Oregon Saw Chains

[Chainsaw Pete]

I had a 2013 Oregon catalog on my computer that no longer opens. I went to their online 'catalog' and found a bewildering array of chains and no comprehensive catalog with all the informational pages of days of old.

Now they have chains branded AdvanceCut, PowerSharp, Powercut, SpeedCut, VersaCut, ControlCut, DuraCut and Sculpture specialty chain. With the exception of the last two, which have special properties, What am I to make of all the verbal salad?

Cynical me would joke that you sacrifice control and sharpness by using the PowerCut, etc.

Can some of you guys with experience using these chains weigh in here? I'm using 3/8-0.050 chain on my MS311 and .325-0.050 on my MS250. I have both semi chisel and chisel profiles, and I think I have a skip tooth chisel for the 311. I am mostly trying to understand what Oregon has done with their product line.

 

[NSEric]

They made the name on the chain boxes match the bars they sell to make buying both at once easier in a hardware store.
I ignore the names and go by the chain specs. The specs are on all the boxes if you look.
Your chains will be advancecut, powercut, versacut or controlcut depending on which style you get.

 

[SteveSr]

I had a 2013 Oregon catalog on my computer that no longer opens. I went to their online 'catalog' and found a bewildering array of chains and no comprehensive catalog with all the informational pages of days of old.

Now they have chains branded AdvanceCut, PowerSharp, Powercut, SpeedCut, VersaCut, ControlCut, DuraCut and Sculpture specialty chain. With the exception of the last two, which have special properties, What am I to make of all the verbal salad?

Cynical me would joke that you sacrifice control and sharpness by using the PowerCut, etc.

Can some of you guys with experience using these chains weigh in here? I'm using 3/8-0.050 chain on my MS311 and .325-0.050 on my MS250. I have both semi chisel and chisel profiles, and I think I have a skip tooth chisel for the 311. I am mostly trying to understand what Oregon has done with their product line.

I like 22BPX (.325 .063") which is semi-chisel for our local trail club. This should be the same on your MS250 unless you purposely switched it to .050" gauge.

I have attached some of the older catalogs. Keep in mind that some of this may be now obsolete or renamed.

 

[Chainsaw Pete]

I like 22BPX (.325 .063") which is semi-chisel for our local trail club. This should be the same on your MS250 unless you purposely switched it to .050" gauge.

I have attached some of the older catalogs. Keep in mind that some of this may be now obsolete or renamed.

I did switch to .050. At the time I did not see a point to having the .063. I sort of liked the possibility of swapping chains and bars between saws. I had replaced the drum style drive sprocket with the rim sprocket on both saws and thought if one saw was damaged, all I had to do was swap out the bar and sprocket to use the chains. Another plan that never saw the light of day.

 

[Franny K]

Your ms250 might get along well with the 95txl which is a Narrow kerf .325 .050 in the speedcut trademarked line. That particular one is rated to 55cc where the heavier 20 lpx lgx bpx dpx is .325 .050 rated for 62cc. If you work at it you could figure out what trademarked name those would fall under.

In the 3/8 .050 I think it is 72 and exl is their newest chisel and exj their newest skip chisel. Vanguard has folded over depth gauges and is sort of reduced kickback and still chisel not sure exactly what trademarked names are for these probably power cut for the first one.

 

[Philbert]

Some marketing types decided to rename, and group, the bars and chains, several years back.

They also removed a lot of the technical information from their website, and replaced it with a ‘Buy It Now!’ emphasis.

If you download a copy of the Oregon Maintenance and Safety Manual’, there are a number of pages with specifications on their chains, bars, etc.

Philbert