diff --git a/src/api/pushshift/index.js b/src/api/pushshift/index.js
index 6f66ac5..6e26719 100644
--- a/src/api/pushshift/index.js
+++ b/src/api/pushshift/index.js
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export const getPost = async threadID => {
 // retrieved. It should return as quickly as possible (scheduling time-taking work
 // later), and may return false to cause getComments to exit early, or true otherwise.
 export const getComments = async (callback, threadID, maxComments, after) => {
-  let chunks = Math.ceil(maxComments / chunkSize), comments, lastCreatedUtc = 1
+  let chunks = Math.floor(maxComments / chunkSize), comments, lastCreatedUtc = 1
   while (true) {
 
     let delay = 0
diff --git a/src/pages/thread/LoadMore.js b/src/pages/thread/LoadMore.js
index fe00679..e9ffda0 100644
--- a/src/pages/thread/LoadMore.js
+++ b/src/pages/thread/LoadMore.js
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 import React from 'react'
-import {connect, getMaxComments, maxCommentsDefault} from '../../state'
+import {connect, maxCommentsDefault} from '../../state'
 
-let lastTotal
+let loadingStarted = false, showLoadedCount = false, lastTotal, newComments
 const loadMoreComments = (props, maxComments) => {
-  lastTotal = props.total
+  loadingStarted = true
   props.global.loadMoreComments(maxComments)
 }
 
 const loadMore = (props) => {
-  const maxCommentsPreferred = getMaxComments()
+  const maxCommentsPreferred = props.global.maxComments
   let loadElements
 
   if (props.reloadingComments)
@@ -24,8 +24,16 @@ const loadMore = (props) => {
       if (maxCommentsPreferred >= maxCommentsDefault * 2)
         loadElements.push(<a key='pref' onClick={() => loadMoreComments(props, maxCommentsPreferred)}>load {maxCommentsPreferred} more comments</a>)
     }
-    if (lastTotal !== undefined) {
-      const newComments = props.total - lastTotal
+    if (loadingStarted) {
+      showLoadedCount = true
+      newComments = props.total - lastTotal
+      lastTotal = props.total
+      loadingStarted = false
+    } else if (lastTotal !== props.total) {
+      showLoadedCount = false
+      lastTotal = props.total
+    }
+    if (showLoadedCount) {
       loadElements.push(<span key='loaded' className='fade'>
         {newComments > 0 ? `loaded ${newComments} more comments` : 'no new comments found'}
       </span>)
diff --git a/src/pages/thread/SortBy.js b/src/pages/thread/SortBy.js
index dbbc106..9c70486 100644
--- a/src/pages/thread/SortBy.js
+++ b/src/pages/thread/SortBy.js
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import React, { useState } from 'react'
-import {connect, sort, filter, getMaxComments, saveMaxComments, minCommentsLimit, maxCommentsLimit} from '../../state'
+import {connect, sort, filter, minCommentsLimit, maxCommentsLimit, constrainMaxComments} from '../../state'
 
 const sortBy = props => {
-  const [maxCommentsField, setMaxCommentsField] = useState(props.global.state.maxComments)
-  const initSavedMaxComments = getMaxComments()
+  // The current value of the field; it'll be later saved after an onBlur event
+  const [maxCommentsField, setMaxCommentsField] = useState(props.global.maxComments)
   const isFirefox = typeof InstallTrigger !== 'undefined'
   let usedMouse;
 
@@ -41,16 +41,16 @@ const sortBy = props => {
     <input id='maxComments'
       onKeyDown={e => e.key == "Enter" && e.target.blur()}
       onChange= {e => setMaxCommentsField(parseInt(e.target.value))}
-      onBlur=   {e => e.target.value = saveMaxComments(e.target.value)}
+      onBlur=   {e => e.target.value = props.global.setMaxComments(e.target.value)}
       { ...(isFirefox ? {
         onClick: e => e.target.focus() } : {}) }
-      defaultValue={initSavedMaxComments} type='number' maxLength='5' required
+      defaultValue={props.global.maxComments} type='number' maxLength='5' required
       min={minCommentsLimit} max={maxCommentsLimit} step={minCommentsLimit} />
   </span>
-  { maxCommentsField > props.global.state.maxComments && props.global.state.maxComments < maxCommentsLimit && !props.reloadingComments &&
+  { !props.loadedAllComments && !props.reloadingComments && constrainMaxComments(maxCommentsField) - minCommentsLimit >= props.total &&
   <span className='nowrap'>
     <span className='space' />
-    <input onClick={() => {props.global.loadMaxComments()}} type='button' value='Reload' />
+    <input onClick={() => props.global.loadMoreComments(props.global.maxComments - props.total)} type='button' value='Reload' />
   </span> }
   </div>
   )
diff --git a/src/pages/thread/index.js b/src/pages/thread/index.js
index 9e7f12b..c1a2cd2 100644
--- a/src/pages/thread/index.js
+++ b/src/pages/thread/index.js
@@ -59,12 +59,6 @@ class Thread extends React.Component {
 
   componentDidMount () {
     const { subreddit, threadID } = this.props.match.params
-    let maxCommentsQuery = parseInt((new URLSearchParams(this.props.location.search)).get('max_comments'))
-    if (maxCommentsQuery > this.props.global.state.maxComments)
-      // Directly mutating the state is not recommended, but it's only done once and is probably OK here
-      this.props.global.state.maxComments = this.curMaxComments = constrainMaxComments(maxCommentsQuery)
-    else
-      this.curMaxComments = this.props.global.state.maxComments
     this.props.global.setLoading('Loading post...')
 
     // Get post from reddit
@@ -111,16 +105,18 @@ class Thread extends React.Component {
           this.props.global.setLoading('Loading comments from Pushshift...')
       })
 
-    this.getComments(this.props.global.state.maxComments, 0)
+    const maxCommentsQuery = constrainMaxComments(
+      parseInt((new URLSearchParams(this.props.location.search)).get('max_comments')))
+    this.getComments(Math.max(this.props.global.maxComments, maxCommentsQuery), 0)
   }
 
   componentDidUpdate () {
-    const newCommentCount = this.props.global.state.maxComments - this.curMaxComments
-    if (newCommentCount > 0) {
-      this.curMaxComments = this.props.global.state.maxComments
+    const { loadingMoreComments } = this.props.global.state
+    if (loadingMoreComments) {
+      this.props.global.state.loadingMoreComments = 0
       this.setState({reloadingComments: true})
       this.props.global.setLoading('Loading more comments from Pushshift...')
-      this.getComments(newCommentCount, this.lastCreatedUtc - 1)
+      this.getComments(loadingMoreComments, this.lastCreatedUtc - 1)
     }
   }
 
@@ -234,6 +230,7 @@ class Thread extends React.Component {
   render () {
     const { subreddit, id, author } = this.state.post
     const { commentID } = this.props.match.params
+    const reloadingComments = this.state.reloadingComments || this.props.global.state.loadingMoreComments
     const linkToRestOfComments = `/r/${subreddit}/comments/${id}/_/`
 
     const isSingleComment = commentID !== undefined
@@ -251,7 +248,9 @@ class Thread extends React.Component {
               deleted={this.state.deleted.length}
             />
             <SortBy
-              reloadingComments={this.state.reloadingComments}
+              loadedAllComments={this.state.loadedAllComments}
+              reloadingComments={reloadingComments}
+              total={this.state.pushshiftCommentLookup.size}
             />
             {isSingleComment &&
               <div className='view-rest-of-comment'>
@@ -267,12 +266,12 @@ class Thread extends React.Component {
               postAuthor={isDeleted(author) ? null : author}
               commentFilter={this.props.global.state.commentFilter}  // need to explicitly
               commentSort={this.props.global.state.commentSort}      // pass in these props
-              reloadingComments={this.state.reloadingComments}       // to ensure React.memo
+              reloadingComments={reloadingComments}                  // to ensure React.memo
               total={this.state.pushshiftCommentLookup.size}         // works correctly
             />
             <LoadMore
               loadedAllComments={this.state.loadedAllComments}
-              reloadingComments={this.state.reloadingComments}
+              reloadingComments={reloadingComments}
               total={this.state.pushshiftCommentLookup.size}
             />
           </>
diff --git a/src/state.js b/src/state.js
index afa4e5e..0f87031 100644
--- a/src/state.js
+++ b/src/state.js
@@ -31,16 +31,6 @@ export const constrainMaxComments = maxComments => {
   return maxComments
 }
 
-// Contrains, saves, and returns it, but does not change the state (does not load more comments)
-export const saveMaxComments = maxComments => {
-  maxComments = constrainMaxComments(maxComments)
-  put(maxCommentsKey, maxComments)
-  return maxComments
-}
-
-// Gets the saved setting, regardless of the current state
-export const getMaxComments = () => get(maxCommentsKey, maxCommentsDefault)
-
 // Keys for localStorage
 const sortKey = 'commentSort'
 const filterKey = 'commentFilter'
@@ -50,12 +40,15 @@ class GlobalState extends Container {
   state = {
     commentSort: get(sortKey, sort.top),
     commentFilter: get(filterKey, filter.removedDeleted),
-    maxComments: get(maxCommentsKey, maxCommentsDefault),
+    loadingMoreComments: 0,  // max # of comments to attempt to load next
     statusText: '',
     statusHelpUrl: undefined,
     statusImage: undefined
   }
 
+  // Preferred max # of comments to get during (re-)loads
+  maxComments = get(maxCommentsKey, maxCommentsDefault)
+
   setCommentSort (sortType) {
     put(sortKey, sortType)
     this.setState({commentSort: sortType})
@@ -66,11 +59,15 @@ class GlobalState extends Container {
     this.setState({commentFilter: filterType})
   }
 
-  // Sets the current state based on the saved setting (loads more comments)
-  loadMaxComments = () => this.setState({maxComments: getMaxComments()})
+  // Contrains, saves, and returns it (does not load more comments)
+  setMaxComments (maxComments) {
+    this.maxComments = constrainMaxComments(maxComments)
+    put(maxCommentsKey, this.maxComments)
+    return this.maxComments
+  }
 
-  // Sets the current state loading moreComments, ignoring the saved setting
-  loadMoreComments = moreComments => this.setState({maxComments: this.state.maxComments + moreComments})
+  // Loads more comments
+  loadMoreComments = loadingMoreComments => this.setState({loadingMoreComments})
 
   setSuccess = () => {
     this.setState({statusText: '', statusHelpUrl: undefined, statusImage: '/images/success.png'})