AK-47 | Case Hardened (Factory New)

The AK-47 | Case Hardened in Factory New (FN) has its temper colors untouched and no scuffing on any edge. Floats run from 0.00 to 0.07. It is a Classified skin in the Arms Deal Collection, sourced from the CS:GO Weapon Case. Wear is not the only thing that sets the price: the blue patches fall differently on every copy.

What the AK-47 | Case Hardened looks like in Factory New

The color sits on the metal only. The top cover runs from brassy gold at the front to deep blue-violet at the rear. The side of the receiver is brass-olive, with blue-violet patches and rust-orange flecks across it. The magazine carries more blue than any other part, with gold streaks along its upper edge. The gas tube is brass and the front sight is blue. The handguard, stock and grip are rust-brown wood, which takes no part in the paint.

In Factory New the temper is even along the whole length and no edge lightens. It is a surface layer. In the lower wears the cover edge, the facets of the side and the raised bits around the rivets go first. Here they are all intact, and the blue fields give the richest tone the finish can have.

Where the AK-47 | Case Hardened came from

This is an in-house finish: Valve made it itself, and no Steam Workshop submission stands behind it. The Arms Deal Collection was released on August 14, 2013, and the first cases arrived in CS:GO with the same update. In Valve's catalog the Case Hardened is number 44.

What to check before buying

What to look at when choosing an AK-47 | Case Hardened:

• how much blue landed on the right side of the receiver, the side you see in the inventory;


• the pattern index of the listing, which fixes the color layout exactly;


• the float within 0.00 to 0.07, where the blue is duller toward the upper limit;


• the name tag and stickers this AK-47 | Case Hardened already carries.

The pattern is rolled at drop, and after float it is the second thing to choose by. Copies with a large blue field, the "blue gem," are worth tens of times more than ordinary ones, and the premium is highest in the cleanest wear. The band is tight, so the listings at either end differ only by the number.

What the AK-47 | Case Hardened costs in Factory New

FN costs more than every other wear. Minimal Wear (MW) is more than one and a half times cheaper, and Field-Tested (FT) about half. Well-Worn (WW) and Battle-Scarred (BS) cost almost the same, and both sit about two and a half times below FN.

These ratios hold for ordinary bodies, and for the Case Hardened they do not tell the whole story. The premium for a color layout outweighs the gap between neighboring wears, so two listings with the same float can be priced differently. Compare bodies only as a pair: float plus pattern.

Among Classified AK-47s, the Case Hardened in this wear is fourth by price out of fourteen. The nearest is the AK-47 | Red Laminate, about a tenth higher. Below it comes a steep drop: the AK-47 | Panthera onca is a quarter cheaper, and the AK-47 | Frontside Misty four times cheaper. Above it is the AK-47 | Hydroponic.

Getting the AK-47 | Case Hardened

The first route is the CS:GO Weapon Case. The AK has been in it since cases launched, and no other case contains this finish.

A contract also produces the skin, if you feed it ten skins of the rank below from a single collection. The Arms Deal Collection has two Classified skins, so the odds of landing the AK are one in two. One step up the ranks is the AWP | Lightning Strike.

StatTrak and Souvenir

The AK-47 | Case Hardened comes in a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish exist as well, but no Souvenir packages were ever issued for it, since those were made only for the tournament map collections. Such copies are built through the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player's autograph on an ordinary skin from your inventory.

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Case Hardened

Both sides of the receiver and the magazine stay open for craft, and on the Case Hardened those are the most colorful areas. Dense stickers with a clean outline hold their shape, while small graphics vanish in the color transitions. Blue and white read with confidence, and yellow and brown fade into the brass.

Who this wear suits

A Factory New AK-47 | Case Hardened makes sense when:

• you want the richest blue the finish can have;


• the AK is going into a CS2 showcase rather than daily play;


• the pattern is already chosen and you are looking for a clean body to go with it.

For playing CS2 the clean wear is overkill: at a distance the Case Hardened looks the same at any float. On an equal budget, a rare layout in a middle wear gives more than an ordinary body.