Bullet style trumps caliber...
Placement can trump both.
My ex-wife put 3 rounds of .38 spl into husband #5's back from a distance of ~ 5 feet @ ~ 11:00 PM. He lay there trying to reach for the phone to call 911 until ~ 6:00AM the following morning. She, ,,,being not so anxious to have him call,,, stabbed at his hand/arm all night long w/a kitchen knife each time he tried.
@ ~ 6:00 AM, she sobered up enough to decide he was looking kinda bad off, and piled him into the front seat of the van to take him to the hospital. (En route to the hospital, she decided she needed some coffee, so she left him gurgling and bleeding in the van while she went into a "stop and rob" for a cup of Joe. - talk about a cold bitch!)
Evidently, the coffee had even more of a sobering effect,, because she realized that going to the hospital meant answering a lot of *damn fool* questions about what happened. Being the now somewhat sober and <dripping sarcasm/on> caring individual <sarcasm/off> she is/was,,,she slowed down a bit when she went through the emergency driveway,,,opened the passenger door,,and gave him a shove.
He survived, and recovered within a few weeks.
She was arrested, tried and convicted of - attempted murder(shooting) w/gun specification - aggrevated assualt (the stabbings all night long) - tampering with evidence (she mopped up some of the blood on the seat of the van and threw the bloody towel in the dumpster @ the "stop and rob/coffee shop").
Caliber? naw. a well placed .22 can be more effective than 3 poorly placed .38's.