued in limited numbers during WWII - ALL its numbers were issued during WWII because, as I said above, it wasn`t introduced until November 1937.
Being extremely long is nothing new either - the Boys was 5 ft long.
Those rifles described as being for `anti-materiel` use are not intended for use against armoured vehicles but for attacks against aircraft engines/radar/electronics, etc whilst the `planes are on the ground.
What took over from the anti-tank rifles in WWII were the hollow charge bomb projectors ......... the bazooka being the best known example.