CS2 MAG-7 shotgun displayed in the weapon inventory

MAG-7 Guide for Counter-Strike 2

Damage per pellet, range, the $900 kill reward, and the fastest reload of any shotgun.

The MAG-7 is the CT side's shotgun: $1,300, $900 a kill, and eight pellets at 30 damage with 75% armour penetration. Point blank, five of those eight pellets kill an armoured opponent and four kill without armour. It also reloads a whole magazine in 2.47 seconds, faster than any other shotgun, and moves at 225, faster than any other shotgun too.

The trade-off is range and ammo. The MAG-7 loses 55% of its damage for every 500 units - the steepest drop in the game together with the Sawed-Off - so the five-pellet kill through armour works only within about 2 metres. The magazine holds 5 shells and the reserve 15, the least of any shotgun by a wide margin. This page goes through the numbers, the spread, when to buy it, and the skins and cases.

Last checked

September 2026

Weapon stats checked against CS2 build 1.41.7.6.

MAG-7 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 MAG-7: a 2.47-second reload and a 55% damage drop per 500 units. No shotgun gets back into the fight faster, and none except the Sawed-Off loses its damage as quickly. What that combination means is a gun for one corner, reloaded between fights rather than during them.

Damage and money

Price	$1,300
Kill reward	$900
Side	CT only
Damage per pellet	30
Pellets per shot	8 (240 max)
Armour penetration	75%
Headshot multiplier	4x
Damage lost at 500 units	55%
Wall penetration	100%
One-pellet headshot, no helmet	114 u (about 2.9 m)

Handling and ammo

Rate of fire	71 RPM (one shot every 0.85 s)
Magazine	5
Reserve	15 (20 total)
Reload	2.47 s for the magazine
Deploy	1.00 s
Mobility	225 (knife is 250)
Tagging power	60%
Accurate range, standing	3.2 m
Running inaccuracy	63.0
Recoil	No set pattern
Console command	`give weapon_mag7`

The MAG-7 is the only shotgun that reloads as a magazine rather than shell by shell, which is why 2.47 seconds replaces all five shells at once. Its running inaccuracy, 63.0, is the lowest of the four, and at 225 it moves fastest. What it pays for that is ammo: 20 rounds for the whole round, four magazines in total.

MAG-7 Damage & Armour

What one pellet does, and how many have to land.

Shotguns work differently from every other gun on this site. One trigger pull sends eight pellets, each with its own damage, and the question is not how many shots it takes but how many pellets land. Everything here assumes a full-health player at point-blank range. Armour means kevlar on the body and a helmet on the head. The general rules are on the weapons hub.

Damage per pellet

Hitbox	No armour	Armour	Pellets to kill, no armour	Pellets to kill, armour
Head	120	90	1	2
Chest and arms	30	22.5	4	5
Stomach	37.5	28.1	3	4
Legs	22.5	22.5	5	5

Five of eight pellets in the chest kill an armoured player, four kill without armour, and a single pellet to an unhelmeted head is enough. Those are the friendliest counts of any shotgun - the Nova needs eight of nine through armour, and the XM1014 cannot get there at all.

Where the MAG-7 drops off

The catch is distance. The MAG-7 loses 55% of its damage for every 500 units, nearly twice what the Nova loses:

Distance	Damage per pellet	Chest pellets to kill, no armour	Chest pellets to kill, armour
Point blank	30	4	5
39 u (1 m)	28.2	4	5
79 u (2 m)	26.5	4	6
118 u (3 m)	24.9	5	6
197 u (5 m)	22.0	5	7
394 u (10 m)	16.1	7	impossible

Damage is multiplied by 0.45 for every 500 units of distance, and it drops smoothly in between. Past about 290 units - 7.4 metres - all eight pellets through armour add up to less than 100, so a single shot can no longer kill an armoured player however well it lands.

What this means in a fight

Inside a couple of metres the MAG-7 is a one-shot gun against anyone. By 3 metres it needs six of eight pellets through armour, and past 7.4 metres one shot stops being enough at all. With 0.85 seconds between shots, a missed first shot is a long wait - but the head is worth aiming at: one pellet kills an unhelmeted opponent out to 2.9 metres, and two kill through a helmet.

MAG-7 Pellets & Spread

Two metres of full power, and a reload that gets you back fast.

There is no spray pattern to learn here. Each shot throws eight pellets in a spread that has no set shape, and the gun fires once every 0.85 seconds - too slow for recoil to stack up. What decides the fight is how close you are when you pull the trigger.

Where the power actually is

The MAG-7 is accurate to 3.2 metres standing, but its damage falls faster than its accuracy: five pellets kill through armour only within about 2 metres, six within 4.5, and past 7.4 metres one shot cannot kill an armoured player at all (see Damage & Armour). Treat it as a two-metre gun that still works at three.

The reload is the point

All five shells go back in as one magazine in 2.47 seconds. The other shotguns load shell by shell and take 4.2 to 4.7 seconds for a full tube. That is close to two seconds of difference every time you empty the gun, and it is the main reason to pick the MAG-7 over the Nova for a spot you plan to hold through several fights.

Five shells, twenty rounds

Five shots a magazine and 20 for the whole round is the tightest ammo of any shotgun. At two shots a fight that is roughly two fights per magazine and eight per round, so shots taken at range are shots missing later.

Moving and stopping

Running inaccuracy is 63.0, the lowest of the four shotguns, and at 225 mobility the MAG-7 is the fastest of them to carry. It still pays to stop: tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.

When to Buy the MAG-7

What the $900 kill reward is worth, and when $1,300 beats an MP9.

The MAG-7 is an anti-eco and force-buy gun for the CT side. Its case is the same as the Nova's - $900 a kill - with a faster reload and a shorter killing range.

The $900 kill reward

Every kill pays $900, three times a rifle's $300 and half again what an SMG pays. Two kills pay $1,800, which covers the gun and leaves money towards a rifle next round. Against a saving team that is the fastest way to rebuild.

What a buy adds up to

Item	Price
MAG-7	$1,300
Kevlar + helmet	$1,000
Smoke	$300
Flashbang	$200
Total	$2,800

The same round with an MP9 costs $2,750, with a Nova $2,550 and with a FAMAS $2,950. All four are within $400 of each other, so the choice is about the gun, not the money.

MAG-7 or MP9

Against players with no armour the MAG-7 kills with one shot and pays $900 against the MP9's $600. The MP9 is accurate to 15.9 metres where the MAG-7 is a two-metre gun, and it carries 90 rounds against 20. Hold a close corner with the MAG-7; cover anything longer with the MP9.

MAG-7 or Nova

The Nova is $250 cheaper and pays the same $900. It has nine pellets to the MAG-7's eight, but only 50% armour penetration: eight of nine pellets to kill through kevlar against five of eight. The Nova holds its damage better at range - 30% lost per 500 units against 55% - and carries 40 rounds against 20. The MAG-7 reloads in 2.47 seconds against 4.74 and moves at 225 against 220.

Against a full buy

Past 7.4 metres a single MAG-7 shot cannot kill an armoured player. Against rifles it works from a corner at point-blank range, not as a gun you trade with across a site.

MAG-7 vs Other Shotguns

What the MAG-7 does better, and what it gives up.

All four shotguns are close-range guns with a big kill reward. The MAG-7 is the one built for a spot you hold through several fights: the friendliest pellet counts, the fastest reload, and the shortest useful range. The table below has all four side by side.

vs Nova

$250 cheaper and available to both sides. How the two compare on pellets, range and reload is in When to Buy above. Details in the Nova guide.

vs Sawed-Off

The T side's equivalent, $200 cheaper. Same eight pellets, same 75% armour penetration, same 55% damage drop and the same five-pellet kill through kevlar - the guns are near twins on damage. Where they differ is handling: the MAG-7 reloads in 2.47 seconds against 4.22, moves at 225 against 210, and is accurate to 3.2 metres against 2.2. The Sawed-Off hits harder per pellet, 32 against 30, and carries 39 rounds against 20. Details in the Sawed-Off guide.

vs XM1014

$700 more and available to both sides. It fires six pellets at 20 damage every 0.35 seconds, against the MAG-7's eight at 30 every 0.85. Six pellets through kevlar add up to 96, so the XM1014 never kills an armoured player with one shot, where the MAG-7 does it with five pellets up close. It pays $600 a kill against $900 and holds its damage better at range, 30% lost per 500 units against 55%. Details in the XM1014 guide.

vs the cheap SMGs

How the MAG-7 compares with the MP9 on money and range is in When to Buy above. The MAC-10 is the T side's version of that comparison. More in the MP9 and MAC-10 guides.

Shotgun Stats Table

All four shotguns side by side, with the MAG-7 already open.

This is the same table as on the weapons hub, but filtered down to shotguns. The MAG-7 row is open with its damage per hitbox and full stats, and it is already ticked for comparison with the Nova, Sawed-Off and XM1014 - all four at once.

Click a column header to sort. Damage in the table is per pellet, so multiply by the pellet count for the whole shot. 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.

MAG-7 Skins & Cases

MAG-7 skins by market listings and price, and where they come from.

Three ways to look at MAG-7 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

Rust Coat

$0.01 - $0.36

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Insomnia

$0.05 - $0.73

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Foresight

$0.05 - $0.22

View prices →

Consumer Grade

Copper Oxide

$0.01 - $0.03

View prices →

Mil-Spec Grade

Resupply

$0.05 - $0.65

View prices →

Consumer Grade

Navy Sheen

$0.02 - $0.27

View prices →

Restricted

Monster Call

$0.29 - $4.59

View prices →

Industrial Grade

Wildwood

$0.03 - $0.12

View prices →

All of them, with a price for every wear, are on the MAG-7 skins page.

Cases with MAG-7 skins

Every case that can drop a MAG-7 skin, newest first. The number under each case is how many MAG-7 skins it holds.

Fever Case2025 · 1 skin

Revolution Case2023 · 1 skin

Dreams & Nightmares Case2022 · 1 skin

Operation Riptide Case2021 · 1 skin

Fracture Case2020 · 1 skin

Prisma 2 Case2020 · 1 skin

CS20 Case2019 · 1 skin

Clutch Case2018 · 1 skin

Operation Hydra Case2017 · 1 skin

Glove Case2016 · 1 skin

Gamma 2 Case2016 · 1 skin

Operation Wildfire Case2016 · 1 skin

Shadow Case2015 · 1 skin

Chroma 2 Case2015 · 1 skin

Operation Vanguard Weapon Case2014 · 1 skin

Operation Phoenix Weapon Case2014 · 1 skin

eSports 2013 Case2013 · 1 skin

MAG-7 skins that never came from a case

Some MAG-7 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 MAG-7 Mistakes

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

Shooting from too far

The MAG-7 loses 55% of its damage every 500 units. Five pellets kill through kevlar only within about 2 metres, and past 7.4 metres a single shot cannot kill an armoured player at all. With 20 rounds for the round, a shot across a site is ammo you will want later. The numbers are in Damage & Armour.

Treating five shells as enough

A magazine is five shots, and a fight often takes two. The reload is fast - 2.47 seconds for all five - so top up after every fight instead of walking into the next one with two shells left.

Aiming at the body up close

One pellet to an unhelmeted head kills out to 2.9 metres, and two kill through a helmet. At chest height it takes four pellets without armour and five with it. At shotgun range the head is a big target.

Buying it against a full buy

Against rifles and armour the MAG-7 works from a corner at point-blank range, not as a gun you hold an open site with. More in When to Buy.

Chasing kills with it

It moves at 225, the fastest of the shotguns, which makes pushing tempting. But with 0.85 seconds between shots and a two-metre killing range, open space gives the other team the fight they want. The MAG-7 earns most when the opponent comes to you.

Shooting on the move

Running inaccuracy is 63.0, the lowest of the four shotguns, but it still widens a wide spread. Stop first: tapping the opposite movement key - counter-strafing - brings you to a stop faster than just letting go of the key.

More Close-Range Guns

The other three shotguns, plus the two cheap SMGs that do a similar job.

// T · $1,100 · T counterpart

Sawed-Off

The classic Sawed-Off deals very heavy close-range damage, but with its low accuracy, high spread and slow rate of fire, you'd better kill what you hit.

Read the guide →