AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)

The AK-47 | Redline in Field-Tested (FT) is the second most common grade for this rifle. The band covers more than a third of the wear scale; only Battle-Scarred covers more. One cleaner grade exists, and it asks several times as much. The rank is Classified, and the skin drops from the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case.

What the AK-47 | Redline looks like in Field-Tested

The body wears a carbon fiber hydrographic: a matte black weave visible only up close, on the receiver and handguard. Over it runs one thin red pinstripe, along the top of the receiver, around the gas tube, down the grip and onto a red butt plate. The same stripe edges the magazine, and a short red bar sits on the front sight.

The skin has exactly two colors and no artwork: the whole effect rests on matte black against one line. Valve names the method outright, a carbon fiber hydrographic plus a dry-transfer decal of a red pinstripe.

In Field-Tested the receiver edges and the top of the magazine rub through, the carbon weave lightening and turning smooth. The red line lies on flat surfaces and stays whole, parting only near the top of the band, on the stock corners and by the front sight.

Where the AK-47 | Redline came from

The finish came from a Steam Workshop artist going by emkay, who posted it on November 5, 2013 as AK-47 | Elegant-Red. The Redline name arrived with the release on February 20, 2014, alongside the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case. Valve's catalog numbers the finish 282; the AWP | Wildfire, five years younger, is 917.

What to check before buying

• the float: rubbed edges read clearly on matte black, and by 0.38 plenty have gathered;


• whether the red line is unbroken on the stock and by the front sight, the first place it gives way;


• the stickers and name tag already applied to the listing.

There is no pattern roll here: the stripe sits identically on every copy.

What the AK-47 | Redline costs in Field-Tested

Factory New does not exist here: the scale starts at 0.10. The cleanest grade available is Minimal Wear, which asks close to five times Field-Tested on a short band, 0.10 to 0.15, against 0.15 to 0.38. Downward the steps are gentle: Well-Worn is cheaper by about a sixth, Battle-Scarred by about a quarter.

The neighbors in the rank say more. The AK-47 has fifteen Classified finishes, and the Redline stands tenth counting up: nine are cheaper, five dearer. Closest below sit AK-47 | Cartel and AK-47 | Frontside Misty, at roughly half the price. The rung above, AK-47 | Red Laminate, costs over one and a half times as much. Past that the bracket changes: AK-47 | Panthera onca is five times the Redline, AK-47 | Hydroponic more than thirty.

Getting the AK-47 | Redline

Two routes: pull it out of the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case, or build it with a trade-up contract. A contract returns one rank above its inputs. That makes the inputs ten Restricted skins of the same collection: FAMAS | Sergeant, MAC-10 | Heat, SG 553 | Pulse or USP-S | Guardian. The Phoenix Collection holds three Classified finishes, so the odds of landing the Redline itself are one in three.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Redline

The AK-47 | Redline has a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish turn up as well, though no Souvenir packages were ever made for it: packages only ever covered tournament map collections. Those copies are built with the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory.

Matte black with one red accent is the most forgiving sticker base in CS2: every color reads on it except black. Red stickers pick up the line and pass for part of the finish; white and light blue give the sharpest contrast. The stock, handguard and magazine are free, and the receiver with the line is usually left bare.

Who this wear suits

Buying the AK-47 | Redline in Field-Tested makes sense when:

• a restrained dark rifle for CS2 is wanted without paying five times over for Minimal Wear;


• a craft is planned, this finish taking stickers better than most;


• float choice matters, the 0.15 to 0.38 band being long and its ends looking different.

Near the top of the band the rubbed edges on matte black show at a glance, and the red line has already parted on the stock corners. The even look holds to roughly 0.20.