I've done a couple of Audette type ladder tests. For me its a starting point when, for whatever reason, I'm determined to use a certain powder/bullet combination from the get go. A couple of times I was able to pick out "nodes" that pointed me in the right direction ASAP. Other times I either couldn't interpret the results, or there weren't nodes in the classic sense. If nothing else, you get a nice evolution of primer flattening from starting loads up through book max. If you chronograph you get an idea what you're going to get as you zero in on a load.
I don't think that the Audette method was ever intended to be the be all end all of load development, just another source of data that might save some time in the process. (I think that was Creighton Audette's almost exact words about the method in the NRA high power seminar notes on handloading published in the 1980's) Others have modified it, like the OCW and apparently Saterlee (I have to Google that one) and attempted to improve it. The one shot per charge in the Audette method does put a lot of onus on the shooter and all chrono readings/bullet groups have a degree of scatter that could skew the results a little bit too.
I don't think that the Audette method was ever intended to be the be all end all of load development, just another source of data that might save some time in the process. (I think that was Creighton Audette's almost exact words about the method in the NRA high power seminar notes on handloading published in the 1980's) Others have modified it, like the OCW and apparently Saterlee (I have to Google that one) and attempted to improve it. The one shot per charge in the Audette method does put a lot of onus on the shooter and all chrono readings/bullet groups have a degree of scatter that could skew the results a little bit too.