Well I purchased a 550xp mark ii. Bought it with the 20in bar .058 . Never had a .325 chain. So of course I started looking into changing it to a 3/8. After 3 tanks of fuel and alot of firewood bucking and clearing out some downed oak trees. I'm frigging loving this thing. Going to leave this .325 chain on. Sad thing is I still have the semi chisel chain that came on it. Put it on the Tecomec super jolly with 1/8 CBN wheel gave it a good sharping and cut the rakers down to .025 under. Went back out cut up another log . She cuts like no tomorrow. I ended up ordering 5 .325 full chisel chains, can't wait to run those. My 562xp with 24 bar still seems to mow through logs alittle faster. But just heavier to haul around the wood pile. Going to be a hard choice what saw to grab.
I'm a big fan of full chisel .325" on 59cc saws! Cuts fast and smooth, and holds an edge reasonably well.
I have one running .325. Have another I converted to 3/8”. I like the 3/8” better but it’s not by much. Keep em sharp they both rip. One thing I noticed is the .325 cuts so fast it’s easy to bind the chain with sawdust. Stihl .325 full chisel cut a wider kerf than husky/Oregon chains so that binding became rare. The 3/8 did away with it altogether. Enjoy
I still have my original husky 261 which was my first saw and my second was a 575xp. They still come out once or twice a year for exercise. Both are bone stock. Always wanted to do upgrade on 261 to the 262
I hand file and find 3/8 easier to sharpen than 325. I think it is because with my bifocals the smaller tooth of the 325 is harder to see
I bought the same saw and very happy with it. Being a hardcore Stihl Guy it was a tough thing for me to do but I couldn't find a 261 at the time and the Husky had good reviews so I went for it. I am running a .325 chain but swapped the original chain to the Stihl RS series chain and that really woke it up. Being a smaller saw on the CC side of things I will leave it with .325 chain that has a slightly narrower kerf and cutters closer together and that may smooth it out just a little over the 3/8 chain. No sooner did I buy it the 261 became available but haven't been disappointed one bit with it.
I put a couple tanks through my 18" 550xpg mk2 on the 31st. Liking it so far and am thinking it could be a go to saw in smaller size wood. Also picked up a 100' roll of the X-Cut chain for it. Had a 026 before that but never got along with it, even though it looked new inside. Glad you're happy with the purchase.
I have a 550xpmkii with a .325 16” bar & Stihl RS full chisel chain on it & it cuts like a laser. Keep us posted on what you like or dislike about the saw as you use it. I seem to have more trouble than usual putting the chain on & getting the drive links in the sprocket for some reason but that’s a minor inconvenience in comparison to the pleasure I get out of running this thing.
Great thread! I run 3/8 on a 16” bar on my 359. I’ve been eyeing the 550xp, and was thinking the same (stick with 3/8), but then was remembering some chain threads here and was second guessing myself. Very nice to hear you like it.
I had the same trouble when I put the chain on mine so have to see. I did purchase a 20" 3/8 bar and spur for it so I could run the same chains on my larger saws.
