40 S&W and 9mm brass question

[CRA]

I picked up some 40 s&w brass stamped federal NT with a blue ring and some 9mm, which seems nickel plated with a head stamp bnz (I think). I haven't cleaned it yet to take a pic. My question is can I reload these? Does anyone have actual experience reloading them? Thanks for your help.

[ReloaderFred]

The Federal NT brass "may" have crimped primers, but otherwise will load just fine.

Check the 9mm brass with a magnet and see if they're steel. Some foreign produced brass is made of steel and then zinc plated. If it's not magnetic, and is Boxer primed, it's reloadable.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[CRA]

Great idea for the magnet. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Do you know of a way to tell if it's crimped other than trying to seat a primer in it? I appreciate the help.

[ReloaderFred]

You can normally tell a crimped primer by looking closely at the mouth of the primer pocket. If the mouth is slightly rounded or smooth, there isn't a crimp.

On the other hand, if there's a small ring imprinted in the brass right at the mouth, then it's usually crimped. In some military rifle ammunition the primers are staked in, which means there will be 3 or 4 pin marks around the circumference of the primer pocket, displacing just enough brass to hold the primer in place during full automatic fire.

You can usually tell a crimped primer by just looking at the base of the case and looking for the imprinted ring around the primer.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[CRA]

It does help a lot. The brass does have a distinct ring around it. I'll just recycle it. Thanks for your help.