For the larger cases (.30-30 and up) I start at the book minimum with the bullet loaded to magazine length in repeaters or touching the lands in single shots, I load 5 rounds there and then 5 at each 2 grain increment until I get to book max, most of the time 15 rounds will cover the range. Somewhere in there I usually get a noticeably better group so I go from there, most of the time I have an accuracy level I'm willing to accept and when I hit it I stop load development. For hunting rifles I load everything as long as I can to keep pressures down, once a bullet gets seated into the lands though things can go the other way pressure wise.

Bob