Boys anti-tank rifle

The Boys, often misspelled as Boyes, Anti-Tank Rifle was developed for the British Army in the 1930s as an infantry portable weapon against many of the tanks then fielded by various armies of Europe.

While capable penetrating the armor of interwar years light tanks, the Boys was quickly eclipsed by advances in hull armor thickness and quality. It is to note though that most pre-war anti-tank weapons were quickly found to inadequate in the face of relentless armor vehicle development. Only the German 88mm which was used primarily as an anti-aircraft guns in the beginning still finished the war as a viable and feared anti-tank gun.

After some initial use in Finland, Western Europe and North Africa the Boys were quickly retired from these theaters; however the rifle continued to find itself useful in Asia were it was still adequate against the lightly armored vehicles of the Imperial Japanese Army. Here they soldiered on until around 1942.

The Boys was apparently never very popular with British Forces. According to some sources ordnance crews found it difficult to repair, and despite possessing a muzzle brake, monopod/ bipod, thick leather recoil pad and recoil absorbing stock troops still complained about the recoil from its .55 inch (13.9mm) cartridge. Although the Finns found them handy against lighter Soviet tanks like the T-26 during the Winter War of 1939-40.

Unfortunately as a concept the idea of the anti-tank rifle was doomed by the ever growing size and lethality of their primary prey. The tank. Also improvements of other infantry anti-tank weapon systems like the Panzerfaust, PIAT, the Bazooka and assort shape charge grenades and mines render them redundant. Finally most anti-tank rifles required careful machining and construction to allow them to safely chamber the cartridges they fired, and they were heavy and awkward compared to the relatively cheap and compact systems like the Panzerfaust.

However the need for a large caliber infantry rifle never went away, its target just changed. During the Great Patriotic War the Soviets often used their ineffective against tanks PTRD and PTRS 14.5mm anti-tank rifles to destroy and snipe targets beyond the effective range and armor penetration capability of the main Soviet rifle cartridge the 7.62x54R. When the Korean War broke out there are accounts of forces on both sides of the conflict using large caliber rifles like the Boys or PTRD to carry out long range sniping mission in the mountainous terrain of the Korean Peninsula.

It wasn't until the 1980s though that these large caliber rifle found there true home as anti-material rifles. Today most major armies employ some variant of this weapon to assist in destroying or disposing of unexploded munitions and IED's from safe distances. They are also used to disable high value enemy targets and assets. A very well known weapon from this class of weapon is the Barret M82 family fav.me/d57gs48 . For the cost of a few dollars one round can destroy delicate electronics, antenna and sensors on vehicles and installations. Render enemy aircraft inoperable with surgically placed rounds in strategic locations. And generally give any forces in charge of perimeter a security a bigger area to police and control. Of course counter measures to them are constantly being pursued and developed and the anti-material rifle may again one day find itself out of a job, but for the moment they have a role and they fill it very well.