Help!! Interpretation of range cards

[bluescotty]

Gentlemen,
I hope this is the correct place for this topic, if not I'm terribly sorry.
I just got this rifle put together with the stock and bedrocked, free floated from the recoil lug forward, Just got the scope mounted and I'm in the process of working up some good handloads but i'm a little confused by what my range findings are? Are my shooting abilities that inconsistent or is the seating depth of bullets really that important. All of these bullets were loaded as follows:


Brass: Twice fired Hornady
Primer: CCI 250
Powder: Alliant R-22 @ 78 gr
Full length resize or they stick in my chamber
Bullet: Hornady 168 gr A-MAX

Only thing that was changed was seating depth in increments of .005"


Rifle:
REM 700 chambered in .300 Win Mag
Factory receiver, 26" sporter barrel
Lapped bolt lugs

Stock:
Boyd thumbhole varmint

Glass:
Vortex Viper HS LR 6-24x50 (all shots taken on 16x)

Rings and mounts im not sure anymore but they cost me a couple $$
Shot from bipod with bag in back from the bench



Now I am by no means a benchrest shooter but with the smaller calibers(22-250) i can cover a ten shot group with a quarter most of the time. So I'm wondering if the big caliber is causing me to shoot bad or is it the gun? I'm pretty sure I am having some issues with cheek weld due to the seemingly left and right stringing but IDK really? Any help with some of my confusion would be awesome

Thanks

 

[Mikecr]

To begin, seating depth IS a great big deal.
Also, bipods are not well suited for use on a bench. They're better in the dirt.
Actually, with hunting stocks bipods are better than benchrests, because the pressure point/contact is more consistent with bipods. They just need a soft footing.