KC "When I looked at the sport it was more expensive than archery. "
No, I don't mean equipment. just Affiliation and club. I shoot/was shooting at least 4x a week. Both archery clubs I have been a full member of charged about £50/yr with no target/shooting fees. In contrast the air rifle clubs charged shooting fees. I don't remember the fee but it was more than £1/day. = £4+/week = £180/yr which dwarfed the membership fees. Other people in other areas will no doubt have different findings
That varies hugely. My air rifle club charges £50 per annum for free access to the facilities year round. The facilities are a covered zero/plinking range, club house, permanent FT and HFT courses set out in woodland, and changed round every few weeks, pellets at more or less cost price per tin and access to any "informal" coaching you want for free; and frequently unsolicited!
. Caveat emptor of course as some shooters are better than others, some are better shooters than coaches and some are neither.
A member and want to shoot local/regional competitions? You're in, just turn up and pay your entry fee (£6 is typical). Want to shoot national competitions (FT)? You need a BFTA card, cost you another fiver a year, arranged through the club.
The kit cost comparisons were a little misleading. The Inno CXT etc Karl mentioned is fairly high end kit but the S410 is distinctly mid range for HFT, and mid to lower for FT. Really high end kit for FT you're looking at over £4-5k (Steyr, Anschutz, FWB, AA FTP900 plus a March on top), low end maybe £500. Mid range if you're buying used, £1200-£1300 for an EV2/FTP and a Big Nikko.
It's interesting though, the NSRA (National Smallbore Rifle Association) are I think NGB for some paper target competitions, but have no NGB role for FT/HFT though they provide the insurance scheme for a lot of clubs. They are proposing to be requiring all club members insured to stump up some kind of associate NSRA membership to qualify for insurance, citing increased costs and falling membership. So there's lots of similar discussions about who are they and what value do they provide to me as a grass roots shooter. A general feeling is that if their business strategy is to try to milk more money by some kind of forced membership, they're already doomed.