Did the Kahr K40 ever come in carbon steel?

[HighValleyRanch]

I know they are all stainless now with the black as a Diamond finish, but did the original K40 ever come with a carbon steel slide? I read that the original K9 came out first with carbon steel frame and slide.

The reason why I am asking is that I purchase a used blue slide on fleabay for my Kahr 40 and found that the slide is taking cold blue and finishing like carbon steel? It is the old style slide without the dimple marks and the old style sights. And I saw elsewhere on the Kahr forums someone referring to their old carbon Kahr.

 

[JERRYS.]

I used to have a MK9 and a K9 in stainless but I remember pondering the .40 cal offerings because it was the go to police round at the time. the 9mm guns were in blue or stainless and I believe the 40 cals were too. in fact I think except for the caliber and round count the guns were identical in every other fashion.

 

[Dan-O]

Carbon steel on knives are ok. I’d never buy a gun that is carbon steel. Rust magnet.

 

[Skans]

I have a Kahr K9 that is carbon steel with a brushed nickel finish. It looks a bit like stainless, but it definitely carbon steel.

 

[HighValleyRanch]

Did a bunch of research on this, and yes the early K9 and k40 came in a carbon steel slide and alloy frame and steel frame. You can tell that this is an early slide by the lack of the dimple markings on the interior of the slide and the rear sight shape i.e. a triangle. The carbon slide model was designated as 4040.

Interesting also that my desire to have a blue slide on a stainess frame was already a limited production by Kahr and Wilson Combat way back in the turn of the century (2000)!LOL

Included here is an ad for the Wilson Custom version of the Kahr with a stainless black slide done by Birdsong with the black rubber grips.

And here is a Kahr Mark9 on auction listed as OEM original Limited edition with black slide and stainless frame and wood grips:

 

[HighValleyRanch]

I liked that Mark 9 so much that I decided to make some wood grips for my K40 as well. I made these out of burled redwood. I know that redwood is on the soft side for grip panels, so we shall see how these hold up. But the redwood burl was given to me by a old shooting buddy so it has more meaning than buying one online. Just made the left panel for today and mounted it to see how I like it.

This blue, silver and wood reminds me of the Smith 745 I used to have! Sort of a retro look. I know that various manufacturers have come out with this sort of two tone combo.

I stripped the sides of the slide down to polished steel today and put back on a coat of cold blue. So I know that it's working like carbon steel.

 

[Dfariswheel]

As far as I know Kahr Arms never sold an aluminum framed pistol.

They experimented with aluminum but decided that aluminum just didn't lend itself to the Kahr design.

The early K9 and K40 came in a flat black finish that was noted for rusting and wearing off quickly.

 

[Nanuk]

I had a steel framed Kahr 40.