But you posted that this was a National Competition, which I took to mean that it was a high/elite level competition. Every serious competition shooter who I've interacted with has been willing to spend freely on gear and ammo if spending that money would help him lose a fraction of an inch of group size. Maybe National Competition shooters in PA are more casual than those who I have met.
One of the things about silhouette is it's set up with a classification system that allows everyone, from a beginning shooter up through master class, to compete with their peers. As you get better in NRA registered matches you move up through the classes B > A > AA > AAA > Masters. There is no qualification program to go to Nationals and IIRC there were on the order of a dozen "B" class shooters. In all likelihood that's where you see the less expensive equipment.
While a really hard shooting discipline to excel at, everyone can enjoy a pig target flopping over. I started with a CZ with Leupold 2.5-8X with a CDS turret I took off my .243, then to a Cooper with a Nikon 4-16 before I just said screw it and make sure I miss and not the rifle and went to the Anschutz 1712 with a 25X Leupold.
