Mystery Solved!!!
First thing I did was remove the plug, hook up an alligator clip to plug and cylinder and give is a few pulls in an unlit garage. Spark looked very good.
So I figured it must be fuel, even though not getting a kick when priming was still baffling me.
So I drained the fuel tank and replaced the fuel filter, and I noticed there was some water in the bottom of the tank. Sopped it up with paper towels to get rid of it and added some good fuel. It popped on the first pull, started on the next. The carb must have been feeding water into the cylinder which was killing the prime!
And, I'm very pleased with the payment. A few bucks to cover the cost of parts (that I did not even ask for) and two stripped and defunct saws. One is an MS 460 and he was right about it. Cylinder is missing, tank handle is cracked, and crank is bent + locked. About the only good parts are chain adjuster, maybe the coil, and flywheel.
The other saw is an 046. Tank handle looks OK other than the vent is missing. When I get it home I clean the crud off the SN and it starts with 136!
Piston looks OK. Factory port on muffler is huge. I'm hoping the cylinder is original, because that SN mean D Chamber!!! It needs a ton of work, but I've been wanting one of them for a long time (I had agreed to buy a cream puff one and the buyer sold it to someone else). I'm Stoked!!!