Regarding stopping, I'm in the camp of bigger to get to what you want to hit when you don't get the angle you want....basically bigger for more penetration. Not that I'm experienced in stopping mad things.
From experience I can say there is a difference in killing quickly and stopping quickly. A heart/lung shot deer can travel quite a ways but dies fairly quick. A high shoulder shot deer is stopping a lot sooner, but it may not die as quick (lots of variables on the placement of the shoulder shot).
