When I rebuilt my engine I knew that my liners were shy of the required protrusion, and I had wondered why.
I "mic'd" the old steel figure 8 gaskets and found them to be materially thinner than the new copper ones I had ordered from Moss.
The other thing that troubled me was the corrosion and rust on my old steel ones. In fact, they were all but destroyed.
Based on those factors, I'd lean toward using the copper ones in any new application.
There are others on this board with more experience rebuilding engines who may have other opinions, and I believe someone said that a "coated steel" variety of the figure eights is also available. I'd still lean in favor of copper figure 8's based on my experience.