I will jump in here to give you guys a little history on these saws, I live in Ontario about 40 miles from the Huron Park factory and I grew up with Pioneer saws was running farm saws and P41, In 1984 pioneer came with the new P42 to P62 saws and there were painted the orginal yellow & green , I was looking for a stronger saw and my local Pioneer shop told me of a new updated P42 if I could wait a month he would get me one out of there special show shop but it would be a Pioneer Partner name and different shade of yellow, I said sure and he went on to tell me that these two company`s joined up, Pioneer was suffering bad and there toolling & moulds were in tough shape he said wore out , need some new money to make things better and they were starting with the P42 saw first since it was the most popular size, it would have new boost ported cylinder and reground piston and they would be made in the new Huron Park factory in London Ontario under EMAB, went in to pick it up and compared it to a P52 and it would cut circles around it, that saw is still going today never been apart and cuts like a scared cat. I was planning on buying a P62 at same time but in 1985 and 22% interest rates times were tough for us, the same local dealer told me they would be reworking all the saws in the next few years so in 1986 he told me the P52 was the next one because it really was a dog in his words and along came a P52 Plus with boost port cylinder special timed piston but no cut window on the piston, stronger piston pin and western muffler and SDC80 carb, tried it out and boy what a difference so ended up buying new one but really wanted a 100 cc saw but pioneer was having some issues with the P62 saw running hot , they came out with a new thicker cylinder which helped but that saw was pushing a lot of power and was hard on some internal parts so along comes P65 in 1987 with larger PTO bearing , boost port cylinder and much increased power, special ground piston but no window cut in piston. I have a P65 today but did not buy it new back in 1988. PIoneer Partner was still struggling money wise and the Electrolux company had been talking to them about selling and I think 88-89 deal was made and name changed to Poulan Pro and sold the pioneer saws as there professional line, they came in with new money and purchase all new moulds from Italy for cylinders and saws were really high quality. In 1989 I purchased one of the first year production Pro 655 , it came with a window cut in the piston, I was told that they were have a supply problem with the new piston & some saws would get the standard piston when they ran out of the latest ones and that`s why the BP decal was not on the saw at first. I ran my saw against a friend with same saw & bar in hard maple logs and we changed saws but could not see and difference in performance between the saws, I have heard others saw the same thing and I thing it likely is better but you can`t tell the difference, when you have a 36 inch bar in hardwood with the power and toque these saws have it is not for the faint of heart, its a handfull so I would not worry about a piston with the cut window, I have quite a few of these saws and still have all the new ones I purchased, I hope I did not bore you to much but there are not to many of us old guys left around. Thanks
