There is more than one aspect to ballistics. You have the external, internal and terminal performance to consider and it can get quite information intensive. Ballistics charts commonly seen are external ballistics information and don't tell the whole story.
All bullets once they enter a more dense meduim than the air in which they were traveling will slow down very quickly. When that bullet begins to transition it's construction will play a significant part in the transfer of energy and the rate of that transfer. What ever happens to be the method of inparting kinetic energy will be a factor in it's energy level on impact. A person swinging a bat is pushing harder and harder till impact for the most part. So there may be acceleration till impact. A bullet is propelled by the gases produced from the propellant and it happens so fast that the bullet begins slowing upon exit of the barrel. Also the pressure of the gas lessens greatly as there is no longer constriction of it behind the bullet upon exit. What matters is that the projectile leaves with enough velocity to do what it was intended to do in the barrel length you are using. Bullet construction is what will dictate it's perfomance in target as well as initial velocity at the time of impact. Some bullets will deform and distribute energy at a faster rate than others, some may not and will pass though the target, wasting remaining energy in the next medium. Then there are some that will not hold together long enough and will waste energy on the surface of the target.
The question comes down to how tough the target is, the bullet being used and how much energy will it take to get the bullet deep enough to strike vital organs and/or cause enough bleeding to incapacitate the target. No one would shoot an tiger with a .22 rimfire. It won't go deep enough and will not make the animal bleed out fast enough. On the other hand you are not going to shoot rabbits with 12 ga slugs either, since the inpact force will shred the animal and leave little meat to harvest. Striking that perfect balance of perfomance is what makes a good cartridge. It must do what it was intended to do and not be so over powered to be useless for it's purpose.
Don't get too wrapped up in velocity alone, though it is a good indicator of capabilty. Be concerned with the momentum and construction of the projectile itself. It is very hard to tell what a bullet will do in a particular medium till it is tested in one. This is the reason they shoot ballistic gel under controlled conditions for simulation purposes. They also have standards of penetration to get effects on the type of target they intend the round to be used on. There are so many variables in the perfomance of a cartridge it can take a good while to find the one that may be considered an optimum performer. Especially if your selection isn't based on a set of standards and it merely chosen willy nilly at whim.
If you shot a styrofoam bullet out of a .44 magum it won't impart much energy to the target as the bullet will be robbed of energy from friction of atmosphere very rapidly and a major lack of momentum. A bullet that breaks up too easliy will suffer a similar problem. It won't penetrate enough. This is why people are told quite regular that bird shot in a shotgun is for birds and to use buck shot for people. The mass of each bullet, along with intial velocity, will dictate the momentum and penetration aspects of a selected caliber.
Ballistics tables, while a good thing to gain an idea of performance from, are not the only information you will want to base a decision of caliber on. It is as if you read a book on good materials to build a bridge and haven't the knowledge to build one. Math without comprehension of the physics and the engineering knowledge to make it useful is a form of going through the motions without purpose. No ballistic chart is going to give you a clue to bullet performance simply by looking at the numbers. This is why you could have .357 Magnum out perform a .44 Magnum on a particular target under a certain set of circumstances. It may be counter intuitive, but it can be the case quite often.
In general a HP bullet is going to be better for self defence against people. Solid hardened bullets will be best against thick hides in things like a bear. Provided the bullet is big enough and energy level high enough. Thankfully most ammuntion manufacturers have the science already worked out and you just have to know what they made the ammunition for.
Similar to that bridge metaphor. You don't go running around thinking of what the bridge materials were used and what metals and concrete blends were used. You just accept it was designed to allow safe traversing and use. Same thing applies to ammunition in firearms. When you start choosing bullets , powders, primers, cartridge cases and all those components to make your own ammuntion, then it helps to have a grasp of what those things can and cannot do very well. You in effect become the bridge engineer, albeit not needing any where near as much education. Unless you make your own smokeless gun powders or bullets, then you are going need to be a chemist.
