Got my NYPD K9 from AIMSurplus, and some questions

[GunnerD]

I've been a lurker for a while, originally joining when I got a PM9 some time ago. Recently I decided to pick up one of the NYPD K9's from AIMsurplus.

Well I have it in hand finally. It is serial # AR6xxx which appears to put it between August 2001 and April 2003 -- let's call it 2002.

Like the others described, it appeared poorly cared for, carried a lot, but fired little. It was covered in a thin layer of grime and upon disassembly was full of what appeared to be belly button lint. The Hogue grips were worn smooth in areas, I suspect, by rubbing from cover garments. When I removed the grips there was a lot of schmutz under them, and, upon cleaning it off, I detected a little rust, which mostly went away by judicious scrubbing with a Scotch-brite pad, leaving only very focal pitting, a mere fraction of a millimeter, that's hardly recognizable as such except by the educated eye.

It came with only one magazine. I expected that, but where do you guys get K9 magazines these days? (Where are all the NYPD mags going? The brand-new magazines are priced high -- somewhere there has to be a cache of old NYPD magazines. Anyone?)

Good news: It came with tritium night sights, which AIM doesn't advertise.

Bad news: The night sights are essentially useless, as the tritium is very washed out. Well it's been ten years, I guess. (What's the half-life of tritium?) That's probably why AIM doesn't sort out the ones with night sights and charge more for them.

I've never had night sights. This sort of piques my interest. So I have a question. Can the tritium vials be replaced in night sights, or is it the sort of thing where I'm better off just getting new tritium night sights?

I've only dry-fired it so far. For having the NYPD trigger, it seems like a very smooth, lighter than I expected trigger. I'll take it out for a spin soon.

Thanks guys. This is a great resource.

[kb2wji]

I would congratulate you, but until I see pictures, I dont believe you :) I also have a K9 from AIM. It took a bit of elbow grease to get clean, but now its great. I used a dremel to polish the grip screws, slide release etc... and even polished the barrel. It was "almost" fun cleaning it up (who doesnt like to play with a new toy?!) Either way its a sweet shooter, you're gonna love it. I dont think you can replace the tritium in the sites, but I could be wrong. Maybe try out that night site paint? My K9 came with the "dot the i" sites, and its extremely accurate. Post some before/after pictures!!

[jocko]

if u knew the company thaty made those sights, u could possable write them . some do, some don't.

Nite sights are nice butnot do or die gotta have. All have some sort of life expectancy. Ihave the xs big dots on my PM9 and they are 5 years old and they are basicaly worthless for night sh!t but I really don't care. I still have the big dot front sight and I do like that. U got a very nice K(. I have no doubt it was shoot seldom and carried often, u can't hurt a K9 from rounds down range anyhow.

I think if it was my gun I would go to wolffs gunsprings.com and at least order a few extra sets of recol springs and while ur at it a few of their 5% more strength mag springs and replace those two anyhow, Also u might consider the 5# striker spring wolffs offers of the K9. It drops right in, does not shorten the trigger travel but reduces trigger poundage some. No light strikes will come from the 5# striker either and not a hairy trigger eiter as the nypd travel is still intact. I have a K9 with NYPD and it is my best shooter of allmy kahrs. I really can't tell the difference of the triggers either. I would recommend you go to the kahr tech section and hit on two good stickys.

#1 kahr lube chart

#2 propper prepping of ur kahr.

[ripley16]

If your sights are Trijicon, contact them and see about replacing the vials. Look here...
https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/contact/index.php

[GunnerD]

I think they're Meprolight. There's an "M" on the right side of the front sight. And the profile resembles that of photos of Meprolights I can find online.

[GunnerD]

Any idea where all the extra NYPD mags went?

[chipD]

Congrats Gunner, your going to like shooting the K9 for a concealed carry sidearm it is fun to shoot at the range as well. Jocko gave some great info to get you started out right. Great people here and good info not just about Kahrs other firearms as well. I don't know about the spare mags for the K9s out there, just a guess but maybe the LEOs sold them separate from trading in the guns? Anyway enjoy your new toy and welcome to Kahr Talk.

[Manzanita]

Other than the "Ewww" factor from your cleaning experience... Wow! Had I been paying attention to the emails I'm constantly getting from AIM Surplus, I might have been tempted to pull the trigger on one of those rather than the new CW9 I recently purchased.

Midway has the magazines (http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=kahr+magazine).

[Tinman507]

Congrats on the K9. It's a total beauty to shoot. Mine was as funky inside as you described. A little elbow grease and real grease will clean her up well.
I got 3 mags for it on e-bay for $50.00. Keep en eye out there for them.

I would most definitely replace the striker spring and the recoil spring just for peace of mind. Cheap at Wolffs. They sell the 5# striker which makes that trigger even sweeter.

Go shoot it and have a blast.

[jocko]

GUNNER D. no doubt ur k9 has the rubbr grips to. Don't give them up for anything else either. they not only feel great, they absorb and the grips screws won't work loose either. Those are the best grips IMO for the K9..

[jocko]

GUNNER D. no doubt ur k9 has the rubbr grips to. Don't give them up for anything else either. they not only feel great, they absorb and the grips screws won't work loose either. Those are the best grips IMO for the K9..

Little do the NYPD gun owners know but their demise with the K9 has been this forums GOOD LUCK: Just sayin

normally seeing alot of used K9 is rarer than a d!ck on a hen:popcorn:

[Mike_B]

Congrats- Hope you love your K9 as much as I do mine....I'm very thankful mine didn't have any belly button lint on it! Have you shot it yet? Also, how about some pics?

[thinkpositive]

How old are the K9s from AIMsurplus?

[BroncoAZ]

I've been looking at getting one of these NYPD trades from Aim as well. After getting the wife's T9 recently I have a new appreciation for the all steel Kahrs. I was hoping to find some of them locally so I could hand pick, but I missed the last gun show.

I cleaned out Midway on T9 magazines last week, got the last 4 they had.

[ripley16]

I think they're Meprolight. There's an "M" on the right side of the front sight. And the profile resembles that of photos of Meprolights I can find online.

In that case I think you'll have to buy a new Mepro set and have them installed, that or get whatever brand or type of sight you prefer.

Enjoy your K9.

[Kahrdriver64]

I've been looking at getting one of these NYPD trades from Aim as well. After getting the wife's T9 recently I have a new appreciation for the all steel Kahrs. I was hoping to find some of them locally so I could hand pick, but I missed the last gun show.

I cleaned out Midway on T9 magazines last week, got the last 4 they had.


Bronco, if you get a chance to handle one of the old steel frame K's side by side with a SS frame, you may find the steel has a better feel to it compared to the SS. I think the steel ones break in and become much smoother compared to their rustless brothers. FWIW

[CrazyLarry]

In regards to the age of the NYPD K9s, mine is a 2002 model (after looking up the serial number online) and the frame says "stainless".

I am assuming the slide is something coated/plated... or is it just a different stainless alloy?

Mine has factory sights, but, I might get a set of mepro units.

[ScottSouth66]

The slide on stainless autos has to be of a slightly different hardness of metal,as it was discovered early on that same hardness top and bottom end "galls" when operating. Stainless pioneers AMT and Randall taught us this,thus the slide will differ a tad in color tone on these guns. Some companies do a decent job blasting with different media to balance the colors I've noticed,like Kimber.

My 98 date K40 is stainless marked with a tad 2 toning, but the Walther barrel and slide stop are defiantly nickle plated,the softer shade doesn't match anything else. I'm guessing Kahr wanted a tougher steel formula for these parts.

[jocko]

In regards to the age of the NYPD K9s, mine is a 2002 model (after looking up the serial number online) and the frame says "stainless".

I am assuming the slide is something coated/plated... or is it just a different stainless alloy?

Mine has factory sights, but, I might get a set of mepro units.

K9 is stainless, no doubt the slide is probably heat treated differently than the frame.

The slide is machined from stainless bar stock where I would imagine the lower is an investment casting of stainless..

[CrazyLarry]

Well, I run my K9 with a very light coating of CLP on all the internal surfaces.

The trigger pull on mine is about where I would expect it. A good fluff-n-buff on some of the critical surfaces will likely yield another 1/2# pull reduction, but, nothing earth shattering.

All and all, a VERY wise investment. Accuracy is excellent and the weight is very manageable when complimented with the Don Hume IWB holster.

Last thing it needed was a couple of new mags and springs for the older mags.