Thinking about getting into the antitank rifle game: questions

Levon12345

Levon12345

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In my never ending quest to entertain myself and keep my bank account perpetually empty, I've found myself intrigued by antitank rifles. However, I haven't found many sources of information and trying to establish costs of reloading equipment and components is like herding cats with a hose so I turn to the wealth of knowledge here. Questions abound.

Going prices of rifles nowadays. I'm interested in a Boyes, PTRS or PTRD. How many months I'll be eating Kraft Dinner and wieners three squares a day may influence which rifle I'll end up with eventually. That and feeding a PTRS seems like commuting a Winnibago to work.

Reloading presses that are big enough to deal with these things. How much and who makes them? I've gotten stumped by this on the web. Anyone got a link?

Dies. I've seen one site with 14.5 dies but .55 is a stranger I seemed to have missed in my searches.

Components. I see a member here is making 14.5 projectiles and brass but there's bound to be more out there. I mean, Russia still makes the stuff. And does any one know where a man can get prices or source Boyes rounds? Another factor I want to consider in which rifle to try and buy.

I think that's it. I only asked everything related to the subject. I appreciate any answers that may crop up.
 
Levon12345 said:
In my never ending quest to entertain myself and keep my bank account perpetually empty, I've found myself intrigued by antitank rifles. However, I haven't found many sources of information and trying to establish costs of reloading equipment and components is like herding cats with a hose so I turn to the wealth of knowledge here. Questions abound.

Going prices of rifles nowadays. I'm interested in a Boyes, PTRS or PTRD. How many months I'll be eating Kraft Dinner and wieners three squares a day may influence which rifle I'll end up with eventually. That and feeding a PTRS seems like commuting a Winnibago to work.

Reloading presses that are big enough to deal with these things. How much and who makes them? I've gotten stumped by this on the web. Anyone got a link?

Dies. I've seen one site with 14.5 dies but .55 is a stranger I seemed to have missed in my searches.

Components. I see a member here is making 14.5 projectiles and brass but there's bound to be more out there. I mean, Russia still makes the stuff. And does any one know where a man can get prices or source Boyes rounds? Another factor I want to consider in which rifle to try and buy.

I think that's it. I only asked everything related to the subject. I appreciate any answers that may crop up.
Click to expand...

From what I understand the brass and ammo for the 14.5 isn't making its way into Canada (despite being made still) mainly due to lack of interest (I know those of you with these rifles desire them but in terms of the general firearm owning public you are a very small minority) and expensive costs.
These guys have the 14.5mm dies but at 500$ that is pretty pricey
http://www.ch4d.com/products/dies/caliber-list?filter-col=caliber&filter=14.5
They also offer the 55 boys which at 400$ is pricey
http://www.ch4d.com/products/dies/caliber-list?filter-col=caliber&filter=55

From what I understand a fair bit of the Boys anti-tank rifles were converted to 50 BMG so if you were looking for a cheaper one that might be the route to go. I looked into getting a Anti-tank rifle for a bit but the costs were too steep for me (at least at the moment).
Best of luck
 
There are some good books on anti tank rifles . Many Boyes were converted to 50 Cal in the USA because of lack of shells.
I think importing shells could be an issue because of the explosive act. Russia might be the last place for these guns and ammo
because they store everything. Anything over 50 Cal might have issues to import. USA is the place to get information. There are
guns here in canada to be found.
 
im sure more people know better, but heres my 5cents (since the penny is gone)

the cheapest/easiest to feed is a boyes in .50 bmg, with .50bmg necked up to .55 with a belt soldered on being next, bmg primers are the easiest to get, but you will pay dearly for the rifle. the dies for .50 or .55 should both fit a bmg press, sten collector would know more iirc

i have seen more rifles in 14.5 than i have seen live rounds of 14.5 in canada. the problems run from just none in country to reloading steel cases with oversize berdan primers, to getting projectiles (dont think cast will handle the velocity/pressure required to cycle the semi auto) an option i have thought about but never seen done is to drill the primer pocket out of a steel case and then thread it, have bmg primer pockets made out of stainless or something to thread in and then you can reuse the primer pocket after the steel cases fail in a few loads. dont know if the bmg primers would handle the pressure of the 14.5mm though. also, you would need to make a press with an arbour press or something because 14.5 is a big case. the single shot could be loaded light and use cast bullets i would think, and case life would improve. i think the rifles can be had for less than the boyes due to ammo supply problems
 
scott585 said:
im sure more people know better, but heres my 5cents (since the penny is gone)

the cheapest/easiest to feed is a boyes in .50 bmg, with .50bmg necked up to .55 with a belt soldered on being next, bmg primers are the easiest to get, but you will pay dearly for the rifle. the dies for .50 or .55 should both fit a bmg press, sten collector would know more iirc

i have seen more rifles in 14.5 than i have seen live rounds of 14.5 in canada. the problems run from just none in country to reloading steel cases with oversize berdan primers, to getting projectiles (dont think cast will handle the velocity/pressure required to cycle the semi auto) an option i have thought about but never seen done is to drill the primer pocket out of a steel case and then thread it, have bmg primer pockets made out of stainless or something to thread in and then you can reuse the primer pocket after the steel cases fail in a few loads. dont know if the bmg primers would handle the pressure of the 14.5mm though. also, you would need to make a press with an arbour press or something because 14.5 is a big case. the single shot could be loaded light and use cast bullets i would think, and case life would improve. i think the rifles can be had for less than the boyes due to ammo supply problems
Click to expand...

you don't need the belt and if you solder it on you will be annealing the base of the brass not good. what you do is neck .50bmg up to .55 boys then fire form it by single feeding it between the extractor and ejector from the bottom making sure the extractor and ejector keep hold of it while it feeds into the chamber. after this you neck size and it and it will headspace on the shoulder no need for a belt. I got loading data for the .55 boys if anyone needs it. now the bullets coming in from Woodleigh are a bit big around .565" when they should be .562" and they are a bit hard and should be annealed I also have a drawing for a turned copper bullet.

now if you are reloading for anything bigger then .50bmg/.55 boys you will need a rock crusher press from CH4D that's a little over $1000 US plus shipping on a 100lb press. id just get a .50bmg there one made right here in Canada for around $3500 much cheaper to reload for and much easier to reload for a lee classic cast press can be used
 
antiqueguy said:
you don't need the belt and if you solder it on you will be annealing the base of the brass not good. what you do is neck .50bmg up to .55 boys then fire form it by single feeding it between the extractor and ejector from the bottom making sure the extractor and ejector keep hold of it while it feeds into the chamber. after this you neck size and it and it will headspace on the shoulder no need for a belt. I got loading data for the .55 boys if anyone needs it. now the bullets coming in from Woodleigh are a bit big around .565" when they should be .562" and they are a bit hard and should be annealed I also have a drawing for a turned copper bullet.

now if you are reloading for anything bigger then .50bmg/.55 boys you will need a rock crusher press from CH4D that's a little over $1000 US plus shipping on a 100lb press. id just get a .50bmg there one made right here in Canada for around $3500 much cheaper to reload for and much easier to reload for a lee classic cast press can be used
Click to expand...

didnt realize, i had seen it done with the belt online in my early research, never tried it, never got the gun
 
Some misleading info hear.

The Boys is a Dangerous Device in the US in the original calibre and restricts ownership - That is one reason why so many are converted to 50BMG south of the border.

I own a Boys anti-tank gun in the original calibre. It costs about $1000-1500 to have it converted to 50BMG, which is tempting as it requires no permanent modifications other than the instillation of a modified M2 barrel. The advantage of this is that you can find ammo (50BMG) and with the new barrel only the head spacing changes and you can always replace the original barrel later to return it to its original form. The magazines will not allow for proper feeding with 50 BMG shells, so you need to hand feed cartridges, but many people do this anyhow with Boys ammo as using the magazines scratches the very collectable brass.

55 Boys ammo is hard to come buy and even when you find it expect to pay $10-30 a shell. You can get a 50 cal loading set and a set of custom dies which cost $400+ and you can try loading yourself for the Boys. Woodleigh does make 55 bullets.

They look darn cool. The other way to shoot one is to get a 22cal conversion cartridge and you can shoot 22cal out of your Boys, but this requires loading of one 22cal shell at a time. I think mine cost about $75-150???

I have never shot mine due to the ammunition shortage, many original shells will also fail to rife, so I don't even recommend shooting original shells. I am still debating about doing the conversion myself. PM if interested, I can tell you who can do it etc.
 
If you get a PTRD or PTRS, you will eat some Kraft dinner and wieners. But to get a boys, you can forget about the wieners, or even the butter and milk for the KD for that matter. The Boys will likely run you at least 4 times the price of the PTRD/PTRS. But on the plus side, the Boys ATR is a much nicer looking rifle, and as mentioned, a lot more possibilities of finding ammo in either the original .55, or easily converted to .50BMG for readily available ammunition.

Here is a shot of a couple Boys rifles and a PTRS. No comparison as to the quality or the beauty of the British built rifles over the Russian counterpart.

 
Here's a Boys converted to 50bmg. Sounds pretty damned awesome. :cool:

The rounds appear to cycle pretty well through the mag.

Hope he doesn't drop it in the lake...would be a pretty expensive oops...

For me, the conversion to .50bmg would be a no brainer....factory available ammo vs a wallhanger.

I have enough expensive hobbies already though...

[youtube]9GUlyQ0Kgxg[/youtube]
 
a .55 boys is no wall hanger just takes more effort to reload as said about you can use .50 bmg brass and Woodleigh makes bullets(although they need to be turned down to .562") the powder used is a common rifle powder(no .50 bmg powders needed) id much rather have a original gun in .55 boys then a bubba .50 im in Canada and because of that I could care less about what the guys down south do
 
cantom said:
The rounds appear to cycle pretty well through the mag.
Click to expand...
50 BMG rounds are actually about 1/8" longer than a Boys round. You have to mill a little groove in the front of the magazine to take off the shelf 50BMG, or else have shorter rounds made up. I had to do some slight metal modification as well to the inside of the receiver to properly feed the BMG.
 
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