Dan,
That thread almost cause family members to disown one another!
(Just Kidding!)
As the originator of the third thread on the subject on this forum, I have to admit that there was a little manipulation on my part to keep it going. I posed other questions and inserted other factors to raise new questions spurring discussion.
Some have called it playing "Devil's Advocate" and I greatly detest that analogy.
What some of us were trying to do is bring back some of the faded glory of the 38spl. It has been "wimpified" in recent years. The 38/44 revolvers of old could handle "THE LOAD" just fine while it has been reported that some smaller framed firearms have suffered catastrophic failures after firing only one round.
I would not use "THE LOAD" in an alloy framed or cylindered revolver. That's me. Others have.
"L" framed 357mag firearms, "K" framed 357mag firearms, "N" framed firearms are another story though. But that is just me.
The official nomenclature of "THE LOAD" is this:
"The Speer #8 reloading manual's starting 38spl recipe for a 158gr LSWC and SR4756 powder"
"THE LOAD" was coined by NKJ_nut and simply implies that it "was THE LOAD that couldn't be mentioned."
Rest assured of one thing though, it is WELL outside of the SAMMI standard for pressure specifications for the 38spl.
Use it or not, you are the one responsible for your actions.
I hope this helps.