tribalwind said:
yes it says 3/8ths on the bar and saws manual for 'pitch',no reference to sprocket but i assume this is the same
sorry i must've deleted that paragraph. it's a 36'' Alaskan.
i was looking at a 25' reel from baileys of either the 30RP or 33RP woodsman pro ripping chain, i'd have to buy their breaker/spinner set as well in this case?
i didn't see ripping chain loops available.
Tribal, simple answer is the pitch has to match the bar. If that 28 inch bar you got with the saw has a .050 pitch you need 3/8 .050 ripping chain. If it's a .063 pitch as many of the longer bars are, then you'll need 3/8 .063 ripping chain. Stay away from the .404, you really don't need it, 3/8 is plenty.
You can buy a large reel and make your own loop, that's what I do, and yes you will then need the breaker/spinner. It will take a bunch of loops though to eventually make up for the price of that breaker/spinner. In my case, I do enough milling and chainsaw work that it does. Or jump on Bailey's, and order a milling chain. They sell those by the link, so you just order the number of links, and they pop it together and send the required length. Do the math and see if it's worth it to you. The number of links you will need as well as what pitch the bar is, is usually stamped on the bar near the powerhead end. Also don't assume that just because a bar is say 36 inches, that another 36 inch bar will take exact same number of links. My Powermatch 36 inch bar, and my Husky 36 inch bar are several links different. Remember also that you lose 5-8 inches of bar mounting on that mill. So your 28 inch bar will actually only mill say 22 inches. If you take the dogs off of the powerhead you get another inch or so. I do with my 395.
I also agree with Dusty, and others in this forum that say you should really run at least 5 or 6 tanks of mix through the saw before dedicating it to full time full power heavy milling. I know you're gonna want to pop that thing right on the mill and start making lumber right away. If you're only doing small stuff at the beginning, my gut feeling is you're OK because then you're working that saw intermittently (kinda) anyway. But if you're going to bury it in a 24 inch wide oak and power full throttle down an 8 ft log for 10-12 minutes strait right off the bat... not a good idea. What I did was pop a smaller bar on my 395 when I got it and used it in place of my 60 cc saw for a while before graduating it to full time milling. Go cut some firewood for a buddy with it... whatever. There ARE a few guys over on the chainsaw forum that say just take it out of the box and run it hard right from the start... but more say not to mill hard with it right away. I buy into the latter.
Any more questions... ask away.
Try a couple of loops of some different stuff before buying a spool. Spend your money on a sharpener. 
