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Does any one have any pictures of the Boys .55/303 sub calibre device or the experimental Boys rifle in .55/303 if such things exist.
I believe these were trials items manufactured by BSA in 1938 & 1942.
I have seen the Parker Hale .22 adaptors in their catalogues.
I always wondered about those adapters myself. The early Boys manual (pre 40; I think it was 37 or 38 dated) referred to the 303 sub cal adapter. The copy I had was issued with a list of amendments which included changing the ".303" to ".22".
The Cdn sub cal adapters in .22 were made by HW Cooey. My understanding is that the 22 will bounce along the barrel walls once it has left the short section of rifling in the adapter. If the .303 was of similar design, and taking into consideration the longer cartrige length vs available distance for the rifling, the .303 would have been worse for bouncing around.
In Canada, some Ross rifles were modified during the second world war to act as Boys rifle trainers in .303.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_1423-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_1432-1.jpg
Thanks stencollector, just doing a bit of research in to the Boys as I am looking to add one to the collection.
There doesnt seem much written about these rifles, done is any one know of any reference books on the subject
Simon
I believe Peter Laidler has mentioned he is putting together a short book on the Boys rifle. There is very little out there on these beasts, just the odd snippets in booklets like Janes, or small references to them in books about Dieppe. It would seem like so few survive that the interest in a book about them would have a very limited audience.
On the web there is a bit of info on this site: WW2 Anti-Tank rifles
It can take quite a while to find a Boys in the UK, and when they do come along there a b***** fortune!
It's correct Sten collector that I have amassed a big stack of info on the Boys rifle from our archives and when (?) the Bren Gun book is published I will do the Boys rifle. It won't be a thick book!
But those pictures of a Boys trainer..........are they for real?
Sadly and embarrassingly, they are real. It shows the Canadian methods of recycling in the military....waste not want not. The same Canadian thriftiness is also displayed in the poor condition of the papers shown. They are from Canada's National archives, and are water damaged. Apparently our archive is on a very tight budget.