I'll confess to using a plumbing nipple to run to an outdoor (RT) box through a wall when I first started out. I just ran a 1/2 round file through the inside to make sure it was smooth and fixed it up snug...
I was talking with my supplier, and he told me he'd found some old tickets from his former family EC business, and back in '94, 1/2" EMT was $0.12/ft. He said that the market never really adjusted over time; just now they're doing it in spades.
