In attempting to fix a bug report where having Science Bobblehead + Close To Metal wasn't properly stacking to give the player 6 tries, I learned that this isn't actually a bug with the records or how they're interacting, but with the hacking interface itself.
5 tries is the maximum, period, no matter how high I set the numbers in the ESP.
Any SWF modders out there that can make it so the max attempts is 6 (or more)?