UK & Canadian

The Boys Anti Tank Rifle is a large rifle with a padded butt, pistol grip, an over-the-barrel 5 round magazine, an integrated mono-pod and oiler in the aluminium butt stock. The barrel and receiver are free to recoil approximately 1" against a large buffer spring. Early rifles had a rear sight with both a 300 yard and 500 yard setting with interchangeable sight elements, later rifles were fixed at 300 yards. Named after one of its principal designers Captain Boys, this gun was the primary anti tank weapon of British infantry until it was replaced by the PIAT shaped charge weapons in 1943. Originally called the Stanchion rifle, only a couple of minor modifications such as the lengthening of the bolt handle were required before mass production started at Enfield and BSA. It was widely used in campaigns against the Axis armies in France, Greece, North Africa and China in the early part of the war. While effective against the 1930s tanks, it was - due to its bolt-action design - slow to operate and outclassed by the heavy armour on later tanks such as the PzKpfw III. The later instruction manual (1942) states the limitations of the rifle on the first page, unlike the original 1937 edition which makes no mention of the limitations. The 1942 manual also hints at future modifications that would make MK1* and MK2 versions.

In late 1939 on the outbreak of the Winter War on the Eastern Front, international sentiment was very much on the Finnish side. The British government donated two hundred Boys ATRs with the express wish that thirty of them would be given to Swedish volunteers. The rifles were a remarkable success against Soviet tanks of pre-war design which had been built to withstand small-arms fire only. In late 1940 Finland bought 200 Boys ATRs from German captured stocks. The rifles were used on the front in the beginning of the Continuation War in 1941 but were gradually withdrawn by the end of 1943. It is claimed that 300 surviving examples were kept in storage until the mid Fifties when they were sold to collectors. The rifle was also phased out of service by the Commonwealth forces by December 1943 with the widespread introduction of the PIAT once ammunition became readily available.

The MK1* rifles were made by Inglis in Canada (see footnote) and apart from being parkerised rather then blued like the British made rifles, also incorporated a bipod rather than a mono-pod and a carrying handle.

The MK2 versions were lighter and had a shorter barrel, there were predominantly used in North Africa by airborne troops, very few survived.

It should be noted that the early rifles used a round muzzle break and later rifles used a flat harmonica style break which had less of a tendency to spray the shooter with dirt and dust when firing in the prone position.

As an interesting side note, Disney were commissioned in WW2 to produce a training film on the Boys anti-tank rifle called "Stop that Tank" in the War-time shorts series. At long last this is now available as a limited edition DVD and well worth a watch! The film starts with an animated 'comedy' Adolf Hitler driving a tank and being stopped in his tracks by the boys rifle, then goes onto film footage of a soldier loading and unloading, firing the rifle, cleaning and basic stripping.

Above: Very rare picture of an early Boys rifle and its transit box, it would appear to hold 6 or 8 magazines. This photo was sent to me with the title 'Irish soldiers training on the Boys rifle'

Above: I wouldn't recommend taking your Boys rifle on the bus in this day and age!

Above: Note the massive difference in size between the Boys bolt face (right) and the PTRD bolt face

* John Inglis Company at Long Branch, Toronto. The Inglis Company employed 17,000 workers and turned out more machine guns during the war than any other individual firm in the British Empire, a total of some half-million weapons comprising of Bren guns, Browning aircraft machine guns and 38,000 .55 calibre Boys anti-tank rifles.

06/01/07