Old Town’s Dow wins rifle championship

WARREN – An Old Town man took first place among 24 competitors at the Maine State Highpower Rifle Championship held July 19 at the Oyster River Range, and won an excellence in competition match run by the U.S. Department of Civilian Marksmanship the following day.

David Dow fired a score of 778 out of 800 possible points in the match, which included stages at 200, 300 and 600 yards and positions including off-hand, sitting and prone.

The second high-scoring shooter was Emery Bassett of Essex Junction, Vt., who fired a 764, taking first master honors.

Bassett did not qualify for overall second-place in the match, however, because he is not a Maine resident. That award went to Harry Davis of Freeport, who fired 752.

Mac Daggett of Thomaston fired the top score for the Match Rifle category, separate from the service rifle classification, firing a score of 747.

Other winners and scores were Harry Davis, first expert, 752; David Yates of South Paris, first sharpshooter, 706; Denis Paine of Topsham, first marksman, 701; Sam Overlock, 17, of Warren, first junior, 706.

Dow fired a 470 of 500 possible points in the excellence in competition match held July 20 at the Oyster River Range. Scoring second-place was Scott Folsom of Hampden, with a score of 468. The match is a qualification event in which shooters seek classification as distinguished shooters by the DCM.