CS2 M4A1-S rifle displayed in the weapon inventory

M4A1-S Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Damage, spray, silencer on and off, and how it stacks up against the M4A4.

The M4A1-S is the quieter of the two CT rifles. It costs $2,900, the same as the M4A4, and does 38 damage a bullet - more than the M4A4's 33 and even more than the AK's 36. With the silencer on it fires no tracers, so it is harder to tell where the shots are coming from.

The trade-off is a small magazine - 20 rounds, 80 in total - and a 3.475x headshot multiplier instead of 4x. That caps its headshot at 92 damage against a helmet, so it can never one-tap a helmeted opponent. Without a helmet, one bullet to the head kills out to 2,246 units, about 57 metres. This page goes through the numbers with and without the silencer, the spray, when to take it over the M4A4, and the skins and cases.

Last checked

September 2026

Weapon stats checked against CS2 build 1.41.7.6.

M4A1-S at a Glance

The full stat sheet, silencer on and off.

Every number below comes from the game build of 18 March 2026. Two of them define the gun: 38 damage, the most of any CT rifle, and a 3.475x headshot multiplier instead of the usual 4x. The first makes its body shots hit hard, the second is why it never one-taps a helmeted opponent.

Damage and money

Price	$2,900
Kill reward	$300
Side	CT only
Base damage	38
Armour penetration	70%
Headshot multiplier	3.475x
Damage lost at 500 units	6%
Wall penetration	200%
One-tap range, helmet	None (92 damage)
One-tap range, no helmet	2,246 u (about 57 m)

Handling and ammo

Rate of fire	600 RPM
Magazine	20
Reserve	60 (80 total)
Reload	3.07 s (mag in at 1.37 s)
Deploy	1.13 s
Mobility	225 (knife is 250)
Tagging power	60%
Recoil	Set pattern
Console command	`give weapon_m4a1_silencer`

With and without the silencer

	Silencer on	Silencer off
Accurate range, standing	28.2 m	27.7 m
Running inaccuracy	127	98
Tracers	None	Every third round

Damage, price and ammo are the same either way. With the silencer off, the gun is more accurate on the move but slightly less accurate while standing still, and your shots give away where you are. Most players keep it on, so the rest of this page assumes the silencer is on. Even then, 127 on the move is far better than the AK's 182.

M4A1-S 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	132	92.4	1	2
Chest and arms	38	26.6	3	4
Stomach	47.5	33.25	3	4
Legs	28.5	28.5	4	4

The helmet is what hurts the M4A1-S most. A helmeted headshot does 92.4 and needs a second bullet. The stomach is the other near miss: three shots through armour add up to 99.75, a quarter of a point short of a kill, so it takes four.

Why four chest shots only work up close

The M4A1-S loses 6% of its damage for every 500 units of distance, three times as much as the AK. Four armoured chest shots start at 106.4, only 6.4 points over what you need, and that margin runs out at about 500 units, roughly 13 metres. Past that the chest takes five.

Shot	Works up to
Head through a helmet - 2 bullets	4,965 u (about 126 m)
Stomach, no armour - 3 bullets	2,862 u (about 73 m)
Stomach through armour - 4 bullets	2,304 u (about 58 m)
Head, no helmet - 1 bullet	2,247 u (about 57 m)
Chest, no armour - 3 bullets	1,059 u (about 27 m)
Legs - 4 bullets	1,059 u (about 27 m)
Chest through armour - 4 bullets	501 u (about 13 m)

Past each of those distances the count goes up by one. If you want to check it yourself, damage is multiplied by 0.94 for every 500 units of distance, and it drops smoothly in between.

What this means in a fight

Against a helmet the M4A1-S needs two headshots, so the first bullet matters less than the first two. Up close its body damage keeps up with the AK - four chest hits through armour, the same count. At range it falls behind: five chest hits past 13 metres, where the AK still needs four out to 69.

M4A1-S Recoil & Spray

Where twenty bullets go, with and without the silencer.

The M4A1-S fires 600 rounds a minute, one bullet every 100 milliseconds - the same rate as the AK. A full magazine of 20 is gone in about two 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.

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. ×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.

With the silencer

Without the silencer

Both viewers use the same scale, so you can compare them directly. Without the silencer the spray climbs about a third higher and swings about a quarter wider to the sides. The shape is the same, it is just bigger.

The spray, shot by shot

Shots 1-5. Almost straight up. Pull straight down.
Shots 6-7. Still climbing, drifting a little to the right. Keep pulling down and ease slightly to the left.
Shots 8-11. The climb nearly stops and the spray moves to the left, furthest out at shot 10. Pull right.
Shots 12-15. Swings across to the right. Pull left.
Shots 16-20. Stays out on the right and jitters there, furthest at shot 19. Keep holding left.

Without the silencer the phases are the same, only larger, and the climb goes on a few shots longer.

How to actually use it

With 20 rounds there is less spray to learn than on the AK, and the first seven shots are the part worth drilling. After that the spray is moving sideways and the random spread has grown.

Spray control will not make the M4A1-S accurate on the move. Its running inaccuracy with the silencer is 127 - much better than the AK's 182, but still far from standing still. Tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.

As a rule: single taps at long range, short bursts at medium range, and a full spray only up close. With 20 rounds a magazine, a spray you don't need costs you more than it would with an AK.

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 with the silencer offline, on a private server, against my own Logitech G HUB Lua script for the M4A1-S: its mouse path lines up with these 20 shots. I don't recommend using scripts like this in Competitive or Premier. The pattern without the silencer I have not checked the same way.

Sources: CS2 update notes, 21 April 2026

M4A1-S or M4A4

Same price, very different rifles. What a full buy costs and which one to take.

Both M4s cost $2,900 and pay $300 a kill, so money never decides between them. What decides is how you play the round.

What a full CT buy adds up to

Item	Price
M4A1-S	$2,900
Kevlar + helmet	$1,000
Defuse kit	$400
Smoke	$300
Incendiary	$500
Flashbang	$200
Total	$5,300

A CT full buy costs more than a T one: the M4A1-S costs $200 more than an AK, the kit adds $400, and the incendiary costs $100 more than a Molotov - $700 extra in total. Below that, drop grenades first. The armour is the last thing to cut.

The two M4s side by side

	M4A1-S (silencer on)	M4A4
Magazine / total	20 / 80	30 / 150
Damage	38	33
Hits to kill, armoured chest	4 (5 past 13 m)	5
Time to kill, armoured chest, up close	0.30 s	0.36 s
One-tap, no helmet	up to 57 m	up to 116 m
One-tap, helmet	No	No
Rate of fire	600 RPM	666 RPM
Damage lost at 500 units	6%	3%
Running inaccuracy	127	143
Tracers	None	Yes

Up close the M4A1-S kills faster: four hits through armour where the M4A4 needs five. It is also quieter, shows no tracers and is a little easier to use on the move. What it gives up is ammo and range - ten fewer rounds a magazine, 70 fewer in total, and damage that drops off twice as fast as the M4A4's.

So the M4A1-S suits holding an angle and taking one fight at a time. The M4A4 suits rounds where you expect to shoot a lot: retakes, spraying through smoke, holding a site against several players. If you can't decide, look at what you do most on your usual positions.

Picking up an AK

Neither M4 can one-tap a helmeted opponent. The AK can, out to 2,716 units. If a T dies with one on the ground, it is often worth dropping your M4 for it - the AK-47 guide explains why.

M4A1-S vs Other Rifles

What the M4A1-S does better, and what it gives up.

Up close the M4A1-S kills an armoured body in four hits. The M4A4 and FAMAS never do that, and the AUG only manages it inside 5 metres. Add no tracers and the best body damage on the CT side, and you have its case. The table below has all the numbers side by side.

vs M4A4

Same price, same slot in most loadouts, very different rounds. The full comparison is in M4A1-S or M4A4 above, and the rest is in the M4A4 guide.

vs AK-47

The fight the M4A1-S has most often. Up close it is even: four hits through armour for both, 0.30 seconds with every bullet landing. Past about 13 metres the M4A1-S needs a fifth hit, while the AK still needs four out to 69 metres. The bigger gap is the head - the AK one-taps a helmeted opponent, the M4A1-S never does. In return the M4A1-S is far easier to use on the move (127 against 182), hides its tracers and makes less noise. The AK has 30 rounds to its 20 and reloads faster, 2.43 seconds against 3.07. More in the AK-47 guide.

vs FAMAS

The FAMAS is $950 cheaper and has the lowest running inaccuracy of any rifle, 107.5. What it lacks is damage: 30 a bullet means five hits through armour, and six past about 15 metres. It is the rifle for a force buy or a round when money is short. When you can afford the M4A1-S, the difference in time to kill is worth it. Details in the FAMAS guide.

vs AUG

The AUG costs $400 more and has a scope, with 90% armour penetration. Scoped, its accurate range goes up to 38 metres, and for holding a long angle that matters more than anything else in this comparison. But its four-hit kill through armour and its helmet one-tap both stop at about 5 metres, it reloads in 3.77 seconds, the slowest of all rifles, and scoped you move at 150. For close and medium range the M4A1-S is the better gun. Details in the AUG guide.

The Galil AR and SG 553 are T-side only, and their guides compare them with the AK: Galil AR and SG 553.

Rifle Stats Table

All seven rifles side by side, with the M4A1-S already open.

This is the same table as on the weapons hub, but filtered down to rifles. The M4A1-S row is open with its damage per hitbox and full stats, and it is already ticked for comparison with the M4A4, AK-47 and FAMAS. Untick any of them, or tick the Galil AR, AUG or SG 553 instead - up to four at a time.

One thing to know: like the source sheet, the table lists the M4A1-S without the silencer. The silenced numbers are in its card under variants, and in At a Glance above. 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.

M4A1-S Skins & Cases

M4A1-S skins by market listings and price, and where they come from.

Three ways to look at M4A1-S 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.

Industrial Grade

Wash me plz

$0.06 - $1.05

View prices →

Restricted

Night Terror

$0.47 - $3.40

View prices →

Classified

Black Lotus

$3.19 - $27.84

View prices →

Restricted

Emphorosaur-S

$0.37 - $4.68

View prices →

Classified

Solitude

$0.99 - $99.90

View prices →

Industrial Grade

Mud-Spec

$0.27 - $3.75

View prices →

Industrial Grade

Boreal Forest

$0.07 - $7.35

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

VariCamo

$0.18 - $20.00

View prices →

All of them, with a price for every wear, are on the M4A1-S skins page.

Cases with M4A1-S skins

Every case that can drop an M4A1-S skin, newest first. The number under each case is how many M4A1-S skins it holds.

M4A1-S skins that never came from a case

Some M4A1-S skins come from map collections, operations, or the Armory instead of cases. Collections marked "souvenir" also come in souvenir packages from Majors.

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

Common M4A1-S 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. With the M4A1-S that hurts more than with any other rifle: 20 rounds a magazine and only three spare. Reload with 12 rounds left and you have thrown away more than half a magazine. 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 M4A1-S needs 3.07 seconds, longer than the AK's 2.43. Only reload when you are sure nobody can swing on you for more than three seconds.

Taking the silencer off by accident

Right click on the M4A1-S removes the silencer. Hit it out of habit and you get tracers that show where you are, louder shots and a bigger spray - about a third higher, as the spray section shows. If you catch yourself doing it, put the silencer back on as soon as you are out of the fight.

Waiting for a one-tap

A helmeted headshot does 92.4 damage, so the M4A1-S never kills with one bullet to a helmeted head. A helmeted opponent needs two headshots, or one headshot followed by a few body shots. Short bursts at head height work better than single taps that wait for a kill that does not come.

Spraying at range

The M4A1-S loses 6% of its damage every 500 units, three times as much as the AK. Past about 13 metres it needs five chest hits through armour instead of four, and a long spray also burns through a 20-round magazine fast. At range, tap or burst, as in the spray section.

Shooting on the move

With the silencer the running inaccuracy is 127. That is far better than the AK's 182, but a spray on the move still goes wide. Stop first: tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.

Spraying through smoke

20 rounds a magazine gives the M4A1-S less sustained fire through smoke than the M4A4 or the AK. If holding a smoke is your job this round, the M4A4 is the better pick, as covered in M4A1-S or M4A4.