Yeah, I've got all these darned tobacco tubs lying around with things like "Lithgow1918", "1907MkI***", "1904MkI***", "LM", "scRoss", "Chileno Ross", "P'14"....... and then I end up getting it mixed up half the time anyway.
But the idea is good and, if you make your first loading pretty mild, just to blow the brass out nicely, no reason that you can't get about the same life as you'd get with any other cartridge.
As to the .303 having a short case life, much of this is a function of heavy loads and Lee actions, which are springy, followed up by full-length sizing and forgetting to trim to correct case length, which is critically important with this cartridge. I have 1942 brass which is on its 15th firing in a Chileno Ross, 1944 brass which is on its 6th firing in a Number 4 and some the same in a 1918 Lithgow.
Besides, keeping your loads a little on the low side, especially in a Lee action, gives you the added advantage that the rifle tends to shoot its best with a load about 10% below the Service performance. This has been known since 1910, when the loading parameters for the Mark VII Ball round were set, following extensive experimentation regarding accuracy and Service performance requirements. The end product was a Service round which "split the difference" between what the rifle could take...... and what it shots its best with. And, BTW, the same series of tests showed that a bullet diameter of .312" nearly always outshot the "correct" .311".
There: I've annoyed enough people for one day!
Keep smilin'!
But the idea is good and, if you make your first loading pretty mild, just to blow the brass out nicely, no reason that you can't get about the same life as you'd get with any other cartridge.
As to the .303 having a short case life, much of this is a function of heavy loads and Lee actions, which are springy, followed up by full-length sizing and forgetting to trim to correct case length, which is critically important with this cartridge. I have 1942 brass which is on its 15th firing in a Chileno Ross, 1944 brass which is on its 6th firing in a Number 4 and some the same in a 1918 Lithgow.
Besides, keeping your loads a little on the low side, especially in a Lee action, gives you the added advantage that the rifle tends to shoot its best with a load about 10% below the Service performance. This has been known since 1910, when the loading parameters for the Mark VII Ball round were set, following extensive experimentation regarding accuracy and Service performance requirements. The end product was a Service round which "split the difference" between what the rifle could take...... and what it shots its best with. And, BTW, the same series of tests showed that a bullet diameter of .312" nearly always outshot the "correct" .311".
There: I've annoyed enough people for one day!
Keep smilin'!
, 
