“The CT-exclusive Mag-7 delivers a devastating amount of damage at close range. Its rapid magazine-style reloads make it a great tactical choice.”
―Official description
The MAG-7 is a pump-action shotgun featured in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive & Counter-Strike 2, exclusive to the Counter-Terrorists. The counterpart of this weapon is the Terrorists' Sawed-Off.
Overview[]
The MAG-7 is a South African shotgun manufactured by Techno Arms PTY since 1995. It is unique for having a relatively compact shape for a shotgun and fires a specialized 60mm 12 gauge shell, which is rather uncommonly produced. In real life, the weapon is quite infamously ineffective and unreliable; ergonomics are poor, the trigger pressure needed can be a staggering 7.7 kg (later reduced to 3.5 kg), and the specially designed chamber for 60mm 12 gauge shells meant that standard 70mm 12 gauge shells are a poor fit. Newer models rectified many of the issues, but the infamy remained.
In-game, the MAG-7 is a very cost-effective and high-damaging CT-exclusive shotgun. It inflicts very high damage at close range, able to kill instantly to any bodypart as long as all pellets hit, and has better armor penetration than the Nova, so not as many shots need to land to instantly kill even if the enemies are armored. It is somewhat more accurate than the other shotguns, with a good accuracy even while jumping and moving, but damage dropoff is more significant. It is also the lightest shotgun in Global Offensive, though still very slow compared to many other weapons.
Being a pump-action shotgun, it has a very low rate of fire, and has the lowest magazine capacity out of all shotguns, meaning that it is more suitable for an ambushing playstyle instead of direct combat, where the player can create a close-range engagement against one enemy player and guarantee a kill. Like other shotguns, surface penetration power is low. In addition, the pellets will actually disappear at around 1408 hammer units further restricting its range potential.
The MAG-7 uniquely has a detachable magazine instead of a fixed magazine like on other shotguns. Whereas other shotguns require individual shells to be loaded through the loading gate, the MAG-7 can replace its magazine entirely in one go, giving it a fast general reload time and fastest reload time when compared to emptied shotguns. It also means that it cannot perform reload cancel and fire mid-reload like other shotguns. It holds 5 shells per magazine and has carries 32 shells in reserve.
Like other shotguns, it has a 3× kill award ($900 in Competitive) for neutralizing an enemy target. Combined with its relatively low cost and high power, the MAG-7 is a good eco round weapon for killing an enemy, claiming $900 and picking up their weapons.
Properties[]
| Hitbox | Primary Attack | |
|---|---|---|
| Unarmored | Armored | |
| Head | 120 | 90 |
| Chest & Arm | 30 | 22 |
| Abdomen & pelvis | 37 | 28 |
| Leg | 22 | 22 |
| Each shot contains 8 pellets. | ||
Tactics[]
- The MAG-7 is simple to use and an extremely powerful anti-eco weapon thanks to its $900 kill reward. Take short angles for the best value and swap it for stronger weapons if you survive the round.
- Since it's magazine-fed and can't load shots individually, be extremely cautious when topping off or extending into contestable areas.
- As one of the short-range shotguns, avoid engaging groups if you cannot secure the angle advantage or a position to get the drop on your target. The MAG-7 has a clustered spread that tends upwards slightly to the right, so aim for the top of the chest rather than the head outside very close range.
- A key strength to the MAG-7 is its very high jumping accuracy. Timing your shot around a corner right before you begin falling, where its spread is tightest will typically catch enemies holding short-range choke-points off-guard. Some of the best spots for example to use its jump accuracy are dumpster in front of cat or elevator by A site on Dust 2 and B apps on Mirage.
Update History
- February 8, 2018
-
- Enabled shotgun spread patterns on official matchmaking servers as described in https://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/holiday-spread/
- July 1, 2014
-
- Penetration Power increased
- Pellets reduced to 8
- Individual pellet damage increased to 30
- Reduced maximum range slightly
- May 8, 2013
-
- Reduced cost to $1800.
- May 1, 2013
-
- Increased cycletime. Increased cost.
- October 1, 2012
-
- Reduced all shotguns' price by $300.
Achievement[]
- Weapon Specialist
|
MAG-7 Expert Kill 50 enemies with the MAG-7. |
Trivia[]
- A common fan term for the MAG-7 is "SWAG-7" because of its greater power compared to the other shotguns.
- The respective skin of the same name from the Clutch Case also serves to reference the popular fan term.
External links[]
- MAG-7 at Wikipedia.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
