Ms-250 club

[sawbones]

sawbones:
These things are easy to start, And you do NOT want the easy start 250 C the thing is a peice o' junk what with that stupid little quick chain tentioner, no thanks. I love my 250 much more, this thing is a pig.

no, really, I am serious about the easy start. I had one for 5 years and with dozens of saws
to chose from at any time it was my favorite to grab.

I had bought it for my wife and when she left so did the little saw.
I sure miss that saw.:rant:

I guess its was the mystery of winding it up and waiting for it to spring out and start but it was more fun than monkey barrels.

I also liked the quicky sprocket cover. It worked great.

I bought this one cause it was real nice and hope to covert it to a C soon.

 

[wyk]

I suspect the reason some folks say the 250 is difficult to start is because the muffler is very quiet. It is easy to miss that *pop*. Even in freezing temps my ms250 takes less than 5 pulls to pop, and then 2-3 more on the high idle to catch. Once it is run, it usually restarts on one or two pulls even if it's sat in cold weather for a bit. When it's warm out, it is the easiest saw to start.

Having said that, I do notice it has a lot of compression for a lil homeowner's saw. When a bud of mine first pulled it over he mentioned that to me.

no, really, I am serious about the easy start. I had one for 5 years and with dozens of saws
to chose from at any time it was my favorite to grab.

I had bought it for my wife and when she left so did the little saw.
I sure miss that saw.:rant:

I guess its was the mystery of winding it up and waiting for it to spring out and start but it was more fun than monkey barrels.

I also liked the quicky sprocket cover. It worked great.

I bought this one cause it was real nice and hope to covert it to a C soon.

 

[11arbor]

Ms250

Yeah I have two of the easy 2 start models and I think they are great. I never seem to have any problems with these. Just keep the filter clean. Oh and those filters are inexpensive, I pay $6 at my local saw shop. Some of those filters on other models will run you $20+. I run 16" chains.

 

[gloud]

If you want easy start on the 250 or 025 you can get a unit on ebay and a ez start flywheel and swap them right on. (did an 025 for a customer.)

 

[elmoleaf]

Last weekend I bought a MS 250 with 16" bar for firewood and small tree cutting.
The dealer demonstrated start..."pull on full choke till you hear it burp, then switch to half-choke and should start within pull or two". Got it home and of course, I couldn't start it. Never heard it burp. Flooded the $%$@# engine! Pulled the plug and dried it out.
Next attempt, I pulled once on full choke, then switched to half and it started right away. After that, once warm, it would always start on one pull from the run position without any choke whatsoever. I've run a couple of tanks of gas through it. Very happy so far.
The 250 replaced a circa 1984 McCulloch Power Mac 310. That saw and the spare 310 parts saw both went in the trash. Damn I wasted a lot of hours twiddling, fiddlin', and fixin' that thing.

 

[Saw Dr.]

I also liked the quicky sprocket cover. It worked great.

I like them too for most situations. I'm waiting to find a quick adjust setup for my 023L. That is my go-to little saw right now.

 

[Chris-PA]

I had an MS250Cwith an 18" bar that was my Dad's for a while, as it never worked properly from the factory. It turned out the stupidly complicated fuel line assembly did not fit well and had a leak somewhere, which I was able to fix (unlike the dealer). Now it runs well, though no better than my 18" 42cc Craftsman/Wild Thing did. I did not like the starter or the tool-less adjuster, but I never do. I also find the all-in-one on/off & choke lever to be a poor design and hard to use. It takes about 4-5 pulls to start cold, but after that it goes right off.

I used it for a while and then returned it. Shortly after I gave it back to him Dad hurt his back (he's 75). He had bought a Husky 455 that he liked a lot, but that is fairly heavy so he wasn't using it. His back has improved some, and he's been using the MS250C, and the easy start has turned out to be a good thing too.

It's a decent 45cc plastic saw, with a couple of design flaws as far as I'm concerned: the fuel lines, the way the grommet around the carb adjusters is jambed in with the one screw hole stuck through the handle, and the dumb all-in-one on/off & choke lever. And the stupid flippy caps of course. But none of that is fatal, it cuts quite well just like most cheap plastic saws do. The biggest problem is how much one costs new, compared to the equivalent cheap plastic saws others make.

 

[Winchester356]

Heh. I only did it because of his signature:
"Improving spelling and grammar one AS member at a time."

Anywho - enough fawning over the MS250. Mine just showed me the difference between a pro saw and a 'homeowners' saw by blowing out one of it's rubber AV mounts. What a pain that is, and what a cheap design that is; the small plastic plug seems to have failed. I can only assume that was what it was since it is lost somewhere in the woods.

Speaking of beating a dead horse, my MS250 emptied it's oil on me when I flipped it on the side to stump a small maple. It seems that even though the cap felt secure, it was only secure enough to keep the bar oil in while I was cutting level. Once I tipped it on it's side and began cutting, the flippy cap came loose and spilled nearly every ounce of oil into the snow before I noticed the bar was smoking. I am usually very careful closing that oil cap, too, since it is a bit of a bother now that it's gotten a bit old. It felt solidly closed, too. I didn't bother checking if it was an actual malfunction. I put it into the truck for later cleaning since it had saw dust clinging to the cap at the time and I was in the woods during a sleet and hail episode. I then removed my 372xp from the cab, complete with it's non flippy caps which have never failed me, and never will, and finished the job.

Mine did the same to me and has went throught 5 flippy oil caps.

 

[claybustr]

Anywho - enough fawning over the MS250. Mine just showed me the difference between a pro saw and a 'homeowners' saw by blowing out one of it's rubber AV mounts. What a pain that is, and what a cheap design that is; the small plastic plug seems to have failed. I can only assume that was what it was since it is lost somewhere in the woods.

The same thing happened to me last weekend when I was 18" into a big hickory log. Handle came loose and really honked me off. I may be putting this on up for sale as I picked up an MS391 today.

 

[mountainlake]

Just got one put back toegther today, new seals and a pain in the but to work on. Really good power, close to a MS290. I'd run a 250 before a 290 any day as it wieghs 13 3/4# ready to cut. Steve

 

[SawTroll]

I need to be an honorary member of that Club, since I have posted so much about those saws in the past, and have experience with both using and working on them!

It shouldn't matter that I actually hate them, in both regards!

 

[H 2 H]

Nice light weight limbing saw's

I have a couple and they get used alot

Both run .325 18" b/c setups

Haven't had any problem with either one

A good MM on these saws just wakes them up

The 250 is a good limbing saw for nice size Alders

 

[H 2 H]

I need to be an honorary member of that Club, since I have posted so much about those saws in the past, and have experience with both using and working on them!

It shouldn't matter that I actually hate them, in both regards!

AS members you have to remember these are Stihl products and and what ST has to say about Stihl (99.9 % rule) :taped:

 

[SawTroll]

AS members you have to remember these are Stihl products and and what ST has to say about Stihl (99.9 % rule) :taped:

You are wrong as usual, but who really cares! :msp_smile:

 

[RandyMac]

AS members you have to remember these are Stihl products and and what ST has to say about Stihl (99.9 % rule) :taped:

99.9% correct?

The real and true 250, wouldn't lift a leg on these plastic pretenders.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[SawTroll]

99.9% correct?

The real and true 250, wouldn't lift a leg on these plastic pretenders.:hmm3grin2orange:

An overwhelming feel of soft plastic, and a vibration monster for its size. A PITA to work on as well, and the air filter system is as bad as it gets.

 

[H 2 H]

MS 250 are easy to work on

If it isn't a Husky product ST will down grade it (kinda like Echo chain saws to name one brand)

ST doesn't even know they changed the "air filter system"

 

[SawTroll]

MS 250 are easy to work on

If it isn't a Husky product ST will down grade it (kinda like Echo chain saws to name one brand)

ST doesn't even know they changed the "air filter system"

My reference is 3 2003/2004 saws - otherwise you are wrong as usual (except the Echo thing).

 

[old-cat]

Before I got my hands on the pro STIHLs, I thought that little MS 250 was the cats meow! So I bought one myself to do a land clearing job. I dogged that thing something fierce! Trees pinching, chain flying off many times, stump cutting, many kick backs, starter rope broke twice, terrible kicker when trying to start it. It was a real work horse in spite of all!
It's been replaced by an MS260 for the same amount of money and a far more pleasing machine!!
When I get done modding this little 260, I will never even think of the 250 again!

 

[H 2 H]

Stihl thread = ST bashing