Safe to say that most people don't have the knowledge or instruments to measure the pressure or recoil. Some die-hards do send their shells away for pressure testing. But then I've read lengthy threads that say having somebody else test your load will only tell you the amount of pressure your shell generates in that person's instument, but not necessarily the pressure within your gun (enter differences in chamber dimensions and, dare I say, forcing cones).
So where does that leave the mere mortal? To make judgements based on the information we have, namely shot weight and published pressures. In the case of factory shells, pressure data may or may not be available, leaving us only with manufacturer's promises of "light" or "for vintage guns".
