Your load is just under the Hodgdon published starting load which flies in the face of all that advice I've read to "go faster". But as you say, close range has its own preferences.
I'm going to have to reset my thinking now. I've always been curious about loading to a lowest node, but in the process seemed to have fallen victim to the "faster is better" mindset.
Faster
may be better depending on range wind conditions, distances, competitive levels ... etc, etc,
but always subject to having the requisite precision too. Winners ally great precision, great external ballistics and great shooting/wind-reading abilities. (Also having a great bank balance to afford replacement barrels, top quality bullets, brass frequently replaced.
)
The shorter the distance, the more the balance tips toward precision if necessary at the expense of external ballistics - unless the range being shot over is on a seaside cliff top and sees 40 mph average winds with 30 mph pick-ups and let-offs. A low node can sometimes, maybe oftentimes, provide exceptional results at short distances, be easier to shoot consistently, and enhance barrel life. At one time, many handloaders turned out different loadings for different distances. I can remember being surprised by some of
Handloader magazine's Ken Waters' 'Pet Loads' a generation or so back that were exceptionally light often involving heavy bullets, a fast burning powder, and low fill-ratios. 308 Win and 30-06 with 190gn match bullets, two-thirds full cases of H322, and low (2,200-2,300 fps) MVs for 200 yard matches for instance.
Nowadays most people prefer to get a best performing load for the most difficult conditions and use it for everything. If nothing else, it reduces the chances of mistakes in sight-settings, the handloading and ammo-box labelling processes and so on. (It used to be common in UK F/TR to load 155s and 210gn Berger LRBT loads in 308 Win for national league long-distance matches. If the weather forecast said light winds shoot the 155s that held elevations better; if windy take the 210s that reduced wind drift but produced a greater elevation spread. It usually worked out, but I have seen very capable people ruin a match by failing to be on the frame or even backstop at 1,000 yards with Sighter 1 and struggling to rezero. As a result, almost everybody uses a single load now for all matches over two-day fixtures even if they take two loadings.)
I can think of three examples of exceptional low-node performance over the last 10 or 15 years in my own rifles and shooting.
The first was an out of the box 308 Win FN Special Police Rifle (24-inch barrel), one of the first 10 to reach the UK and early in the new century. Initial 100 yard load development produced a genuine <0.1-inch 5-shot group at 100 off the bench with Sierra 175gn SMKs, but at some MV ~ 2,350 fps. Heavy, higher velocity loads never produced decent groups in this rifle, but I had some great 200 and 300 yard results with the light loads. (Even now with a heavy Bartlein 6.5 barrel on it, it doesn't like anything approaching high-pressure loads.)
Second up chronologically goes back to my '223 phase' nine or ten years ago. Whilst I had my long-range national comp level 223 shooting 90gn Berger VLDs at 2,910 fps, I also wanted to rebarrel a .204 Ruger factory Savage 12 LRVP RBLP single-shot with a fast-twist lighter-profile 223 match barrel for short to mid-range F/TR club comps. When I placed the barrel order, we didn't know what we do now about bullet stability and I went for a 1 in 7.5" pitch despite wanting to use 90s. It was also a relatively skinny 'Light Palma' profile. Bartlein was snowed under with orders at that time and delivery was slow especially for non-standard twists and profile combinations so it took 18 months, maybe two years to eventually turn up. By then I had big doubts about the project but went ahead anyway and it was chambered with the same reamer as rifle #1 that had around 0.200" FB for Berger 90gn VLDs. In theory it shouldn't have stabilised the since discontinued 90gn Berger BT with a 7.5 twist, but it shot them brilliantly over a modest Viht N150 load at 2,675 fps (28-inch barrel) despite everything beside the barrel being out of the box Savage 12 and H-S Precision bedding block sporter stock. I had some very good 200-600 yard F/TR results back in 2012 - albeit competition was much easier than now and my skills were undoubtedly better honed back then.
(That action and trigger then formed the basis of an exceptional 223 mid-range performer with another Bartlein, now 'Heavy Palma' 1 in 7", PT&G ISSF 0.169" FB chamber in a Gary Eliseo 'Competition Machine' S1 chassis stock and again doing best with 90gn Berger LRBTs (RIP). It still shoots well, albeit no longer for me.) (This stock:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2008/12/eliseo-offers-s1-tubegun-kit-for-savage-actions/ )
My final example is another Savage 12 single-shot rig now in a British Dolphin Gun Co. chassis stock, originally built for F/TR in 308 around nine years ago, more recently rebarreled to 7mm-08 long-throat for F-Open with a fluted heavy profile 31-inch Bartlein. This rifle is mostly fed loads with 160gn TMKs, but early on I found it would consistently shoot at quarter-inch or better at 100 yards with the 150gn Lapua Scenar-L over Lovex SO-65 (Shooters World 'SW Long Rifle' in the US) at around 2,830 fps, a very modest MV for this bullet weight from 31-inches. This was my 300/500 and occasional 600 yard F-Class match load and it won me a lot of 1st to 3rd places especially at 300. (We'd abandoned 200 by then - the butts crews couldn't keep up with replacing target centres they got chewed up so fast.) This is pairs or trio-shooting on an upland range lying along a steep hillside exposed to the prevailing wind, moreover in a very windy region, so even at 300 'possibles' aren't common, winners usually scoring 98 or 99, but sometimes lower. This worked out great until the day came when the wind was 'harder' than usual and I was throughly beaten up by the guys with 284s, 7mm SAUMs, and WSMs. Since then I've stuck to the higher BC higher MV 160 TMK load at all distances, but should really take the 150 version too and decide on the day after evaluating conditions.
The 7mm-08 also illustrates another factor in our ever changing scene in precision disciplines - everything (and everybody too) is becoming more competent - better rifles and optics, better ammunition components and handloading skills, higher shooter proficiency and skill. But also, the widespread use of cartridges at short distances that would have raised eyebrows only three years ago - 284 Win is the norm now and many have upgunned here to the SAUMs and WSMs to get that last point that might have been a barely out 'leaker' in a lower velocity / lower BC bullet combination. A few years ago, it was mostly sixes and a few smaller 6.5s as people traded ballistics for precision and the ease of shooting low recoil numbers. Now people get
both precision and ballistics in today's rifles and ammunition nad live with the recoil / rifle disturbance - ballistics and precision. In theory a decent 6-Dasher or 6.5X47L could still win, but on this range at any rate they rarely do and fewer and fewer competitors even attempt it. The floor has become the 6.5mm Creedmoor with heavy bullets and some
very hot loads giving high MVs.
........... so just maybe the 'go faster' advice is right after all, at least in some circumstances.
