Great thread.. agree with the guy who says plinking is the way to learn.. Most of us learned that way cause there really were no "ranges"
A gun writer that I respect came up with a theory that I find to be pretty close to making sense.
In the many years of testing guns and loads from sandbags and ransom rests and with a variety of shooters he came up with this...
That if you take any experienced shooter.. not supermen but ones with a lot of trigger time over the years... That if you take their five shot groups from sandbag rests and throw out the two worst shots...
That the group will be the exact same size that a ransom rest will give. In other words, the best group possible for that gun and load. It makes sense to me. He claims he has checked the theory many many times and it always works.