Mackenzie, with his high velocity 22GT rifle — a .22 "on steroids" — is one of a four-person New Zealand team competing at the International Precision Rifle Federation World Championships at Grand Junction, Colorado, this month.
It’s only the second time the biennial event’s been held, attracting 250 shooters from around the world including women, juniors and the military.
Mackenzie tells Mountain Scene shooters get 90 seconds to fire 10 shots, and are constantly changing position.
"You might do one shot or two shots at a target, and you’ve got to move.
"You’re actually going from kneeling to standing to shooting up against a barricade or through a tank trap."
Targets can look like animals, and can be big or small, near or far and partly-obscured or in the shade.
"These targets are not necessarily easy to find."
All the while, shooters have to keep in mind they have just nine seconds to readjust. "So it’s quite fast ... your heart rate starts pumping."
Adding to the challenge, the event’s at a similar altitude to the Remarkables, and the climate is hot and dry.
"So, you have to be so sharp and you have to remember where the targets are, and make sure that you don’t screw anything up.
"There’s just so many things that can go wrong. A lot of times you might miss one or two or three targets, or sometimes you might miss the whole lot.
"And then you go, ‘wow, what happened?"’
Shooters will fire off 200 rounds over two days.
Mackenzie, who flies out this coming Monday, is competing in the open event alongside NZ’s top exponent Anthony Collie, of Auckland. Also competing, but in a different category, is Sam Ruddenklau from Gore.
Mackenzie says the North Americans are the ones to beat in all categories.
