M4A1-S | Hot Rod (Factory New)

This is the M4A1-S | Hot Rod in Factory New (FN), the top of the scale for a Covert rifle whose finish stops at 0.08. The float bounds are 0.00 and 0.07. The rank is Classified, and the skin is listed in The Chop Shop Collection. No case contains it.

What the M4A1-S | Hot Rod looks like in Factory New

A transparent red lacquer lies over a chrome base. Valve describes the method in exactly those words. In shadow the color is nearly wine; in light, bright highlights run along the handguard ribs and the suppressor.

Red covers almost everything: suppressor, handguard, receiver, carry handle and stock. The magazine is left gray and unpainted, grip and trigger guard black. That gray magazine on a red body is the first thing to catch the eye.

The lacquer is whole here and the chrome beneath works as a mirror. The grade is the short 0.00–0.07 stretch, so chasing a number is pointless. Scuffing on red shows as pale matte patches along the edges, and in Minimal Wear it reaches the receiver.

Where the M4A1-S | Hot Rod came from

Valve made the finish, and the catalog number is 445. The Chop Shop Collection carrying this skin came out on May 26, 2015. The set belongs to Operation Bloodhound, under whose terms pass holders drew weapon drops from the operation's own collections.

The name is automotive: a hot rod is an old car with a hopped-up engine. Valve's caption on the skin reads "Automatic. Systematic. Hydromatic.", a line from the song Greased Lightnin' about such a car.

What to check before buying

Before buying, the following gets a look:

• the float inside 0.00–0.07, since clouding shows on mirror lacquer sooner than on matte paint;


• the receiver and carry handle edges, where the lacquer goes first;


• what the previous owner left: stickers and an applied name.

What the M4A1-S | Hot Rod costs in Factory New

What this grade costs now is visible in the list above. Of the two grades Factory New is the cheaper, with Minimal Wear asking about a third more. The reason lies in how the scale is divided: Factory New takes seven eighths of the range, Minimal Wear one eighth, from 0.07 to 0.08.

By price here the rifle is second among fifteen Classified M4A1-S finishes. Only M4A1-S | Knight is dearer, by roughly double. Right below sits M4A1-S | Blue Phosphor, cheaper by two and a half times.

Getting the M4A1-S | Hot Rod

The rifle also comes out of a contract on ten skins a rank down, all from the same collection. The set has two Classified items, the other being Glock-18 | Twilight Galaxy, so the chance of hitting the M4A1-S is one in two. The output float is assembled from the floats of the inputs.

The collection has no Covert rank, so there is nowhere above this rifle to climb.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the M4A1-S | Hot Rod

No StatTrak version of the M4A1-S | Hot Rod was ever released. Souvenir copies do turn up, but no Souvenir packages were made for this finish: 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.

Red lacquer is a demanding background: red and orange stickers vanish, white and black hold their contrast. The gray magazine stays the only unpainted part, and a CS2 craft usually takes the stock or the receiver.

Who this wear suits

Factory New is the call when:

• whole lacquer with no matte patches along the edges is wanted;


• a Covert rifle is being matched to a CS2 loadout in one color range;


• a cheaper entry into the finish is needed, the second grade costing more.

A rare case in CS2: the cleaner version is also the less expensive, so no premium is paid for fresh lacquer.