Is this a good buy for a Husky 357?

I first saw a brush bar saw at a local pickers auction i used to attend and was like what the heck is that. This was a few years before i joined FHC otherwise idve bought it. I think it was a Poulan IIRC.

 

Haftacut has one ported by Kevin. Sometimes terrifying to see it at work. Favorite saw for sure

 

Sorry, late to the party. Been pretty busy the last couple weeks. My 357XP is a purchase I will never regret. Mine had a LOT of hard miles on it over the years and my intention when I got it was a full tear down and rebuild. I learned a lot and had fun doing it. I'm sure an XS version would eat mine alive but I'm very happy with my meager port job. It is a fun saw to run and is usually the one I grab when I have a lot of 10" to 26" stuff to cut. Light enough to use all day, big enough to spit chips like a champ in my woods.

I'm not brand-centric and I like each of my saws for what each does best and as many have seen, I don't always play by conventional rules (self porting with my own off beat ideas, modified oilers so I can run way too big of bars, etc...).

buZZsaw BRAD
I'll never tell anyone with as many nice saws as you own what to buy or what not to buy. But from your posts, you sound like you enjoy each of your saws with the similarities and differences of them very much. Like the saws you already have, the 357 has it's own personality. It has built a good reputation for performance and with a few mods as mentioned above they will also last and be very reliable, mine is over 20 years old. If ported by one of the "greats" they are an amazing treat to cut firewood with. Choices, so many choices!!! Lots of very good choices too!!!

Ported saws will not disappoint... Isn't it time for a treat?

 

For me ported saws have made my non ported ones sorry junk. Lol

 

Ive contemplated it. I still look for saw deals on FBM/CL. I surely dont NEED any more saws. A few i have that i dont use and maybe those could fund a good porting job if sold?

My MS400 with the bark box muffler and foam air filter has become a favorite to run. Most of my cutting sessions are not more than two tanks of mix as well. Maybe for Christmas...maybe.

Can my secret Santa get me a gift certificate for huskihl?

 

Some stock saws are tough to tolerate after ported goodness fir sure. Lol

 

I’d love to see you get that 400 ported. it makes what we do so much more enjoyable in my humble opinion.
Very first time I ran a ported saw was at a gtg. Won’t forget it. 2014 at showrguys place, skippy handed me his Randy Evans (MasterMind) ported Husky 562. Felt like 80cc power in a 60cc saw. I was flabbergasted.
Treat yourself Brad and experience what we’re all talking about. I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Edit: there are 2 negatives. 1, ruins running a stock saw. 2, they can be loud. I’m sure if you discuss that w/ the builder, they can make it as quiet as possible.

 

At a little get together just down the road from our house, the hosts always put out some logs for us locals to "race" our saws. Nothing official, no real rules, no prizes other than some bragging rights. He and one of his nephews have some pretty hot saws. One of the younger fellows had a MS400 that he had picked up new when they first came out. It has a bark box on it and he could beat my 357 by a touch, not much. It is a nice saw and he was running a fresh square ground chain. I always run square filed chain but it had a couple tanks of mix on it since it had been freshened. Those MS400's are nice saws.

I won a few and lost a few, but for me it was more about getting a feel for how some of the saws perform relative to others. It was smiles all around.