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Boys Anti-Tank Rifle calibre in millimetres

T

trapdoor_lux

New Member
Hey guys,

I found a few threads on the Boys anti-tank rifle rounds but had a specific (likely dead simple) question about the calibre in millimetres. Wikipedia on the rifle says the calibre is 14.3mm, but the 0.55 Boys cartridge says that it's 13.9mm. I assume both are technically correct for different reasons... I'm currently working on project that has a Sniper using the weapon and we don't want to call him just a "Sniper". We want to use the calibre in his name and it would bother me (and others, I'm sure) if we got it wrong.

So would you say 14.3mm Sniper or 13.9mm Sniper? I'd rather use 14.3mm, obviously :)

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
 
The .55 Boys was a British development and, as far as I know, they never referred to it in metric terms. Why do feel there's a need to do so?

Ray
 
That's an interesting point. We refer to other things in millitmetres (except for the .50cal) and calling him the "Boys Sniper" just feels off. We want to emphasize the fact that he's special (other snipers are no good against armoured targets). I just want to be accurate in terms of calibre.

I guess we could use ".55cal Sniper", but the millimetres feels more potent to me since it would be such an unfamiliar number.
 
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is the project you are working on factual or fictional?
You could just say 'large calibre sniper' or 'sniper, anti-tank'

I think changing the .55 into mm would be like changing the .50cal into 12.7mm, ( you immediately lose what you were hoping to keep, if you know what I mean)

Kev
 
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They were in use in Finland during Winter War 1939-40. Finnish nomenclature was "14mm anti-tank rifle m/1937".
 
AFAIK the .55 Boys ammunition was made only in GB so there is no metric designation. But now, someone will show a photo of a metric cartridge and prove me wrong. ;-)

Ray
 
I don't know if this is what you ask, but the drawing is from Finnish WW2 manual. The cartridge though is of British origin.
 

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Thanks for the replies, guys! It's a realistic project but not 100% factual - we have units in high numbers that were realistically only produced in very low numbers, etc. That's an interesting note about the Finns and I like the suggestion of "Large Calibre Sniper". He's still, functionally, an anti-infantry unit, so I don't want to over-emphasize his anti-tank capabilities. We're already pushing it with him piercing Panther tanks :)
 
trapdoor_lux said:
Thanks for the replies, guys! It's a realistic project but not 100% factual - we have units in high numbers that were realistically only produced in very low numbers, etc. That's an interesting note about the Finns and I like the suggestion of "Large Calibre Sniper". He's still, functionally, an anti-infantry unit, so I don't want to over-emphasize his anti-tank capabilities. We're already pushing it with him piercing Panther tanks :)
Click to expand...

Perhaps some of the guys on here will be able to tell you the capabilities of various types of ammunition against the Panther armour. Once they have done so you then may be able to judge just how much you are 'pushing it with him piercing Panther tanks'.
If this is a fictional story, then you might as well invent a new weapon altogether; if on the other hand you wish it to remain crediable, stick to the Panzer 1.

Kev
 
raymeketa said:
AFAIK the .55 Boys ammunition was made only in GB so there is no metric designation. But now, someone will show a photo of a metric cartridge and prove me wrong. ;-)

Ray
Click to expand...

Canada made them as well,but they were .55" too.
Tony
 
Thanks Tony. I knew someone would prove me wrong. Do you have a photo or description of the headstamp? I've never seen a .55 Boys with any headstamp other than K. Of course, since GB is a part of Canada it would make sense. :wink:

PM being sent on another subject. Did you get it? I cannot figure out the PM system.

Ray
 
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I thought there might be some interest in the attached design drawing. I show it largely to illustrate that metric units were used in British service from time to time albeit sparingly. I have not yet had the opportunity to research the bullet shown in the drawing but presumably it is an 'observing' or HE projectile. At 13.2mm it sits unhelpfully between 50 cal and .55 Boys and the use of the word 'experimental' would suggest that it is not a drawing in support of foriegn ammunition exploitation.

If anyone has chapter and verse on the bullet I would be pleased to hear about it.


DD(L)10773 Bullet SA 13mm2 Experimental.jpg
 
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I presume that the 13.2mm round this was intended for was the 13.2x99 Hotchkiss (or maybe 13.2x96 - the neck was shortened slightly in later versions). The Hotchkiss round was basically identical to the .50 Browning except in the slightly larger calibre, and the two are quite hard to tell apart at first look. Kynoch/ICI made the 13.2x99 for the export market. The round was always known by its metric designation, never as the ".51"!

The 13.2x99 was not just used in the Hotchkiss MG (adopted by the Japanese Navy as well as France) but also in a Breda MG and in a slightly modified version of the .50 Browning, made in Belgium by FN. At one point the RAF was interested in adopting the 13.2mm Browning-FN but this ended when the German Army marched into Belgium.
 
Tony, Many thanks for yours and the steer towards Hotchkiss. Looking through some OB material for 1938/39 I notice that we were interested in the 13.2mm Hotchkiss Anti-tank Rifle which was completely new to me (as is so much nowadays).
 
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