Looking for some help finding the right chainsaw, stihl ms 311?

[Natrix natrix]

Hello all,

 

I am new to this forum and am looking for a new chainsaw, it will be my third, as the first was a wee stihl which I inherited and served me well for a couple of years but eventual died on me. Cutting fire wood ect. Wood for smallholding... then had to buy something quick and cheapish to fill in. A garden use stile McCormack, but nowhere near powerful enough to work well for me now.

 

So I am looking for something a bit more adult and looking at next 5 to 10 yr, working a small wood oak, chestnut, semi mature plus some mid size Douglas and generally cutting for firewood 3 plus cords a year, min , useable timber for a woodmizer, and general smallholding work, some bigger felling. Will use quite a lot. Was looking at mid range stihls. Stihls is just about the only dealer round here, and was thinking about the ms 311 as it is on offer 100 off. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks all, I most appreciate your experience .

[Johno1]

Just bought a still ms391 with a 20" bar. Very nice chainsaw with plenty of horsepower. Just a bit on the heavy side though.

[GardenKit]

Hello all,

 

I am new to this forum and am looking for a new chainsaw, it will be my third, as the first was a wee stihl which I inherited and served me well for a couple of years but eventual died on me. Cutting fire wood ect. Wood for smallholding... then had to buy something quick and cheapish to fill in. A garden use stile McCormack, but nowhere near powerful enough to work well for me now.

 

So I am looking for something a bit more adult and looking at next 5 to 10 yr, working a small wood oak, chestnut, semi mature plus some mid size Douglas and generally cutting for firewood 3 plus cords a year, min , useable timber for a woodmizer, and general smallholding work, some bigger felling. Will use quite a lot. Was looking at mid range stihls. Stihls is just about the only dealer round here, and was thinking about the ms 311 as it is on offer 100 off. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks all, I most appreciate your experience .

You dont say where you are, but I guess not the UK as the MS311 is not a UK model as far as I can see.

[claudie345]

Never heard of the 311, but for smaller stuff I use the MS260 which runs really well with a 15inch bar plenty of power if just working small trees or logging, and for larger trees I have a 362 with an 18inch bar (once again really nice saw never backs off and fast for logging plenty of grunt) and if you have some bigish trees to sort out personally I use a 660 with 30inch bar, but if you just want one saw for everything I would be tempted to go for the 362 with a 15inch bar and chain and a second bar and chain at 20inch, should have it pretty well sorted then.

[Natrix natrix]

Hi thank you for your responses, the ms362 does indeed look like a good saw for my needs Had not looked at it beforehand at 5,9kg interesting, Thanks. Good tip about the blades.

The 311 is very similar to the 391 just the 59cm3 but at the same 6.4 kg and a bit cheaper.

I saw on another site blog folk moaning about it not starting well. The 311 that is so had wanted to see if others had experienced the same?

 

Yep I am no longer a UK res, although origin Wiltshire and 10 years in Scotland I am now a resident in Brittany north France and not unlike Devon round here. I didn’t know that stihl chainsaws were particular to a country.

Have not yet chosen and will go down to the local dealer, but really good to have some recommendations before going through it all in a second language.

Is the local dealer the only way to buy stihl or can you buy cheaper elsewhere? I have heard of the face to face polices, but surely there’s a competitive market for selling the saws?

Thanks all, keep posting its really usefull.

[RobRainford]

The 362 is a good saw to look at. Nice mid range with good power to weight ratio.

[agg221]

Stihl does operate a face-to-face policy, which dealers tend to strictly adhere to, and I would be very wary of 'new' saws on ebay as there are a lot of fakes floating about. There is an arrangement whereby once you are known to a dealer they are able to supply, so if you ever come back to the UK this may apply - you may be able to buy one item and then have things shipped in the future. Not sure as I'm not a dealer (and only buy really old saws on ebay!) but it might be worth dropping Jonesie on here a message for a definitive answer.

 

Roughly speaking, saws with the first two digits as 26 or 36 would probably suit (basically, based on the old 026 and 036 for power range), or 39 which was more of a 'farmer's' saw.

 

Alec