Boys Mark 1 Anti tank Rifle

Boys Mark 1 Anti-tank bolt action rifle. The metal receiver extends back to the alloy shoulder piece with a support grip and canvas butt pad. An oil bottle is fitted into the top of the shoulder piece. The plain barrel has a circular muzzle brake and an offset foresight. A bipod is fitted to the weapon at the centre balance point. The receiver is stamped RB Mk1 with the serial number and BSA'38 on the breech. A magazine is fitted to this weapon.

This weapon system was developed in the mid 1930s by the British Small Arms Committee and was one of the principal designs of Captain Boys. The Boys rifle is an enlarged bolt action weapon feeding from a top mounted magazine. The barrel was permitted to recoil in the stock and the butt was heavily padded - both measures to reduce the heavy recoil. The rifle fired a steel cored and later a tungsten cored armour piercing projectile. It was basically obsolete at the beginning of the Second World War in Europe as the armour protection of tanks had outpaced the penetrative ability of anti-tank rifles and was replaced by the PIAT. The Australian Army continued to use the Boys against Japanese armoured vehicles with some effect.