CS2 M249 machine gun displayed in the weapon inventory

M249 Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Damage, spray, the $5,200 price, and when it is worth buying.

The M249 costs $5,200 - more than an AWP, more than the auto-snipers, more than any other gun in the game. Both sides can buy it and it pays $300 a kill. For that money you get a 100-round magazine, 300 rounds in total, and the fastest kill through armour of any automatic gun up close: four chest hits in 0.24 seconds inside about 10 metres, where it also one-taps a helmeted head.

The trade-off is almost everything else. It costs $2,500 more than an AK, which one-taps a helmeted opponent out to 69 metres. It moves at 195, and a full reload takes 5.7 seconds. It is a rare buy, and most of this page is about when, if ever, those numbers are worth the money. This page goes through the numbers, the spray, when to buy it, and the skins and cases.

Last checked

September 2026

Weapon stats checked against CS2 build 1.41.7.6.

M249 at a Glance

The full stat sheet, straight from the game.

Every number below comes from the game build of 18 March 2026. Two of them define the M249: a $5,200 price and 80% armour penetration. It is the most expensive gun in the game and one of only two automatic guns that kill an armoured player in four chest hits, along with the SG 553. What it gives up is movement and money - 195 mobility, and $300 a kill on a gun that costs more than an AWP.

Damage and money

Price	$5,200
Kill reward	$300
Side	CT and T
Base damage	32
Armour penetration	80%
Headshot multiplier	4x
Damage lost at 500 units	3%
Wall penetration	200%
One-tap range, helmet	389 u (about 10 m)
One-tap range, no helmet	4,052 u (about 103 m)

Handling and ammo

Rate of fire	750 RPM
Magazine	100
Reserve	200 (300 total)
Reload	5.70 s (mag in at 3.73 s)
Deploy	1.0-1.1 s
Mobility	195 (knife is 250)
Tagging power	60%
Accurate range, standing	15.7 m
Running inaccuracy	166.0
Recoil	Set pattern
Console command	`give weapon_m249`

The weak spot is the price against what the money buys elsewhere. For $5,200 you could take an AWP ($4,750) or an AK and a full round of grenades. The M249 also moves at 195, slower than anything except the Negev, and its 5.7-second reload is tied with the Negev for the longest in the game. Standing still it is accurate to 15.7 metres, the best of the two machine guns.

M249 Damage & Armour

What one bullet does, and how many it takes.

Everything here assumes a full-health player at close range. Armour means kevlar on the body and a helmet on the head. The general rules behind these numbers are on the weapons hub.

Damage per bullet

Hitbox	No armour	Armour	Bullets to kill, no armour	Bullets to kill, armour
Head	128	102.4	1	1
Chest and arms	32	25.6	4	4
Stomach	40	32	3	4
Legs	24	24	5	5

Two numbers sit close to the line. A helmeted headshot does 102.4 and four chest hits through armour add up to the same 102.4 - just over a kill, so both work only at short range. Past that the headshot stops being a one-tap and the chest takes a fifth bullet.

Where the M249 drops off

The M249 loses 3% of its damage for every 500 units of distance, the same as the Negev and the M4A4. The bullet counts above hold only this far:

Shot	Works up to
Chest through armour - 5 bullets	4,052 u (about 103 m)
Head, no helmet - 1 bullet	4,052 u (about 103 m)
Stomach through armour - 4 bullets	3,640 u (about 92 m)
Stomach, no armour - 3 bullets	3,640 u (about 92 m)
Legs - 5 bullets	3,181 u (about 81 m)
Head, helmet - 1 bullet	389 u (about 10 m)
Chest through armour - 4 bullets	389 u (about 10 m)

Past each of those distances the count goes up by one. Damage is multiplied by 0.97 for every 500 units of distance, and it drops smoothly in between. Two helmeted headshots kill at any distance you will meet on a map.

What this means in a fight

Inside about 10 metres the M249 kills an armoured player in four chest hits, 0.24 seconds at 750 rounds a minute. No other automatic gun is faster: the AK, the M4A1-S and the Negev all take 0.30. Past 10 metres it needs five, 0.32 seconds, and that count holds out to about 103 metres. The helmet one-tap works over the same 10 metres, where the AK keeps its out to 69.

M249 Recoil & Spray

A hundred rounds, and where they stop being useful.

The M249 fires 750 rounds a minute, one bullet every 80 milliseconds. A full magazine of 100 lasts about eight seconds. The recoil pattern follows the same overall path every time you spray, which is why spray control can be learned. On top of it sits a little random spread that grows the longer you hold the trigger. Unlike the Negev's, this spray never settles - it keeps swinging from side to side to the end of the magazine.

The dots show where each bullet goes if you hold the trigger and don't touch the mouse. The dashed line is where you aimed, and the white dot is the latest shot. The panel on the right is the mouse movement that cancels it - the same path turned upside down and mirrored. ×1 plays at real speed, ×0.5 and ×0.25 slow it down, and Step by step fires one bullet per click with Next shot.

The spray, shot by shot

Shots 1-2. Barely move. The first two bullets land almost where you aimed.
Shots 3-6. Up and to the right. Pull down and to the left.
Shots 7-11. Back across the middle to the left, still climbing. Keep pulling down, ease off to the right.
Shots 12-18. Up and further left, furthest out at shot 18. The climb ends here.
Shots 19-26. A wide swing to the right, furthest out at shot 26. Pull left.
Shots 27-65. The spray swings left and right across the top, between the two edges it has already reached. Widest left at shot 60.
Shots 66-72. A sharp move right and noticeably lower, the only part of the second half that drops.
Shots 73-100. Back into the same left-right swings until the magazine runs out.

From shot 18 on, the spray hardly goes higher - it just moves sideways, across a band about 225 pixels wide in the viewer. That is the difference from the Negev: there the bullets stack in one place, here they keep travelling.

How to actually use it

The first eighteen shots are the part worth drilling - a pull down that curves left, then right, then left again. They are also the part that matters: four chest hits kill an armoured player inside 10 metres, five out to 103 (see Damage & Armour). After that the M249 is suppression rather than aim - a hundred rounds through a doorway or a smoke, not a spray you expect to land.

Spray control will not make the M249 accurate on the move. Its running inaccuracy is 166.0, and at 195 mobility it is the second slowest gun in the game. Tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.

Standing still it is accurate to 15.7 metres, better than the Negev's 12.5. Past that, short bursts land more bullets than a long spray.

Did the spray change in 2026?

No. In April 2026 Valve changed how the screen moves when you fire, so it feels closer to CS:GO. Where the bullets land stayed the same. I also checked the pattern offline, on a private server, against my own Logitech G HUB Lua script for the M249: its mouse path lines up with these 100 shots. I don't recommend using scripts like this in Competitive or Premier.

Sources: CS2 update notes, 21 April 2026

When to Buy the M249

What $5,200 buys, and what the same money buys instead.

The M249 is the most expensive gun in CS2. Any honest answer to "when do you buy it" starts with the price, so here is what a round with it costs and what you give up.

What a buy adds up to

Item	Price
M249	$5,200
Kevlar + helmet	$1,000
Smoke	$300
Flashbang	$200
Total	$6,700

The same buy with an AWP costs $6,250, with an AK $4,200 and with a Negev $3,200. An AK buy plus a dropped Negev for a teammate costs $5,900 - still less than the M249 alone with armour.

What the money actually buys

Three things, and they are real: four chest hits through armour in 0.24 seconds inside 10 metres, faster than any other automatic gun; a helmet one-tap over the same 10 metres; and 100 rounds in the magazine with 300 in total. Standing still it is accurate to 15.7 metres, better than the Negev's 12.5.

What you give up

Past 10 metres the M249 needs five chest hits, 0.32 seconds, and loses the one-tap - while an AK costing $2,500 less keeps its helmet one-tap out to 69 metres and kills through armour in 0.30 seconds. It moves at 195 against the AK's 215, reloads in 5.7 seconds against 2.4, and pays the same $300 a kill. After the first dozen bullets its spray spreads wide (see Recoil & Spray).

So when is it worth it?

On the numbers, only in a narrow case: you are holding a short, close angle - a doorway or a choke point inside about 10 metres - your team is already fully bought, and the extra money has nowhere else to go. In every other round the AK, the M4 or an AWP does more for less, and a Negev covers the same close-range job for $3,500 less.

Outside that case the M249 is a fun round rather than a buy. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is worth knowing that is what you are paying for.

M249 vs Other Guns

What the M249 does better, and what it gives up.

The M249 wins on kill speed up close and on ammo, and loses on price, movement and everything past 10 metres. The table below has both machine guns side by side.

vs Negev

The other machine gun, $3,500 cheaper. The M249 kills through armour in four chest hits inside 10 metres, 0.24 seconds, and one-taps a helmeted head over the same distance - the Negev does neither. Past 10 metres the M249 needs five hits, 0.32 seconds, against the Negev's 0.30, which holds out to 90 metres. The Negev has 150 rounds a magazine and 450 in total against 100 and 300, and its spray settles into a straight line after ten bullets, where the M249's keeps spreading. The M249 moves at 195 against 150 and is more accurate standing, 15.7 metres against 12.5. Details in the Negev guide.

vs AK-47

$2,500 cheaper, and the gun most rounds come down to. Up close the M249 is faster - four hits in 0.24 seconds against four in 0.30 - but the AK keeps its four-hit kill and its helmet one-tap out to about 69 metres, where the M249 loses both at 10. The AK moves at 215 against 195, reloads in 2.4 seconds against 5.7, and carries 120 rounds against 300. Details in the AK-47 guide.

vs M4A4 and M4A1-S

$2,300 cheaper. Neither M4 one-taps a helmet at any range. The M4A4 needs five chest hits through armour, 0.36 seconds, out to about 60 metres. The M4A1-S needs four up to about 13 metres, 0.30 seconds, then five in 0.40. The M249 beats both up close and falls behind past 10 metres. The M4s move at 225 and reload in about 3 seconds. Details in the M4A4 and M4A1-S guides.

vs AWP

$450 cheaper, and the other gun people buy when money is not the problem. The AWP kills with one hit anywhere above the legs at any range; the M249 needs four up close and five further out. The AWP pays $100 a kill against $300, carries 15 rounds against 300, and moves at 200, or 100 with the scope up. Details in the AWP guide.

Machine Gun Stats Table

Both machine guns side by side, with the M249 already open.

This is the same table as on the weapons hub, but filtered down to machine guns. The M249 row is open with its damage per hitbox and full stats, and it is already ticked for comparison with the Negev. You can add up to two more guns from the full table on the hub.

Click a column header to sort. The full table with all 36 weapons is on the weapons hub.

Click any weapon for damage per hitbox, full stats and variants.

	Weapon	Type	Price	Kill $	Damage	Armour pen	RPM	Mag	Total ammo	HS kill vs helmet

Stats from the CS2 Weapon Spreadsheet, game build of 18 March 2026. Shotgun damage is per pellet. Headshot ranges are converted from game units at 39.4 units per metre. Zeus and knife values come from the game files rather than the sheet.

M249 Skins & Cases

M249 skins by market listings and price, and where they come from.

Three ways to look at M249 skins. Most listed are the ones with the most offers across the markets I track, in other words the ones currently offered most often. Most expensive are the skins that stay expensive even in their cheapest wear. Cheapest are the ones that stay cheap even in their best wear. Prices update every 15 minutes, and the range on each card runs from the cheapest variant to the most expensive one, wear and StatTrak included.

Consumer Grade

Sage Camo

$0.01 - $0.03

View prices →

Consumer Grade

Submerged

$0.02 - $0.27

View prices →

Consumer Grade

Sleet

$0.01 - $0.03

View prices →

Restricted

Downtown

$0.29 - $1.63

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

O.S.I.P.R.

$0.18 - $1.07

View prices →

Industrial Grade

Gator Mesh

$0.02 - $6.16

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Bock Blocks

$0.05 - $1.02

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Spectre

$0.17 - $0.73

View prices →

All of them, with a price for every wear, are on the M249 skins page.

Cases with M249 skins

Every case that can drop an M249 skin, newest first. The number under each case is how many M249 skins it holds.

Gallery Case2024 · 1 skin

Recoil Case2022 · 1 skin

Snakebite Case2021 · 1 skin

Operation Broken Fang Case2020 · 1 skin

Shattered Web Case2019 · 1 skin

CS20 Case2019 · 1 skin

Spectrum Case2017 · 1 skin

Chroma 3 Case2016 · 1 skin

Shadow Case2015 · 1 skin

Chroma Case2015 · 1 skin

Winter Offensive Weapon Case2013 · 1 skin

M249 skins that never came from a case

Some M249 skins come from map collections, operations, or the Armory instead of cases. Collections marked "souvenir" also come in souvenir packages from Majors.

The 2021 Dust 2 Collection1 skin · souvenir

The 2021 Mirage Collection1 skin · souvenir

The Achroma Collection1 skin

The Alpha Collection1 skin

The Anubis Collection1 skin · souvenir

The Boreal Collection1 skin

The Chop Shop Collection1 skin

The Dead Hand Collection1 skin

The Gods and Monsters Collection1 skin

The Graphic Design Collection1 skin

The Havoc Collection1 skin

The Office Collection1 skin

The Overpass Collection1 skin · souvenir

The Safehouse Collection1 skin · souvenir

The St. Marc Collection1 skin

Browse all CS2 cases and all collections, or check what your own skins are worth with the Inventory Value Calculator.

Common M249 Mistakes

Small habits that cost rounds, and what the numbers say instead.

Reloading after every fight

Since the 18 March 2026 update, a reload throws away whatever is left in the magazine and takes a full one from your reserve. The M249 has two spare magazines of 100, so a reload with 60 rounds still in the gun throws away 60 rounds. With 100 in the magazine, a reload during a round is almost never needed. How this habit caught me out is in the AK-47 guide.

The second reload mistake is reloading when you are not safe. From pressing R to being able to shoot again the M249 needs 5.7 seconds, the longest reload in the game together with the Negev's. Only reload when you are sure nobody can swing on you for almost six seconds.

Holding a long angle with it

The M249's advantages end at about 10 metres: past that the helmet one-tap is gone and an armoured player takes five chest hits instead of four. Its spray also spreads wide after the first dozen bullets. Hold short angles with it, not long ones. The numbers are in Damage & Armour.

Buying it instead of a rifle and utility

At $5,200 the M249 costs $2,500 more than an AK and $2,300 more than an M4. If buying it means a teammate goes without armour or a rifle, the round is worse for it. More in When to Buy.

Treating it as an upgrade over the Negev

It is $3,500 more expensive, and past 10 metres the Negev kills through armour slightly faster, 0.30 seconds against 0.32, with 50 more rounds a magazine and a spray that settles instead of spreading. What the M249 adds is the close-range one-tap and four-hit kill.

Spraying through the whole magazine

The first eleven bullets follow a path you can correct; after that the spray spreads to both sides. Long bursts are suppression, not aim. The spray section shows how it goes.

Shooting on the move

The M249's running inaccuracy is 166.0, and at 195 mobility it is the second slowest gun in the game. A spray on the move goes wide. Stop first: tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.