Best 3/8" chain?

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I’m running my first Archer chain, a 24” full skip on my 359, and am really happy so far. Cut for hours on a big maple this week, and touched it up easily a couple times during the day. At the end, cut the stump off level with the ground and noticed sparks a couple times. But then my buddy wanted me to cut 2 last pcs in half, and it still threw big chips. Great price on the bar/chain combo, and ArcherPlus shipping is always quick and free.
 
Been at this since the mid 1970's and have heated with firewood for decades. WAY back in the beginning it was Windsor or Oregon full chisel only. Tried some Stihl chain a few times, Carlton, and Archer most recently.

As a warning to anyone reading this stay as far away as you can from the Chinese varieties, the "no-name" stuff you see at the box stores with a symbol on the links. I bought a Windsor bar once on Ebay and it came with a loop of that bovine excrement. It broke before halfway thru the first tank of fuel!

Archer is mentioned as top shelf and we've found it to be OK, Carlton is decent as well. I tried the Archer bars on my CS-590/600p and the first one locked up after half a dozen tanks of fuel. I also had to run .058" gauge chain in it because .050" was too loose and it cut crooked it you "pushed" it.

The vendor replaced the Archer bar and the second one is doing fine aside from requiring .058" gauge chain to be effective.

Back to the topic. I love Windsor chain and bars, but it is not as ready available/easy to obtain these days. Stihl is pretty good, but I've ran into loops that are extremely "hard", not all that sharp right out of the box and takes some work to "touch them up" between tanks.

I keep coming back to Oregon and have switched most of my saws to semi-chisel. I find it cuts nearly as fast as full chisel but for sure stays sharp longer, especially if you are cutting tops left over from logging operations or logs we've skidding to a landing like we often do here.

So for me it's Oregon, the good stuff with the "blue" tinted cutters, no safety features. Don't have the part numbers handy and it's too early in the morning to remember, having BAD cases of CRS these days and even worse cases of DGS.......Cliff
 
Last I looked Archer went up in price. I went through most of selling of 50' of Archer 3/8 with no complaints but don't remember using it on my personal saws yet. If it isn't much cheaper then Stihl chain I probably will not buy it next time. Stihl is pricey but if you want to be confident you have a good quality chain, RM and RS are premium in my book. I have been happy with most Oregon and Carlton chain also . I think Stihl has them beat with 3/8 RM semi chisel but full chisel is a close call.
Want to follow up on the Archer. Neighbor of mine when i asked him how a loop of it held up I sold him, he said it stretched so bad he had to shorten it twice, something he never ran into his career. Like me he has been cutting several decades. Also was a Pioneer dealer at 1 time, said his sprocket was good so I expect its a valid evaluation.
I forgot to mention I have had in the past semi chisel chain in 3/8 labled Sandvik Windsor that seems to hold an edge as well or better then Stihl RM. Still have and am using some in .058. It's never let me down, always happy using it, especially when conditions aren't the cleanest. Would like to find some more at a decent prices.
 
There is a place Stihl dealer that makes chains for me here. In fact, they make all their chains and then box them and mark what they are. As a result, I can buy them at the same price of an Oregon chain.

If it ain’t broke, I don’t fix it and those Stihl chains work great for me. But I have a feeling that just about any chain, if kept maintained and sharp, can do the job for you. You just might have to touch it up more often than a professional grade chain
 

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