.404 bar and chain for a 461 ? 20"24"

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.404 seems fine on my 385. 3/8 seems faster but love the 404 for trees near dirt roads where the bark collects the red dirt dust here in NC. Also good in standing dead hardwoods like locust and anything lightning struck.

^^^^^^^^^^^Yup, stays sharp longer and just generally holds up better (under those conditions).

Otherwise, 3/8 is hard to beat.
 
I have 2 Stihl S-08S & 2 Stihl S10 saws which I run .404 / .63 chain on. One S10 has a hard nosed bar for stumps/dirty work. The S-08s & S10 are basically the same saw built in the late 60s/early 70's: 56cc & run at 7,000 rpm. I have other saws with 3/8 chain. The .404 hold it's edge better, noodles faster & lasts longer. (Longer tooth+more tooth to sharpen) I prefer Stihl chain running full chisel on the two S-08S & semi chisel on the S10s. One of the S-08S has a 25" bar& the other three have 17" bars.
 
.404 is for pussies. It's a dog eat dog world mate, and you want the biggest teeth you can get. You can still get 1/2" if you look around. Sharpen it up at about 15 degrees top plate, and 80 degrees on the head and you can cut through steel with it! 461 torque monster! :rock:
 
Ok so lets get some focus here...

If you want to run it you should do a couple things. First is getting 404 full skip. This will take some of the load off the saw and allow for extra chip loading. Yes it cuts slower but will also last 1/4-1/3 longer than 3/8 chain. And going to 404 full skip will really reduce the cutters you have to sharpen.

Also keep in mind that hard nose bars rob power from the saw as well. I'd just get a good sprocket nose bar with 404 tip. If you don't like it swap the tip out to 3/8. Also allows for better bar maintenance and wear. If you go with a smaller 20in bar you can bump up to a 8pin rim to help speed up the chain (but this also reduces the saws torque to spin the chain).
 
Why not .404?

If you have a saw that can pull it. It has longer cutters, beefier chassis, and like said fewer cutters when using full skip.

Always wanted to keep everything .375-.050, but reality sometimes hits you in the face and .404 starts to make sense.

Got a bunch of big Stihl mount Carltons in .404 for 20 bucks a piece, changing them all over to .375 would cost more than the bars did.

Same with .375-.058, I probably have more saws with the .058 than anything else because there were some screaming deals on Tsumura bars a few years back and they were all .058
 
My bad,

looks like both are full comp.

Guess that lil Stihl needs a little more umph to pull the .404 eh?

It was down a couple thou RPM
 
in a work situation the 404 is quicker as someone on AS used to say faster by seconds and slower by minutes
while you are sharpening your saw i just keep cutting
 
Me thinks that was slamm?


Kinda miss his post even though he could be a royal pain in the arse.

Hmmm, wouldn't think a cowboy would have that thin O' skin eh?
 
yep that was him we all have our faults i miss his posts to .
he was right them 441cm are better at the end of the day for medium size wood
 

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