The Best Looking Boys in the Neighbourhood

cantom said:
Beautiful rifle Stencollector and interesting story!

I take it that original .55 Boyes rounds are unobtainable?
Click to expand...


The .55 rounds are not "unobtainable", but at the same time, they haven't been made since about 1943, and they keep getting harder to find. I had a Boys rifle in 55, and would buy every round I could find at the gunshows. On average, I seemed to find about 5 rounds a year, at between $15-25 a round. Then, another CGN board member found me a hoard (almost 50 rounds) at only $10 a piece. I was good for a year or two of shooting, but the end always loomed. These days, it is rare to find a round at less than $25, and I am starting to see prices of $40. The sub cal rounds can run from $125 to $300, and the fluted training round can easily fetch $100.

50 Cal BMG is, by comparison, easy and cheap to find. My feet rest on an ammo can of 100 as we speak.

Originally Posted by TheIndifferent1 View Post
So on a side note, if anyone has ANY book titles or documentation relating to the Boys and it's use in battle or penetration of the round please do let me know Ammo was made by Dominion Arsenals so hopefully I can find some particulars at the archives. Unfortunately Operations Research is not a very popular field in history
Click to expand...

Check Will Fowler's book "the Commandoes at Dieppe". There are a few accounts in there of the commandoes using the Boys rifle as anti material sniping, successfully taking out guns. In particular, they fire 60 rounds at a flak gun, taking it out of action. I bet their shoulders were like jello after that.
 
Here were some shots (courtesy of mtallman) from last years Battle of the Bulge match. One is the PTRD (owner missing something), the other Boys rifle (mk2 flashider but a mk1 bipod still init's origional .55 cal, owner DD) and mine with the fencepost barrel.
6kfn6n8.jpg

71g4ars.jpg

In the above photo you can see where the other pussys wore mukluks for the shoot. Heck, it was only -30 that morning....what are they going to do when it gets cold? I am the guy with the black boots on.
 
Sten, when did they switch to the flat style suppressor? First I've seen of it. How well did it work in comparison to the round one?
 
I am unsure of the changeover. So little is known about these rifles overall, and they are rare enough that "The boys rifle story" is just an imaginary title.
The likely reason for the pancake type brake is to reduce the signature cloud of dust more likely with the round type flashider. While it did not direct the muzzle blast straight down, the round one did direct a fair bit downwards.

I think I have mention in a book somewhere that the later brake was more effecient.

The mk2 bipod was also different, having independantly folding, non-adjustable legs as opposed to the adjustable monopod type mk1. The change in bipods might have been to reduce machining required. The mk2 bipod was cast, whereas the mk1 was all machine and fabrication.
 
stencollector said:
I am unsure of the changeover. So little is known about these rifles overall, and they are rare enough that "The boys rifle story" is just an imaginary title.
The likely reason for the pancake type brake is to reduce the signature cloud of dust more likely with the round type flashider. While it did not direct the muzzle blast straight down, the round one did direct a fair bit downwards.

I think I have mention in a book somewhere that the later brake was more effecient.

The mk2 bipod was also different, having independantly folding, non-adjustable legs as opposed to the adjustable monopod type mk1. The change in bipods might have been to reduce machining required. The mk2 bipod was cast, whereas the mk1 was all machine and fabrication.
Click to expand...

Good points, thanks for the info :) Hopefully my paper will add a bit to the 'boys rifle story' when it's finished :D I think to get any really good info I'd have to go to the UK though.
 
Ken The Kanuck said:
BTW you can remove red loctite by tightening the threads just a little, then undoing the joint. This might be a good method if you don't want to use heat.
Click to expand...

Good tip, but normally a barrel will already be on so tight that turning even a little tighter will be near impossible. When I say heat, I am not talking about red hot...just warming up the metal to where you don't really want to hold onto the metal for too long, but not hot enough to boil water.
 
NavyShooter said:
Everyone's seen this site, right?


http://www.antitank.co.uk/index.htm

NS
Click to expand...

I had looked at that site quite some time ago, but thanks for the reminder about it. Notice that they do not even have a photo of the action cover, which I have for mine. My cover was actually the one used for photographs in the book "Weapons of the WWII tommy. I bought it, and a small pile of other accessories, from the book's author.
 
Well I am resurrecting a very stale thread here, but I just managed to pick up a couple more items for my Boys rifle.
In this first pic are a pair of the chamber gauge and a firing pin protrusion gauge for the boys, along with a single magazine I picked up for a reasonable price ($79 compared to the usual $150 that they normally sell for). At this rate of acquisition, I should have the mag chest filled by 2015 or so (I still need one more).
2010_0409howitzerc10001.jpg

In this shot are a pair of the action covers I got for spares. This way I won't have to use my minty one for the trips to the range, or to display in my UC carrier. They are well weathered, but a rare enough accessory that one doesn't quibble about the overall condition.
2010_0409howitzerc10002.jpg


There are a few Boys over at collectors source these days...not sure why so many are suddenly appearing. They had a live gun with a welded chamber a few week ago (sold for around $5K) and they still have a Brit one at $9K , along with a Cdn Inglis one at $8K. The Inglis one is US property marked. I have never seen an Inglis Boys rifle that was not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom