I used to be more concerned about low E.S/S.D..'s. than I am now. I've had rounds with less than desirable variations that shot great. I'm now looking more at the target, but realize, E.S. and S.D. values have merit. May be more important at extreme ranges.
Seems to me that Varget has some of the lowest E.S. values and does very well at the target. I can see why target shooters like it. I know I do.
It can be a fickle business, different powders performing differently in different rounds. So, blanket statements may not have a lot of predictive value, opinions here on the Fire, notwithstanding...
DF
I read a lot and still do. Made me chase the low ES/SD numbers. Along the way I found I was watching the chrono and saying, WOW this is going to be THE load ( shooting far enough away at paper to not be able to see the group) only to drive down and look and say WTF. The group was horrible. Or at least bad.
Found that often times a higher ES/SD gave better paper groups.
That was probably circa early 90s for me.
Since then a chrono only tells me appx what speed I'm at and allows me to do a bit of calculating to have appx drops when I'm going on out and firing my actual drops for data. I have almost zero use for chrono these days, ALMOST.
The ONLY way, IMHO, to know how a load groups at X distance, is to SHOOT it at X distance.
