Hollow point vs Meplat for big game??

I've also read that a shoulder shot on deer will drop them in their tracks. (since they can't run if their shoulders are destroyed)

I would think it's possible to hit the shoulder and cripple them, not hit the lung. 

On the other hand, a lung shot is 100% fatal, even if it means some tracking.

I'd stick with the hollow points, because they can expand to a larger caliber, thus cutting a larger wound channel, and making the deer drown more quickly, and have better odds at hitting the heart.

I think the goal is not necessarily to get full penetration but to penetrate both lungs, and if you're lucky, the heart too. They'll die a LOT quicker from drowning from being lung-shot than they will from external blood loss.

I would expect big game hunting with air rifles to be a lot like using a handgun. One of the best writers for big game using handguns was Elmer Keith and he definitely believed a large meplat semi wad cutter bullet was superior to the hollow point design, although you can have both. At the velocities you'll be hitting the game at there won't be much expansion but the meplat and semi wad cutter edge will cut a hole as opposed to pushing through tissue. Never hunted with an air rifle myself and have only shot small game with a handgun but I have seen that Keith style cast bullets do a better job of killing small game than do jacketed hollow points.

I have shot pronghorn with a Sharps 45-70 black powder cartridge rifle using a pure lead 500 grain paper patched bullet at about 1300 ft/sec velocity ( like the buffalo hunters of old ) and got some expansion but I really think the large meplat and semi wad cutter edge ( like the Keith design ) did most of the damage. I wonder if any air gun hunters have experimented with paper patched bullets?