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Overview


The SSG 08 bolt-action is a low-damage but very cost-effective sniper rifle, making it a smart choice for early-round long-range marksmanship.
―Official description

The SSG 08 is a bolt-action sniper rifle in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive & Counter-Strike 2, replacing the Schmidt Scout from the previous games.

The SSG 08 is commonly nicknamed Scout due to its heavy physical resemblance to its predecessor.

Overview[]

The Steyr SSG 08 (German: Scharfschützengewehr 2008, English: Sniper Rifle 08) is an Austrian-made bolt-action sniper rifle. In-game, the SSG 08 is a cheap sniper rifle option available to both teams at $1700, fulfilling the same role as the Steyr Scout in previous games. It holds 10 rounds per magazine and has a very large reserve capacity at 90 rounds.

Being bolt-action, the SSG 08 has a very low rate of fire, though a little faster than the AWP. It also has a long reload time like the AWP. It has good bullet penetration power. Like the Scout, the weapon is lightweight for a sniper rifle, but players will not gain a speed bonus with SSG 08 out and will have a speed of 230 units per second.

As a sniper rifle, the weapon is equipped with a high power lens scope for long range engagement. When not scoped in, the rifle is inaccurate (though better than the AWP) and has no crosshair to assist aiming. The scope can be used with secondary fire, and pressing secondary fire again while scoped in zooms in the scope. Unlike other sniper rifles, the player's movement speed is not reduced while scoped in.

Firing the weapon causes the player to leave the scope temporarily to operate the bolt before automatically scoping in again. The player will leave the scope if they use secondary fire again at the higher zoom setting or switches weapons.

When zoomed in and not moving, the rifle has a near-perfect accuracy, able to hit anything as long as the crosshair of the scope is on target. Moving drastically reduces accuracy, and even more so with jumping. However, one notable aspect of the SSG 08 is that it is very accurate at the peak of a vertical jump. It is the only weapon in the entire Counter-Strike series to be able to perfectly retain its hipfire accuracy at the peak of a jump.

Like its predecessor, the SSG 08 will always deliver instant headshot kills, but is unable to achieve an instant bodyshot kill unlike the AWP. However, unlike the Scout, the SSG 08 can kill unarmored targets at full health with a shot to the gut. Due to the unusual location of the hitbox location however, this is a difficult task to achieve.

Overall, the SSG 08 is a serviceable sniper rifle option for the team sniper in early rounds and eco rounds, usually replaced by the AWP when the economy is favorable.

The SSG 08 is the one of the only weapon available in the Flying Scoutsman game mode along with the Knife. In the said game mode, the SSG 08 has no midair accuracy penalties, allowing to shoot enemies in midair with the reduced gravity.

Properties[]

Hitbox Primary Attack
Unarmored Armored
Head 352 299
Chest & Arm 88 74
Stomach and Pelvis 110 93
Leg 66 66
Red signifies a fatal hit.
Movement speed in hammer units per second
Running 230
Walking 120
Crouch walking 78
Running while scoped 230
Walking while scoped 120
Crouched walking while scoped 78

Update History

July 1, 2014
  • Reduced price to $1700
  • Increased Accurate Range slightly
August 22, 2013
  • Reduced price from 2500 to 2000.
  • Reduced standing and crouching accuracy recovery times.

Tactics[]

  • Due to its cheap price, the SSG 08 is a good choice for eco rounds.
  • Switching to another weapon and then back, although not speeding up the fire rate, allows the player to get their sidearms ready early if they wish to fire at closer targets, and prevents the automatic re-scoping in that can throw off the player's field of view.
  • Strafing is essential when wielding this rifle. It is recommended to take cover when chambering a round in the rifle after firing a shot.
  • Scoring headshots is easier with this weapon due to its scope and accuracy (not comparable to the AWP). Be warned though that this is harder to implement once enemies are aware you are armed with this rifle, especially when engaging targets.
  • In competitive mode, players sometimes may not buy armor, especially when they are playing eco. You can aim for the stomach of enemies If targets are not wearing armor, as it will kill them instantly. If they do have armor, it will require another shot to kill them.
  • Carry a dependable sidearm for close-quarter engagements, any pistol that suits you will do fine. If the player hits a target but the enemy was not killed, a single shot from any moderate damage pistol is sufficient to eliminate him at close range. Usually, the Desert Eagle and CZ75-Auto are sufficient, although a P250 and Tec-9 can work as well.
    • It is also recommended to carry an HE Grenade to finish off an enemy after connecting with a shot from long distances.
  • Avoid engaging groups of enemies. The SSG 08 does not provide enough firepower to counter more than two players, even when they are ranged. You can take one or two out first before vacating from a firing position if they are far enough.
  • Standing still and jumping while scoped gives you a 100% accuracy at the peak of your jump. Use this to kill enemies from behind tall cover (e.g. Outside on Nuke)
  • Like its predecessor, the SSG 08 has good penetration abilities, it's possible to get double or even triple kills if a shot connects. If enemy targets are lined up, there is a good chance of scoring multi-kills if landing headshots on some or all targets. And like other high caliber weapons, though difficult, but possible to kill via wall-bang tactic.

Achievements[]

Weapon Specialist
SSG 08 Expert csgo SSG 08 Expert
Kill 100 enemies with the SSG 08
Combat Skills
Snipe Hunter csgo Snipe Hunter
Kill 100 zoomed-in enemy snipers
Eye to Eye csgo Eye to Eye
Kill a zoomed-in enemy sniper with a sniper rifle of your own
Hip Shot csgo Hip Shot
Kill an enemy with an un-zoomed sniper rifle.
Csgo award HIP SHOT GUN GAME [Unknown Achievement Name]
Kill an enemy with an un-zoomed sniper rifle in Arms Race or Demolition.
This achievement was never released.

Bugs[]

  • Before the Operation Vanguard update, the SSG 08 had no bonus awarded in Deathmatch mode unlike most of the other weapons. Furthermore, this sniper rifle was not automatically given when the "give random weapons on spawn" was enabled, but has since been fixed.

Behind The Scenes[]

  • Through the development of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the SSG 08 has changed its default skin 3 times:
    • In the Alpha and very early Beta versions, the SSG 08 had a flat grey color with a silver scope similar to its predecessor, the Schmidt Scout.
    • In the Beta as part of the May 25th update, the SSG 08 was fully remodeled and included a black body with a new scope texture.
    • While still in the Beta as part of the August 10th 2012 update, the black color was changed to a grey camouflage, bringing it back to bearing a slight resemblance to the Scout.
  • According to the Item schema, the SSG 08 reuses its muzzle flash from Left 4 Dead's Hunting Rifle.

Trivia[]

2015-09-29 00002

Note the gap between the weapon and the thumb. The angle of viewmodel is changed to make the effect more visible.

  • The SSG 08's animations are identical to the AWP. Originally however, the animations were different.
  • Due to reusing animations made for the larger AWP, the thumb of the player isn't actually in contact with the weapon.
  • To fire all bullets of the SSG 08 (10 in the magazine, 90 spare), it will take 117 seconds of continuous fire, making it possible to run out of ammunition in a competitive round, but highly unlikely.
  • In real life, the SSG 08 chambered for 7.62 NATO is not available. There are variants of SSG 08 for .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum, and .338 Lapua Magnum.
    • The in game variant seems to be modeled after .308 Winchester variant, because 7.62 NATO and .308 Winchester has similar dimension, albeit .308 Winchester has higher pressure and smaller headspace, which is possible for firing 7.62 cartridge in .308 rifle by changing the chamber headspace. 
  • Compared to the Schmidt Scout, the SSG 08 is $1050 cheaper, making it the largest price difference between a CS:GO weapon and its predecessor.
  • In the Alpha version, the SSG-08 uses the AWP sound.
  • The glass texture of its scope is missing.

External links[]

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