[Jeff Higgins]

FMJ ammo tends to have very stout jackets. They are not meant to expand on impact, and feeding in semi autos without deforming or hanging up is their most important trait. Their noses tend to be round so that they feed reliably. These round noses and lack of expansion make them pretty much unsuitable for hunting, though, since they leave a minimal wound channel that tends to close up behind them, limiting hemorrhaging. Truncated cone FMJ's are another ballgame - their flat noses with sharper edges "cut" a hole through tissue, leaving the wound channel open to hemorrhage a good deal more.

So, "better"? Not really. Great for plinking, and certainly cheaper than hollow points. There is a bit of argument concerning round nose bullets in lever guns - some say it's just fine, some warn against it. I think with .38 Special or .357 mag, the rounds are so light and the recoil impulse so low that they are fine for use in lever guns. I've never heard of any problems.

Your .30-30 is a different animal, though. Lots more recoil with much heavier ammo, so there is a very real possibility of a bullet nose acting as a firing pin. That's why all you see is flat point bullets - round noses would be a bit dicey here. Best to stick with the flat points.

The "velocity by the inch" thing kind of depends upon the powder being able to actually utilize increased barrel length beyond some given length. Most handgun powders won't be able to continue to add meaningful velocity beyond about a 12"-16" barrel. Increases fall off rapidly beyond that. As a matter of fact, once over 20" or so, some begin to lose velocity. Heavy "magnum" loads with slower burning powders will continue to add velocity, but "standard" pressure handgun loads are loaded with very small quantities of very fast burning powders, and are pretty much "used up" at that 12"-16" length. They are trying for maximum efficiency in shorter, say 4" or so, barrels.