George XXX on cast boolits has one of the original H&G 38s. I borrowed it and cast about 300 about 10 years back. I'd read in the old books about it and wondered if it really worked. It was originally designed for groundhog hunting in the northeast during and after WW2 when the Springfied 03 was king. Ricochets in dairy country wereas frowned on so Ness developed this bullet as a fix.
My first impression of it was was less than enthusiastic. Big old flat nosed. large HP cavity design. Said to myself, it will never shoot. Loaded up a test lot of 50 and headed to the range with my Number 1 Ruger .30/06.
Our range had a 30 foot berm behind the 100 yard frames. No grass, just bare dirt. I decided styrofoam cups in front of the 100 yard targets would set up a good ricochet situation. With my shooting partner watching, I fired 30 rounds at the cups. Minor spashes of dust from "shrapnel" when the nose walls broke up but no sizable impacts noted. Not even .30 buttons from the bullet base. They worked. At least on my test.
My next thought was' How about accuracy? Velocity chronographed at 1741 FPS. I fired 5 rounds and looked. Can't be. Around an inch. Got to be an accident. Fired two more 5 shot groups and the smalest was around 3/4". This was at 100 yards with a very accurate .30/06 Number 1.
This is a great design and accurate. From the looks of it, I don't see how but the proof was in the firing. .30/30, I don't know. Maybe feeding will be a problem but in the 06, in my case, the accuracy was there./beagle