Its not the saw you need to worry about getting destroyed - its you. Have you ever noticed that every single chop saw has a vice type clamp for holding the material right at the blade? And most mitre saws have at best a screw down type clamp, usually 4 to 6" away from the blade?
When the material catches in the blade and gets pulled up off the table your're going to crap your pants if your lucky, and the blade will stop and nothing blows up. Or the blade shatters, or throws a bar of steel somewhere etc.
Use the right tool for the job - I've had a spare (free) mitre saw in my garage waiting to be used as a chop saw but once I looked at the differences I decided not to until I either made a proper vice clamp or I could get a robot to hold the material for me...
PS - I've had a sliding miter saw toss a short, round piece of wood before and I nearly did crap my pants! I can't imagine a bar of metal! The problem with the sliding type is if its not all the way at the back for small width pieces the blade is moving in more of an upward arc as it contacts the material (versus at the bottom of its arc as its moving backwards) and can grab the material and launch it.
Mike