CS2 M4A4 rifle displayed in the weapon inventory

M4A4 Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Damage, spray, price history, and when it beats the M4A1-S.

The M4A4 is the CT rifle built for volume. It costs $2,900, holds 30 rounds with 150 in total - the most of any CT rifle - and fires 666 rounds a minute, faster than the AK or the M4A1-S. It also loses only 3% of its damage every 500 units, so its bullets hold up at range.

The trade-off is damage: 33 a bullet, the lowest of the three main rifles. A helmeted headshot does 92.4, so it can never one-tap a helmeted opponent, and through armour it needs five body shots where the AK needs four. Without a helmet, one bullet to the head kills out to 4,557 units, about 116 metres. This page goes through the numbers, the spray, how Valve changed its price, and the skins and cases.

Last checked

September 2026

Weapon stats checked against CS2 build 1.41.7.6.

M4A4 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 M4A4: 30 rounds a magazine with 150 in total, and a 3% damage drop every 500 units. The first lets it keep shooting when other rifles reload, the second keeps its bullets strong at range. What it lacks is damage - 33 a bullet, which is why it never one-taps a helmeted opponent.

Damage and money

Price	$2,900
Kill reward	$300
Side	CT only
Base damage	33
Armour penetration	70%
Headshot multiplier	4x
Damage lost at 500 units	3%
Wall penetration	200%
One-tap range, helmet	None (92 damage)
One-tap range, no helmet	4,557 u (about 116 m)

Handling and ammo

Rate of fire	666 RPM
Magazine	30
Reserve	120 (150 total)
Reload	3.07 s (mag in at 1.37 s)
Deploy	1.13 s
Mobility	225 (knife is 250)
Tagging power	60%
Accurate range, standing	27.7 m
Running inaccuracy	143
Recoil	Set pattern
Console command	`give weapon_m4a1`

On the move it sits in the middle: 143 is better than the AK's 182 but worse than the M4A1-S's 127 with the silencer. Like every rifle, it needs you to stop before you shoot.

M4A4 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	33	23.1	4	5
Stomach	41.25	28.9	3	4
Legs	24.75	24.75	5	5

Two numbers here miss by a single point. Three chest shots on an unarmoured player add up to 99, and four leg shots to 99 as well, so each needs one more bullet. That is how close 33 damage sits to the line.

Where the M4A4 holds up

The M4A4 loses only 3% of its damage for every 500 units of distance. Because of that, its bullet counts stay the same much further out than the M4A1-S's:

Shot	Works up to
Head through a helmet - 2 bullets	10,081 u (about 256 m)
Head, no helmet - 1 bullet	4,557 u (about 116 m)
Chest, no armour - 4 bullets	4,557 u (about 116 m)
Stomach, no armour - 3 bullets	3,498 u (about 89 m)
Legs - 5 bullets	3,498 u (about 89 m)
Chest through armour - 5 bullets	2,365 u (about 60 m)
Stomach through armour - 4 bullets	2,365 u (about 60 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.

What this means in a fight

Up close the M4A4 is the slowest killer of the three main rifles: five chest hits through armour, 0.36 seconds with every bullet landing, against 0.30 for the AK and the M4A1-S. Its fire rate makes up part of that - 666 rounds a minute, one bullet every 90 ms. At range the picture changes. Past about 13 metres the M4A1-S also needs five, and the M4A4 keeps its five out to 60 metres with 30 rounds in the magazine.

M4A4 Recoil & Spray

Where thirty bullets go, and how to pull them back.

The M4A4 fires 666 rounds a minute, one bullet every 90 milliseconds - a bit faster than the AK or the M4A1-S. A full magazine of 30 is gone in about 2.6 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. 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 1-5. 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 8-10. The climb slows and the spray moves left, furthest out at shot 10. Pull right.
Shots 11-19. A long swing to the right, furthest out at shot 19. Pull left.
Shots 20-23. Back to the left. Pull right.
Shots 24-30. Settles just left of where you aimed and barely climbs. Small corrections only.

From shot 9 on, the spray hardly goes higher. Everything after that is side to side.

How to actually use it

The first ten shots are the part worth drilling. With 30 rounds and 150 in total, though, the M4A4 is the CT rifle that can afford a longer spray - through smoke, or when more than one player comes through.

Spray control will not make the M4A4 accurate on the move. Its running inaccuracy is 143, 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 up close or when you need to keep a doorway covered.

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 M4A4: its mouse path lines up with these 30 shots. I don't recommend using scripts like this in Competitive or Premier.

Sources: CS2 update notes, 21 April 2026

M4A4 or M4A1-S

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
M4A4	$2,900
Kevlar + helmet	$1,000
Defuse kit	$400
Smoke	$300
Incendiary	$500
Flashbang	$200
Total	$5,300

Below that, drop grenades first. The armour is the last thing to cut.

The two M4s side by side

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

The M4A4 wins on ammo and range: ten more rounds a magazine, 70 more in total, and damage that drops off half as fast. The M4A1-S wins up close — four hits through armour instead of five — and is quieter and shows no tracers.

So the M4A4 suits rounds where you expect to shoot a lot: retakes, spraying through smoke, holding a site against several players. The M4A1-S suits holding an angle and taking one fight at a time. You can also keep both in your loadout and pick per round. More on the other M4 in the M4A1-S guide.

What Valve changed in its price

The M4A4 is the only rifle that got cheaper twice in a row. In May 2024 its price went from $3,100 to $3,000, and in January 2025 down to $2,900 - the same as the M4A1-S. Before that, taking the M4A4 cost you $200 more on every buy. Its damage and ammo did not change. The rest of Valve's weapon changes are on the weapons hub.

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.

M4A4 vs Other Rifles

What the M4A4 does better, and what it gives up.

The M4A4 is never the fastest killer up close. What it has is volume and consistency: 30 rounds, the joint-fastest fire rate among CT rifles, tied with the FAMAS, and damage that barely drops with distance. The table below has all the numbers side by side.

vs AK-47

The AK is the rifle the M4A4 faces most often, and it is ahead where it matters most. It one-taps a helmeted opponent out to 69 metres, the M4A4 never does, and through armour it needs four body shots to the M4A4's five - 0.30 seconds against 0.36. The M4A4 is easier to use on the move (143 against 182) and carries 150 rounds to the AK's 120. The AK is $200 cheaper and reloads faster, 2.43 seconds against 3.07. More in the AK-47 guide.

vs M4A1-S

Same price, and you can keep both in your loadout. The full comparison is in M4A4 or M4A1-S above, and the rest is in the M4A1-S guide.

vs FAMAS

Up close the FAMAS is closer to the M4A4 than its price suggests. Both fire 666 rounds a minute and both need five hits through armour, so the time to kill is the same, 0.36 seconds. The difference shows at range: the FAMAS loses 4% every 500 units and needs a sixth hit past about 15 metres, while the M4A4 keeps its five out to 60. The FAMAS also has 25 rounds a magazine instead of 30. For $950 less it is the natural force buy. Details in the FAMAS guide.

vs AUG

The AUG costs $400 more and has a scope and 90% armour penetration. Scoped, its accurate range goes up to 38 metres. But its four-hit kill through armour stops at about 5 metres, after that it needs five like the M4A4, and at 600 rounds a minute it takes longer to land them - 0.40 seconds against 0.36. It also reloads in 3.77 seconds, and scoped you move at 150. For a long angle the AUG is better, for anything else the M4A4. 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 M4A4 already open.

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

Click a column header to sort. The M4A1-S is listed without the silencer, like in the source sheet. 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.

M4A4 Skins & Cases

M4A4 skins by market listings and price, and where they come from.

Three ways to look at M4A4 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.

Mil-Spec Grade

Choppa

$0.05 - $2.89

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Poly Mag

$0.06 - $1.50

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Restricted

Etch Lord

$0.24 - $5.77

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Mil-Spec Grade

Magnesium

$0.19 - $9.74

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Industrial Grade

Steel Work

$0.02 - $16.00

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Classified

Tooth Fairy

$2.87 - $15.98

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Industrial Grade

Urban DDPAT

$0.09 - $80.00

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Industrial Grade

Mainframe

$0.02 - $1.19

View prices →

All of them, with a price for every wear, are on the M4A4 skins page.

Cases with M4A4 skins

Every case that can drop an M4A4 skin, newest first. The number under each case is how many M4A4 skins it holds.

M4A4 skins that never came from a case

Some M4A4 skins come from map collections, operations, or the Armory instead of cases. Collections marked "souvenir" also come in souvenir packages from Majors.