AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 (Field-Tested)

The AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 in Field-Tested (FT) is the least expensive of this rifle's five wears, and the two more worn grades cost slightly more. Float in this wear runs from 0.15 to 0.38. Restricted rank; the skin drops from the Operation Hydra Case.

What the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 looks like in Field-Tested

The rifle looks assembled from mismatched parts. The barrel and gas tube are red, the receiver cover is graphite with a cold bluish cast, and the stock is red with dark blotches. Valve describes the finish in a few words: hand-painted in red and black.

The number 01 is stamped on the receiver cover, and an orange-red stripe that looks like backlighting runs along the ribs of the magazine. Dark angular blotches on the red cover the stock, the handguard and the magazine. They are part of the artwork, not wear.

In Field-Tested the receiver ribs, the magazine lip and the buttplate wear away: the red paint lightens there and fades toward gray. Copies in this wear differ a good deal, since the 0.15 to 0.38 band is wide. Near the bottom of it the scuffs are isolated; near the top they reach the flat surfaces.

Where the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 came from

The finish was drawn by nozza, who publishes work on the Steam Workshop. He submitted it on April 17, 2017 under the working title "COLONY01 AK.r.V2". That name did not make it into the game, but it left a trace. Valve's item description says the rifle was found on COLONY01, and the same 01 is on the receiver cover.

The Operation Hydra Collection, with this skin in it, was released on May 23, 2017. Valve's finish catalog lists it under number 656. Valve described the operation in a note as a set of events: a 2v2 mode, a separate mode about owning every weapon, and matches with special rules. Those rules included heavy armor, low gravity in sniper duels and team deathmatch.

What to check before buying

The choice comes down to these points:

• Float: near the 0.38 ceiling, the scuffs on the red show even in first person.


• The state of the buttplate and the magazine lip: the paint goes first there.


• An applied name tag and stickers on the body.

There is no premium for pattern index here: the artwork does not change.

What the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 costs in Field-Tested

Factory New costs three and a half times more, and Minimal Wear about a fifth more. Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred, though, cost not less than FT but a few percent more. So Field-Tested is the least expensive way into this finish.

This rifle has nine Restricted finishes. In this wear the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 costs more than seven of them, and only one stands higher, at more than four times the price. The nearest one below is cheaper by a factor of a little over one and a half.

Getting the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01

The first route is the Operation Hydra Case; this finish has no other cases. The second route to the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 is a trade-up: hand over ten skins of the rank below.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01

A StatTrak version of the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 exists. No Souvenir packages were released for this finish: they were made only for the tournament map collections. But you can build a Souvenir copy yourself — the Souvenir-O-Matic puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on an ordinary skin from your inventory. That is why the odd Souvenir copy turns up now and then even where no packages ever existed.

The red-and-graphite body is busy on its own: red and black stickers sink into it, while white and light blue ones hold up. On the magazine the artwork fights the orange stripe, so the stock and the handguard are the easier places for a craft in CS2. A sticker on the stock also covers the worn buttplate.

Who this wear suits

Field-Tested is a sensible choice for the AK-47 | Orbit Mk01 in these cases:

• you want a bright Covert AK without paying the Factory New premium;


• you are leaving yourself float headroom: within 0.15 to 0.38 the copies differ noticeably;


• there is no reason to go lower, since Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred cost more.

The top of the band is a compromise: the scuffs on the red are visible, but the artwork is intact. The cleanest copies in this wear sit near 0.15.