Anti-tank rifles

[BlueTrain]

Anyone here have an anti-tank rifle? I mean an original WWII or earlier military issue weapon?

I once got to see a Boys anti-tank rifle when I was at the Clark Brothers range near Warrenton, Virginia, although that was a couple of years ago. I didn't stay long enough to see the owner shoot it but I did get to talk to him for a while. That particular one was in .50 Browning MG, though I don't remember if he said that was the original caliber or not. I think the US Marines used a few. The original .55 Boys may be illegal. Don't know.

I've never seen another one and I was surprised to see that one--rather like seeing an original AC Cobra. The store itself has a WWI Mauser A/Tk rifle on display but I don't think I've ever seen another A/Tk rifle anywhere, even at a gun show.

Curiously enough, when you think about it, the current crop of .50 caliber rifles are pretty much the same thing.

 

[Limeyfellow]

I seen a couple of Boyes and you occasionally see them at re-enactments. They are damn noisy brutes, but lovable nonetheless.

I also seen a PTRD-41 in action and up close.

They aren't illegal to own but really hard to find in the US, since after all the feds don't want everyone with antitank weaponary.

 

[Mike Irwin]

The Boyes rifle was originally chambered in .55 Boyes, which had a belted case head.

They were made in no other caliber.

After WW II, when some became available on the surplus market, a number were rechambered to .50 BMG.

 

[BlueTrain]

Hardly an anti-tank rifle but I did see a PIAT in the hands of some re-enactors. Interesting but not as much as a demilitarized Madsen LMG.

On the subject of anti-tank weapons, a gun shop in Alexandria, VA, (Potomac Arms) once had a half dozen examples, both Italian 47-mm and French 25-mm anti-tank guns, plus a German 75-mm infantry gun (howitizer, actually). Apparently they were all still in working order, after a fashion. I mean they had not been welded shut or anything, though only the German gun still had an operating breech block. All the others were a little on the rusty side. The shop was by the Potomac River and the parking lot where they were was prone to flooding.

One Saturday morning I was examining one of the French guns and noticed from the inscription, which was in the flowery script like was used on some Lebels, that it was manufactured about a month before the German invasion in the spring of 1940. After I left it occurred to me that a rubbing of the inscription would be interesting and decided to do that on my next visit. The next time I stopped by I found out that they had all been sold--after having been there some 35 years!

He who hesitates is lost.

 

[tINY]

A friend of mine sometimes shoots with a guy that brings along a Lahti. I've seen pictures, but never have seen it fired.

You need special handshakes from the ATF as it is considered a "Destructive Device" ...being chambered in 20mm and all.



-tINY

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...antitank weaponry..." No worry there. The Boyes round was obsolete at the beginning of W.W. II. Before then actually. The .55 calibre bullet will bounce off any armoured vehicle with armour that will stop a .50 BMG. It bounced off Panzer Mk I's.
However, one day in the shop I worked in long ago, an elderly guy came in when we had a German PzB(the round for it looks like a 6 oz Coke bottle with an 8mm bullet on top. $15 a pop) He looked it over and asked me if I knew of the Boyes. The guy had been in the pre-war Indian Army(Brit then) and told me about how they had used the Boyes to snipe from one mountain to another on the Afghan border.

 

[Crosshair]

You all realise that the M2HB 50 BMG machinegun was originally an anti-tank weapon.

 

[Dave Haven]

Yup. The cartridge was even patterned after the 13mm Mauser anti-tank cartridge. The ballistics are virtually identical. It's not a scaled-up .30-'06 as many claim.

 

[Crosshair]

Yea, I could tell that the 30-06 and 50 BMG thing was BS from the start. The 2 rounds don't look anything alike.

 

[Polydorus]

There is an interesting article in the March American Rifleman on the Boys Anti-tank rifle. Featuring its use by the USMC during WW2.

 

[50 shooter]

Actually, the 13mm Mauser and 11mm Gras were what inspired the U.S. to experiment with bigger calibers. When it came to build something, they were never really seriously considered for designs.

There are examples of rimmed and rimless cartridges that were scaled up .30-06 cases. Colt and FA made these and experimented with both, the designs were tweaked until they came up with what we now know as the .50 BMG.

Here's a pic of a 1918 rimmed, 1919 rimless and a regular .50 BMG.