If you guys only knew how many of those carbs I've thrown out...............
On the low end grunt question, don't forget the 357 is only a 56cc jug, so it's at a displacement disadvantage right from the get-go.
I have a ported 359 jug, (done by Motomedik), on a 357 case with the stuffers and the Zama carb. This saw is really quite impressive, so at least in this case the Zama can handle the porting. This was used jug that we cleaned up, and with nothing invested, Moto was hardly conservative in there. Looks like you can park a truck in the exhaust port.