1. Can the brass simply be fire formed from 30-06 brass?
Yep, thats the whole idea.
2. How is barrel life compared to a 300 WSM or 300 WM?
It will be significantly longer, about the same as 30-06 (for obvious reasons)
3. How good is accuracy?
In the ones I have seen, pretty good... of course its the rifle thats most important in the equation.
4. I assume recoil is significantly less than any of the 300 mags, but would like any first hand experience.
Correct again, less recoil too.
The first time I ever saw the 30-06 Ackley, I fell in love with it. Its just a neat round. Unfortunately the capacity increase is very, very small. I think the most often quoted figure is 5%. About the best performance increase is 25-50 fps at the most, and this is best realized with heavy bullets. Don't forget that the reduced case taper helps to mask pressure signs, making it hard to draw the line between max, and over max loads. Its a neat conversion if you already have a 30-06, but its unreasonable to expect to duplicate the 300WM at standard pressures. Even after all that rationalization, Im still proud to say that its one of my favorite "wildcats" and I wish I had held onto mine longer.