You are right to question the value of ladder testing as typically carried out, particularly in the present day when consumable costs are pushing reloaders in the direction of attempting to extract more information from less data. I posted my thoughts here several years ago: https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....testing-45701/
Some might say I'm sidestepping the original question, but I'd propose as the most cost effective approach; to put a barrel from one of the top tier manufacturers onto the rifle, and have it chambered by someone who knows what they are doing, use quality components in making the ammunition (including a temperature-stable powder) and with a bullet that is well matched to the twist rate; then the rifle should have a good chance of shooting well with any charge weight within the recognised range for the cartridge each time it is taken out, and it isn't necessary to go wasting ammo.
Brian Litz interview videos are always interesting to watch. It never takes long before he gets into discussing the importance of statistical variation in group sizes, and with good reason. Here are a couple of many such interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSLQ01VX3yM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0RC17Dbtws
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