I think we can expand some more here on working to max loads and the 'reasons' we reload.
I come from a marksmanship background--so when I started reloading (initially for 1911s--first .45ACP, then 10mm), I sought out accurate loads. I quickly learned about 'softball' loads providing the most accuracy (in 1980s frames), and I learned to tweak those to meet other goals--like Major PF, that sort of thing. I even learned to do some full-bore 10 mm handloads, and I discovered they were the most accurate rounds from my 1006.
But, overall, I sought an end goal of a accurate, economical round--typically 231 behind a 200 gr LSWC, and as low as 4.9 gr--and that's for both calibers, BTW, but that's another story.
This year I had a new goal in mind: this was the development of a 'replica' round for PD practice. We all know you need to shoot a lot to 'get good.'--but good in the use of a j-frame carried for PD does involve a different set of parameters, I think. Essentially, I wanted to shoot a round that was 1) as near as possible to feeling like the factory round I elected to carry, and 2) provide me with the cost savings that would allow that practice. Along the way, if that reload ended up shooting to the same POA, or even at the same general ballistics, fine--but it had to "feel" as much as possible like the factory round.
So, what does this have to do with MAX loading? Well, first of all, some of us know that 'duplicating' factory ammo velocities can be difficult to do with the powders we can buy for reloading. Related to that, of course, is the issue of safety via overpressure, etc., etc. Specifically, that meant working in the +P and even +P+ range of the 38 Special cartridge (at least by current SAAMI specs), as I mentioned earlier.
Again, I found it interesting that the most accurate roads (in my two 2" j-frames, an M&P340 and a 640) with the powder that produced the most-similar subjective recoil, was at or near MAX. Since I shot these rounds from a 357-sized J-frame, the actual shooting safety was not influenced--but I sure wouldn't run a lot of them through the 40 year-old 36 I've got as well.
And--until several hundred rounds has been fired--I didn't break out the chronograph: I relied on studying the subjective recoil and then letting that quide my next development. However, all of the testing remained at or below the published MAX data.
Then I 'translated' those loads--which were now ballistically defined as a .357 -dia. 140-gr lead bullet running at about 880-910 fps--into 357 cases. That makes an entirely safe round; I doubt any of the reloading versions run over 23,000. It also means I can shoot for about 10 cents a round instead of the 55-cents to 1.00 per round cost of the factory ammo.
And, it means that for training ammo (for example to help someone else learn to shoot j-frames), loads can be reduced as needed to deal with recoil.
It even turns out that the various reload recipes, in both calibers and with five different powders so far, shoot to very-slightly different points of aim at combat distances--e.g., out to 15 yards--and can group as well as the factory ammo.
So, when you start a reloading project--my "replica loads" project has continued to expand--try writing out an explicit statement that incorporates your need, as well stating the normal implicit ones of accuracy or velocity.
Jim H.