This is a fairly rare and unique device that was developed specifically for the 1903 Springfield Rifles in the early 1910 era by the Ely cartridge company. It is a Vertical Fire Controller device mounted to the left side of the rifle stock, that was specifically developed and patented by the Ely cartridge company in the 1910-11 time frame. It was submitted to Springfield Armory for evaluation, however it was never adopted or officially accepted by the Ordnance Board. It's intended purpose was to assist the soldier in being able to lay indirect fire to fixed positions during the time of darkness or night time operations. The device itself has a small elevation gauge on the right side of the stock that is calibrated from minus -15 to +15 degrees elevation or the device could be shut off completely so that the rifle could function in the normal firing mode. The side mounted device was connected to a clinometer on the trigger which actually prevents the rifle from firing if outside of the pre-set ranges. The device itself is marked "ELY MFG./Pat. Jan.5-09/Model A". There are 2-3 examples of this device in the Springfield Armory museum so there probably were not more than a handful of these devices ever actually fitted to a rifle (An example is photographed on page 440 of "The Springfield Model 1903 Rifle" by Lt. Col. William S. Brophy). The rifle itself is a very nice example of an early 1903 Springfield rifle. It is marked on the receiver with the standard Springfield Armory markings over serial number "255770", and the barrel is marked "SA/Ordnance Bomb/05". It is still fitted with the original milled barrel bands, rear sight assembly, trigger guard and floor plate. The stock and handguard are both the original no-bolt finger groove version, with no handguard clips. The bolt is a later version that is marked "1 M" on the safety lug and it has the correct modified striker/cocking piece. The stock correctly has no cartouches or firing proofs as it was not officially accepted under contract, by the US Army. As noted this is a fairly unique rifle with an experimental device that was developed by private industry, evaluated by the Ordnance Board and thankfully not accepted for obvious reasons.

Very fine with 75% plus of the original blue finish remaining on the rifle overall with the remaining finish having browned out on the receiver, cocking/piece assembly, trigger guard, floor plate and rear barrel band, mixed with some minor thinning of the blue in some areas. The stock and handguard are both in near excellent condition, with a very nice original matching medium brown finish with sharp finger grooves showing only very minor handling marks overall. It's the opinion of this describer that this rifle was probably not tested too heavily based on the extremely fine overall condition of this example. A rare and unique example of the many devices submitted to the Government for testing on this rifle.