It would be interesting to see the penetration you would get with a 250 grain steel projectile pushed to 2000 fps.
I now of a couple of fellows online who reported a test with steel. They found a ball bearing maker that had a wide variety and very precise ball bearings. So with the California lead-ban they tried some steel, ball bearings and pretty thick patching in their traditional rifles. The slightly undersized steel ball fit fine with the thick patches, but due to lower weight from the mass of the steel vs. the pure lead that they were used to, they had to adjust their powder loads to have the new projectiles hit where the fixed sights were aimed. Prior to the adjustment the higher velocity = higher impact on the target.
So...., they were in the desert doing the test shooting. All was going pretty well, but ya know, deserts are sand and
rocks.
So they are mostly done with their experiment, and one of them sees an odd "puff" off to the side of the target-berm when his partner shoots. Several more rounds fired, and he noticed a few more "puffs" in the sand, though not in the same place, and not every time. Some were closer to the firing line, some were closer to the berm, and these happened on either side of his partner's target. The next round his partner fired, he heard a faint "whizzing" noise..., but didn't see puff anywhere in the sand. The man shooting heard it too. "Did ya hear that? What was that?" they asked each other. It was probably a louder noise than they realized, but they had their ear protection in so...,
..., On the next round the fellow heard the "whizz", and saw a silver glint pass between he and the shooter.
Seems that given the right surface and angle on impact at 50 yards, a steel ball bearing launched at about 1500 fps, will ricochet...,
They chose not to use the ball bearings, and doing a test a few weeks later, they settled on brass balls for hunting in California.
LD