[citation needed] Although adequate against light tanks and tankettes in the early part of the war, the Boys was ineffective against heavier armour and was phased out in favour of the PIAT hollow charge weapon mid-war.

[8] A bolt action rifle fed from a five-shot magazine, the weapon was large and heavy with a bipod at the front and a separate grip below the padded butt.

[9] In order to combat the recoil caused by the large 0.55 inches (14 mm) round, a muzzle brake was fitted on the barrel while the receiver was allowed to slide along the frame with a shock absorber attached to the rear of the rifle.

The Boys had been designed with numerous small narrow-slotted screws of soft steel set very tight into the body of the weapon and its repair and maintenance proved difficult.

[10] The Boys rifle was used in the early stages of the Second World War against lightly armoured German tanks and combat vehicles.

Britain also supplied a large number of Boys anti-tank rifles to Finland in 1939 and 1940 during the Winter War with the Soviet Union.

Even the British Special Air Service, which made much use of captured or cast-off weapons for their jeeps and reconnaissance vehicles, quickly got rid of their Boys rifles in favour of M2 Brownings or the Italian 20mm Breda cannon.

[citation needed] The weapon was standard issue to British and Commonwealth forces which attempted to stem the Japanese onslaught through the Pacific theatre.

[citation needed] After the war in the Pacific, the gun was used by the Royal Malay Regiment to fight against communist insurgents during the Malayan Emergency.

[1] In September 1965, members of the IRA hit the British fast-attack patrol boat HMS Brave Borderer with a Boys rifle, crippling one of her turbines while she was paying a visit to Waterford, Republic of Ireland.