Opinions on Stihl 038 Magnum?

I just traded my sister my MS 250C-BE for her 26 ton, 8 hp Tecumseh "Wood General" splitter. She still has a really nice seldom used 038 Magnum that she wants me to buy off her/sell for her. I know little of the model other than the magnum is about 2cc larger, and a 1lb heaver than my MS440 Mag. Is this a "special" saw, or just a bigger heavier "290".

 

I was thinking how good it was feeling to have let the MS250 go and getting down to 7 saws ........................................ but you know, staying pat at 8 saws might not be that bad .

 

My 038 mag is badazz. Not quite a 460, but with a dual port it's no slouch at all. Awesome with a 20", nice with a 28", capable with a 32". Get it if you can get the family price for sure.

 

That's my "big saw." Heavy and torquey, I rebuilt a toasted special and made a Mag. Won't fetch the high resale because it has the wrong badge on it... But it's working for me so far.

 

Buy it, I'm still kicking myself for not picking up a $50 parts saw.

 

Thanks for the sound advice guys. I was just going to let her sell it on CL up there but decided to snag it instead, keep it in the family, at least for now! Put a new RS chain on it to replace the totally shot safety stuff it was wearing. It was really nice cutting, hard to say which is nicer, it or the 440. Very low felt vibration too!

I would think with all that heavy torque it should be a nice candidate for an 8 slot rim when running "shorter" 20"/25" bars. Help get those chain RPMs up there a little? And the best part.......................... old style filler caps.

 

She's a beauty!

 

Awesome! Congrats on the new saw it looks great

 

The 8 pin is nice with the 20", 7 or 8 on the 25" depending on the wood species, definitely stick with the 7 on 28" or better.

Ymmv.

 

If you ever want to sell it I am game.

Dang I just looked at your quiver and you won't want to let it go once you run it some.

 

That's a good looking saw right there.

 

Yeah, I guess it sort of does have a minty character to it ...................... . We ended up doing an even swap on the saws, and I'm paying her the 5 bills she wanted for the splitter, official divorce value.

Now if she would only cough up the antique Canvasback decoy I pulled out of the Niagara River when I was in HS my life would be complete. It sits on her fireplace mantle, given to her by my Dad, when it belonged to me ........... don't get me started on that one.............

 

That's the combo I'm figuring to run on it for now, 8 pin with a 20" bar. The 440 is set up with a 25" so that covers that range. Have you run the bigger bars on yours?

 

Ran the 25 for a minute on the test drive, but that bar didn't come with the saw.
Only ran the 28" for one outing so far. Nose buried in a huge mulberry trunk. It did it well, and it was some hard chit. Ran with the 7 pin. haven't tried skip chain yet, but would guess the 7 pin would still be the ticket. I run the 7 on the 20" mostly too. With all that torque you can push hard and make huge chips. To me that makes up for chain speed. That set up will chew though 18" ash quick and leave you with a smile everytime and have the power for bigger stuff.
lots of folks like the 8 pin too, but I prefer the unstoppable torque.
I'd like to play with some skip chain sometime.

 

Nice dawgs pyro.... where'd ya get those?

And OP, that thing is clean.............. go get it dirty

 

You can get all kinds of dogs on eBay for about $26 shipped from a guy in Washington. I got a set for the 650 he also has the crazy big ones but my biggest bar is 25" and I don't want to loose over 3" of bar!! They doo look cool though.

 

And yea that 038 looks mint!! Like its 5years old or newer! Must of been Tue 3ft and over saw and they only ever ran into a dew 3ft and ober trees!!