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1959:
Employee: "Boss what should the maximum load be in our manual?"
Boss: "The same load I shoot im MY rifle."

2004:
"Dear Sirs:
We at the Cressman and Short firm have reviewed your data and legal president. We feel the start load should be 45% of the way between a stuck bullet and a case failure, and the max load should be 55%. This will minimize your risk. We hasten to point out that there is no risk to listing an optimistic velocity for those loads."

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Now this is a reply I REALLY liked!

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... Hello all, A recent thread regarding 35 Whelen loads implied that chambering certain cartridges for pump rifles (or possibly semis and levers too) has led to reduced published max loads for those cartridges in the loading manuals over the last 25 or so years.

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I was under the impression that max loads (as published in manuals) were determined by chamber pressure. Is this correct?

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Also if the load was within the chamber pressure guidelines 30 yrs. ago, shouldn't it still be valid today? ...

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No.

Things change over the years. The thing that I see which potentially has the most bearing on it are changes in the Bullets which are available today that were not available 30 years ago.

The only HUGE problem with that thought, is the individual Bullet makers rarely test loads with "other" manufacturers Bullets. Exceptions being the factory ammo companies (Rem, Win, Fed, etc.) that use multiple manufacturers Bullets.

Back when Barnes brought out the BarnesX, I tested some of them for my own use. I found that in "my" rifles it took less Powder to achieve the same amount of Pressure as other Standard Grade Bullets. Not much, but some. And it did not vary by a consistent percantage between weights or calibers. This was as we would expect it to work due to the different engraving forces and drag from size to size.

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Now, that doesn't mean you can't SAFELY exceed some Loads shown in some Manuals with a specific firearm and set of components. It also does not mean you can always SAFELY reach some of the Loads shown in Manuals with a different firearm and the exact same set of components.

If people would think of the Manuals simply as "Guidelines" to provide a starting point for Load Development, they would be better served rather then just duplicating a Load out of a Manual and begin shooting. Start Low and work Up(while watching the various Pressure Indicators) is as valid today as the first time it was written.

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As a final thought, depending on the particular cartridge, some of the traditional Pressure Indicators will never be reached because those cartridges operate at a SAAMI Pressure "below" where they function. Fortunately, Pressure Ring Expansion(PRE) always works on every cartridge made.