I haven't read what's been said, but I will give the only info I need to know and provide: Shooting steel plate at close range with rifles is BAD NEWS.
Details of my incident:
270 Win, 150gr SP, 50 yards standing, 5/8" steel plate target. Around 5th shot I get whacked in the side, hard. I thought that I was hit through thick clothing only and just felt the shock of the hit. I was wrong when I saw the hole in my coat, sweatshirt, T-shirt underneath, and a hole through the thick Carhardt overalls I was wearing. The fully mushroomed bullet hit me sideways, penetrated all those layers, and then penetrated me about 1" in. Right below the ribs on the left. You could see the shape of the hole through the clothing, completely mushroomed and sideways impact. Nylon from the coat was silkscreened onto my shirt underneath. The bullet had to be about 400 degrees when it hit me from hitting the plate. It came out and burned me everywhere inside my shirt bouncing around after it penetrated and popped back out. It was numb and stinging at the same time, and I had no idea I was being burned like crazy as it was occurring. I had a huge bruise about 6" diameter.
Had that struck my head, I do not know what the outcome would have been.