40-50cc chainsaw (what to get)

[MindFork]

I have been thinking especially after reading all the posts that I am going to keep the 250, it is a good saw, maybe down the road if I get the extra $$$ I will get something else and keep the 250. With a good set of dentures (sharp chain) she sure can gobble up wood. Thanks all for your suggestions.

Definitely do a muffler mod on it too. Just do an advanced search for "250 muffler" and search titles only. You'll find 2-3 different posts on it. Then retune the carb. Again the search will show you posts on how to tune your saw. After you muffler mod & retune you'll feel like you have a whole new saw.

 

[SkiWhiz]

Definitely do a muffler mod on it too. Just do an advanced search for "250 muffler" and search titles only. You'll find 2-3 different posts on it. Then retune the carb. Again the search will show you posts on how to tune your saw. After you muffler mod & retune you'll feel like you have a whole new saw.

Being a dairy farmer all my life I can do a bit of everything but never played with chainsaws other than use them as they came from the factory, it might be something that I can do, we'll see,

 

[crabhab]

What kind of rocket fuel were they using to see 3 hp out of a 250? That's ludicrous. 2 hp is much more like it.

A bit back I was running my PP4218 next to friend with a 250. Said to him "try this and choose." He compared in the wood, and said "definitely" to PP. He said the PP A/V was night & day better than 250, besides.

Both have lots of plastic. Both were sharp. PP cost $94 fob my door. At least you can get lots of suckers to toss $ at something labeled "stihl", even the gutless wonders. P.T. Barnum covered that.

Gutless wonder? Your friend must have had a sick ms250 or a dull chain. I know that 3hp is a stretch for thw ms 250 but my 2375 wild thing and my 3316 or whatever Poulans both were not in the same league as the ms250. Maybe it was the sucky chains or poor quality bar and oilers on the poulans but I was not impressed. My 2375 did OK with a non safety chain and muffler mod it simply was poor quality. Most of the modern Poulan offerings are disappointing.

I am not brand myopic. But the ms250 smokes most of the modern Poulan offerings. Lots of tree services use ms250s. If they were crap and modern poulans ruled they would save 200 bucks and use 2375 wild things.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Philip Wheelock]

Being a dairy farmer all my life I can do a bit of everything but never played with chainsaws other than use them as they came from the factory...

There's logic in that. A stock MS250, properly maintained with a sharp chain and proper depth gauge height, is a good farm utility saw.

 

[Festus]

I own an MS250 and I agree with the previous posts. I would emphasize the difference a muffler mod makes. I took mine apart and opened up the baffle, but you may not have to get so in depth to notice a big gain. There is a very small outlet hole in the MS250 muffler. I think you could just open that hole and take a screwdriver and open up the louvers it would help a lot. Obviously remove the limiters on the carb screws and retune. I also run Stihl full chisel chain and I feel that makes a big difference also, although there are a lot of different opinions on that. In short, it's not worth making a change unless you move up to a pro saw. These simple mods made a more noticeable difference on my MS250 than on any of my other saws. The louder muffler also makes it easier to tune. IMO

 

[zogger]

Gutless wonder? Your friend must have had a sick ms250 or a dull chain. I know that 3hp is a stretch for thw ms 250 but my 2375 wild thing and my 3316 or whatever Poulans both were not in the same league as the ms250. Maybe it was the sucky chains or poor quality bar and oilers on the poulans but I was not impressed. My 2375 did OK with a non safety chain and muffler mod it simply was poor quality. Most of the modern Poulan offerings are disappointing.

I am not brand myopic. But the ms250 smokes most of the modern Poulan offerings. Lots of tree services use ms250s. If they were crap and modern poulans ruled they would save 200 bucks and use 2375 wild things.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Just depends. If you are willing to work at a bench for one hour, drop maybe 20 bucks in parts, you can restore and have great running 42 or 46 cc running poulans all day long, and pick them up free to twenty dollars apiece. Tree service "time is money" as in, rebuild saws when it is nasty thunderstorming out or other down days, get a fleet of runners built up in advance.

I just got another one the other day, has a near new bar, a new chain, needs crab cleaned, lines and a crank seal/bearing. cost me ten bucks.

 

[SawTroll]

346xp.