First of all I say aim for where your comfortable aiming but as I read the detailed descriptions of how a bullet took out such and such a part and the blood oxygen levels blah blah blah ran less than a hundred yards etc I can’t help but think of my nephews first caribou. 7 year old Rylan nailed the bull with 223 right where I taught him to and It’s brain was on the tundra about six feet away. If I was a caribou that’s how I’d want to go. We talk about this every year on tman. I was 11 when learned to control so called buck fever. My grandpa said learn to stay calm so you don’t mess up. I hit a caribou and paralyzed it at 10 years old. Grandpa got me to kill it with a knife. I learned pretty quick to make my shots count after that. I hate hearing “My rifle can put 3 holes inside a quarter blah blah blah but I can’t hit a neck bone or brain sized target.” Hitting the jaw is quite a ways off target. Aim small miss small or don’t shoot at all. I can live with letting an animal walk because antler size doesn’t mean squat to me. It’s all about body size and condition. Big antlers look nice but they usually get sawed off before travelling home. Take up too much space in the boat sled or truck.

Yukon John. I feel way safer with a 22 magnum than I do with a 22lr.

All well and good to say but there's a big difference between a caribou in the open tundra than an always nervous whitetail in a thicket at fifty yards. Yes, I can hit a playing card at that distance but I feel better if my target is the size of my hat and still gets the job done.
BTW that brain shot was on a 70lb doe at 64 paces with irons. She was playing peekaboo from behind a big pine and only gave me that shot.

I’d use 22 mag for that close whitetail

As far as shooting an animal in the jaw,dont take a shot you cant make.Same goes for a chest shot.
You shouldnt be shooting at animals if you cant make the shot.Practice your shooting or practice your stalking and then you will have the confidence to kill everything you shoot at.
I shoot way more animals with a chest shot than a head shot,because I'm a good tracker and dont worry about an animal running a 100 yards or so.
But the question was about instant kills-thats a head/neck shot.

Some of my fastest kills on whitetails were with a super sharp 3 blade broadhead. Gun or bow...shot placement trumps all.

I've seen more than I should admit to killed with a 22lr.

Thereagain...well placed shot. Thank you for sharing!

I still wouldn't recommend it if for no other reason than I might be drawing undue attention from our friend swampfox. LOL

I've also killed coyotes with a 177 pellet rifle but that don't make a pellet rifle a coyote gun.

Anybody remember this line?

22-250 is all you need. For everything.

If there's one thing we've proven on T-man, it's that critters can be killed many ways, by practically any weapon. I don't care how someone else does it as long as it's done effectively. I hate hunting for lost game. I've done it a couple times for friends with poor bullet choice or ballistics understanding. I don't mind tracking, but I prefer it DRT. There's no substitute for shot placement, no matter whether you're a head, neck, or heart guy. Even factors such hydraulic and hydrostatic shock still require a good vitals shot. PS "hydraulic shock" is the effect of blood pressure surging to the brain, as noted in the bison cull study. However as mentioned, it's not a predictable event.

The concept of hydrostatic shock is most relevant to load choice. When choosing ammo for large game torso shots, there are a lot of ideas and opinions, from the extremes of "bigger is better" to "speed is king." Hydrostatic shock is simply another relevant factor to take into account if your goal is quick-killing torso shots. A torso shot CAN be a predictable instant kill shot. The force needed for terminal HS is different for different sizes and species, like Pete and Newhouse noted above. But that info is available for those who want it. For myself, if adjusting my loads a little improves my odds of DRT shots, I'll take it.

Exactly

Of the 3 listed in the above writing "Impact area and velocity" matter most

Top of the scapula with any modern cartridge from .243 up will dump a Deer.

Top of the scapula with any modern cartridge from .243 up will dump a Deer. In my mind that is a very poor shot placement unless all you are trying to do is kill the deer. If you shoot the right bullet out of a 243 and hit the deer in the center of the ribs it will drop just as fast as the above shot placement with out all the blood shot meat. A deer is not a cape buffalo or grizzly bear, there is no reason to shot it in the shoulder. I am a big fan of hydrostatic shock for coyote hunting. When you get a bullet going over 3500 fps and hit a coyote in the middle of the ribs and get no exit you have a combination that will kill coyotes and do little damage. I have shot a number of deer with a 75 gr Hp out of the 25-06 in the middle of the ribs and they fold up. No exit, no tracking, no meat damage.

It is interesting to note that a well placed arrow will take down something like a moose (under many circumstances) faster than your average bullet from a .375!

Different physics and damage.

Speed kills

Arrows cut the BS out of the equation. They ain't got speed, hydrostatic whatever, and just do damage. But just like bullets the shooter still has to place it where the damage will do the most effect.

there is a reason why guides carry a 12 ga in bear country hard to beat a 1 oz lead slug it will out perform any magnum rifle or handgun when it counts

do you mean .375 or .357


not a lot of 375 that would be at all questionable

if you shoot a deer with a 375 H&H and a broadhead works better I think you be shooting them wrong with the magnum rifle.

That's literally the difference. Arrows CUT