I am not new to hand loading but I am new to loading very accurate rifle loads. Most of my loading has been for handguns.

I have recently started to play around with some small caliber rifles and my first venture into truly accurate loads. I started with my Savage 110 in .223. I'm using Hornady V-Max 55 grains and Varget powder. Two loads, using by the book overall length (2.20) looked promising; 26.5 grains and 26.9 grains.

I then took both loads and moved them .010 off the lands and grooves, for an overall length of 2.376.

The 26.9 grains grouped with all three shots touching and an overall outside dimension of .500.

My question is, at what point is a load good enough?

I have a couple of invitations to go prairie dog hunting and that's what started the load development.

Can you make the group smaller? Is it worth the time and expense to do so? What's your experience?