AK-47 | Fire Serpent (Factory New)

In Factory New, the AK-47 | Fire Serpent sits in a band that barely exists. At this wear the AK-47 | Fire Serpent carries a float of 0.06 to 0.07. The scale is clipped at the bottom, so the grade is a hundredth wide, about one percent of the rifle's range. Covert rank, The Bravo Collection, and one case only: Operation Bravo.

What the AK-47 | Fire Serpent looks like in Factory New

Stock and rear handguard are orange-red lacquered wood, coarsely grained. Forward of them the rifle turns green: front handguard, gas tube and receiver, with yellow-gold scrollwork and signs across the side. A red-maroon ornament sits beside the head; the magazine is dark turquoise under a gray-green pattern.

The head is at the front of the rifle, not on the receiver. It sits on the gas block by the front sight, jaws open, fangs white, eye yellow, facing forward. The body runs back along the gas tube and the top of the handguard. Teeth and scales are picked out individually; the gold marks resemble stylized characters. The wooden parts are flat orange.

The raised plate carrying the head lightens first, then the dust cover edges, then the orange stock corners. Factory New keeps the head at full color.

Where the AK-47 | Fire Serpent came from

There is no Workshop submission for the AK-47 | Fire Serpent: Valve authored the finish. The AK-47 | Fire Serpent has been around since September 19, 2013, the launch date of the Bravo collection. It is one of the oldest Covert rifles in the game; the catalog number is 180. Valve's text calls the rifle a memento from Ruins with a fire serpent motif.

What to check before buying

Worth checking on any AK-47 | Fire Serpent copy before you pay:

• the float value, which cannot leave the hundredth it is given;


• the plate with the serpent's head, where wear shows first;


• what the previous owner left on the AK-47 | Fire Serpent — stickers and an applied name.

All AK-47 | Fire Serpent copies share one layout, and price never turns on the pattern. At 0.06–0.07 there is little room to differ, and AK-47 | Fire Serpent listings look alike. One percent of the scale is the narrowest door this rifle has.

What the AK-47 | Fire Serpent costs in Factory New

The premium here is heavy. Minimal Wear is a little under half of Factory New and Well-Worn about a third, while Field-Tested sits below Well-Worn — the odd step here. Battle-Scarred is under a quarter.

Only one Covert AK-47 is dearer in this grade: Wild Lotus, far above the whole line. Gold Arabesque asks about four-fifths of it, X-Ray three-quarters, AUTOEXEC a quarter.

Getting the AK-47 | Fire Serpent

The Operation Bravo Case is where copies drop. Ten skins a tier below from this collection turn into one AK-47 | Fire Serpent in the contract.

StatTrak and Souvenir

A StatTrak AK-47 | Fire Serpent was made; a Souvenir version never was.

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Fire Serpent

The receiver side is the open ground. The serpent lies forward of it, and the curls there are thin enough to work around. Gold and orange stickers are swallowed by the scrollwork and the wood; white, blue and black stay legible. On a Factory New copy the decision is one-way.

Who this wear suits

Settle on the AK-47 | Fire Serpent in Factory New if:

• the head should look freshly painted;


• a near-identical run is a feature, not a loss;


• the rifle goes to an inventory, not into rounds.

Below this grade the head plate fades first, and that plate is what the money buys.