AK-47 | Vulcan (Field-Tested)

The AK-47 | Vulcan in Field-Tested (FT) is the working middle of the scale on one of the most recognizable rifles in CS2. The band here runs from 0.15 to 0.38. The rank is Covert, and the skin comes out of the Huntsman Weapon Case. The Huntsman Collection dates to May 1, 2014.

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

The body is broken into plates, like bolted-on covers: milky white over the handguard top, the receiver side and the magazine, dark gray and graphite everywhere else. Bright pale blue shows up three times: a band on the dust cover behind the rear sight, a wedge on the receiver side, a stripe down the magazine. None of the three claims a part outright. Chevron cuts in white run along the bottom of the handguard and over the magazine, and the stock carries an angular light-gray figure on a dark ground.

In this grade it is the white plates that dirty. The handguard top, the receiver edge and the magazine ribs gray over first, the blue inserts dull a step later, and the dark parts hardly move. The flat middles of the plates survive the whole band. Toward the upper limit the seams between plates lose their crispness, and that is what the clean grades charge extra for.

What to check before buying

What buyers look at:

• the float, as scuffing shows on white plates sooner than it does on dark finishes;


• how crisp the borders between plates are, since they blur by 0.38;


• stickers on the body and an applied name.

There is no point searching the AK-47 | Vulcan by pattern index: the drawing does not change.

The band in this grade is long, 0.15 to 0.38, so comparing a few listings is worth the minute.

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

The starting price is in the listings block above. Measured against Field-Tested, the other grades go like this:

• Factory New about three times dearer;


• Minimal Wear about twice;


• Well-Worn about a third cheaper;


• Battle-Scarred about half.

The ladder is even, with nothing out of order: each grade down really is cheaper than the one above. That doubling from Field-Tested to Minimal Wear comes from the white plates, where cleanliness reads better than on most finishes, and the market pays for it.

Getting the AK-47 | Vulcan

The rifle drops from the Huntsman Weapon Case, and its collection is the same one. A trade-up takes ten skins one rank below: M4A1-S | Atomic Alloy, SCAR-20 | Cyrex, USP-S | Caiman and USP-S | Orion all qualify. If the ten come from that collection, which holds two Covert skins, what comes back is random, a one in two chance of the rifle. A contract returns the AK-47 | Vulcan in any wear, which is counted from the inputs.

Above that sits the knife craft, and the Huntsman set has a quirk here: it holds one rare special item only, the ★ Huntsman Knife. Five Covert skins from the collection return exactly that, so there is no lottery over models, only over the finish and the wear.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Vulcan

The AK-47 | Vulcan 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.

A white and gray body with three blue spots is a bright background without being a busy one, and stickers do well on it. Black and red ones give the contrast, while blue merges into the inserts. Room for a craft is on the stock and the handguard, and the receiver with its seam lines is better left open. Large stickers sit on this rifle more naturally than small ones.

Who this wear suits

Field-Tested is the AK-47 | Vulcan to buy in these cases:

• a recognizable Covert rifle is wanted for CS2 without the threefold premium for a clean grade;


• the sporting scheme appeals more than a military or a grim one;


• picking the copy yourself is half the point, and the float band here is long.

At the top of the band the white plates gray over and the rifle loses the tidiness it is bought for. If an even look matters, filter the float down to 0.22.