Stop That Tank!

What better Sunday viewing fodder than tanks, Walt Disney, and Hitler in Hell?

That’s just the beginning of the full video, which gives more technical detail and instructions on how to use the rifle:

The Boys Mark 1 antitank rifle was based on an .50 BMG cartridge upped to a .55 projectile, and was the primary anti-tank weapon available to the British Commonwealth at the outbreak of World War II. Could it actually take out German Panzers?

Eh. Sort of. Briefly.

The Mark II variant bullet was capable of penetrating “0.91 inches (23.2 mm) of armor at 100 yd (91 m).” So it could theoretically take out Panzer Is and IIs. But Panzer IIIs, starting with the Ausf. D version in 1938, had at least 30mm armor, so they were already useless against German medium tanks when the war began. So it was pretty much obsolete when the Walt Disney video was made.

Here’s Ian McCollum talking about the rifle:

And here he is firing it:

And finally, because of the name of the rifle, and because it’s my blog, and because why the hell not: