Thanks for the "advice" but you both missed the point, and incorrectly assumed I was NOT using published load data.

The point you missed is that within the limits of published data, I'll stop and back the load off once I reach the point where the cases no longer snap all the way back out of contact with the cylinder wall (i.e. they start to feel slightly sticky when you eject them). The fact that the load data says I can go higher is irrelevant at that point.

For example, Hornady publishes minimum and maximum loads of of Win 296 at 16.9 gr and 20.3 gr respectively for their 125 gr XTP in the .357 Magnum. When working up a ladder in load development for both my SP101 and my Model 60, cases still fell free at 19.0 grains in both revolvers, however at 19.5 grains they started sticking slightly in both revolvers.

That load is still .8 gains under the maximum load for that specified bullet and is two columns over from the max load in the data. But none the less, it's where I curtailed the increase in powder charge due to my own personal limit, based on the failure of the case to fully retract from the chamber wall.

Now...without putting some form of pies electric monitor on the cylinder, I can't produce a specific psi figure for 19.5 gr of that particular lot of Win 296, with a 125 gr XTP, and I can't tell you whether it is over or under the 35,000 psi SAAMI limit, but I can tell you the pressure is high enough that the cases no longer snap back to the way they do at a lower pressure.

That tells me that what ever pressure is being produced is high enough to exceed the elastic expansion capabilities of the brass and is resulting in permanent expansion of the case (at least forward of the web). That's actually a lot more meaningful to me than an estimated pressure based on published load data.

After 38 years of reloading, I've learned not to trust all the published data I see, and to work loads up from the middle to find safe maximum loads - that are often less than the published data suggests.