The 440 series has an increasing amount of carbon in the alloy. 440A is the lowest (around 0.6%), B is in the middle (0.8%) and C is at least 1% Carbon. Higher carbon means that the steel will be able to harden to a greater degree, and maintain a better edge. 420J is a low carbon steel, and is a poor performer compared to other blade steels.
I hope you did not really mean that 420V is a lame steel. 440V and 420V are made by particle metallurgical techniques, are very pure, and have a significant amount of vanadium (V) in the alloy. This is a hardening element that produces a large amount of Vanadium iron carbides which are very very hard. Both steels rival the simple carbon steels (5160, 52100, W2, and the like) in edge holding performance but are not as tough. They are however, stain resistant (stainless), because of the high concentration of chromium in the alloy. I have talked to several famous makers recently who seem to like these 'superior' steels best: 420V, 5160, and 52100. Notice that the latter two steels are simple carbon steels. I like ATS-34 and CPM154 more than 440C, but all of these will make a fine knife.
In the 440 series, look for 440C. Avoid 440A, B, and 420J. For a step up, try 440V and 420V. Please look at Joe Talmadges steel faqs article on this web site for more information and elemental alloy constitution.
It is very important to realize that the 'heat treatment', annealing, normalizing, hardening, and tempering, is far more important that the alloy. Unfortunately, this is a property of the steel that is very hard to measure. 440C makes a fine blade, but without a good heat treatment, it can be terrible. This is true for almost Every steel used for the making of blades.
Paracelsus
[This message has been edited by Paracelsus (edited 09-28-2000).]
