The 22 rimfire: if you read my post….. I stated "under perfect conditions". Obviously the qualifications would be to place the bullet into the brain! "Fragmentation" not necessary! Thousands of domestic hogs and cattle are put down every year with a 22 rimfir. When I was a kid, I killed a pretty big hog for my grandfather to be processed!
The bigger bullet: I'm not gonna suggest that this couldn't be accomplished by a smaller bullet…..but it would have to have a pretty darn sectional density and maintain nearly 100% of it's weight!
A shot on a running rag-horn bull elk, at about 80 yards……the bullet entered just left of center, shattering the pelvis, continued forward through the elk taking out the diaphrag, the left lung, exited at the foreleg pit, re entered the upper foreleg missing the bone while passing through the large upper foreleg muscle, stopping beneath the hide of the outside foreleg!
If you're keeping score…. That's 3 hide penetrations, destruction of a heavy bone (pelvis), traveled the entirety of the elk, while also passing through 2 pretty large muscles!
You make the determination as to what you would prefer to use given these circumstances and the bullet performance! memtb