Andy while most published max loads are safe (and perhaps even conservative), and it's probably good to realize that, it's something that will come back to bite a person if they count on it being so. Some manuals (particularly older ones) have truly max loads, sometime there are misprints, some wildcat data is stupendously hot, etc.
I've only had two cases of serious overpressure myself.
In one, I used less-than max published loads from a Lyman manual, for .45 ACP, 200 LSWC, and W231 powder. It turned out to be quite a hot load, perhaps even too hot. A combination of factors ended up (a weak, older piece of military brass, slightly too deeply seated bullet, some lead and lube fouling in the barrel, etc) ended up with the case head failing, and the magazine of my Glock blowing out in my hands.
In another, I used a mid-range load of IMR-4831 and 140 grain Sierra gameking in a 6.5x55 M96. Quite a bit of gas puffed back at me, but I wasn't hurt. It locked the bolt up so tightly, that I ended up cracking the bolt body as I hammered it open. The primer fell out, the primer pocket was probably a full tenth of an inch larger in diameter than when I started. This ammo safely fired in another rifle (M70 6.5x55), but it was clearly *WAY* over max in my rifle. Probably a number of factors here, among them the 6.5mm bullets tend to have very long shanks, which makes their engraving force more sensitive to bore and throat diameters.
Under most circumstances one can safely load up to max published loads, and with care and knowledge, sometimes prudently exceed them too. The thing is though, once you pull the trigger you set in motion a chain of events that is going to unfold over the next 1 millisecond, and if things go wrong, there is nothing you can do to stop it or back up. If it is an overpressure load that might damage the rifle, or even worse damage the shooter, it's going to happen. Since it's irreversible once you've pulled the trigger, we have to do all our thinking and contingency planning *before* we pull the trigger.
If you have a good powder measure, particularly one with a repeatably readable scale, you can go to the range with a bunch of primed cases, your powder measure, a press and a seating die, and make your ammo one round at a time. Load one round at the start load, fire it (even better, over a chrono), then decide where to go next. In less than an hour, you can be zeroed in on what's max, what's prudent, and what looks to be promising.