I think you're referring only to match fees? In which case I agree. But I just crunched the numbers on a 6BR barrel eating handloads: with 3000 rounds of barrel life, it's $1.17 per trigger pull. So for 100 rounds for score, plus let's say 20 on the low end for zero and validation, and a very nice cheap match fee of $30, I'm at $170 before I burn two tanks of gas for the drive.
I was talking about a situation where you're just going to "play a round," as opposed to a formal competition (e.g., a match). If you've ever done a practice or fun day at the range with your PRS buddies, I'd be awfully surprised if you weren't making up your own stages to practice, and for the variety. Golf innately has more variety for a given hole, because playing from the different lies you hit creates a somewhat unique experience. Unfortunately, because the props are the props for PRS, we have to create unique experiences differently.
Fully agreed with you here. I have some empathy for people who want the game to grow and to sustain over the years; I'm just less persuaded that growth is mandatory, or that eliminating the "barricade benchrest" is necessary either. If you approach the game with the mindset of "I haven't mastered this skill until I routinely clean matches," there's probably a lifetime of striving available.
Satterlee action, integral barrel by Morris Melani at Alaska Arms, engraving by Roger Kehr, stock was done by Steve Durren just shortly before his retirement on another piece of walnut from Erdem. I did the rust blue
