MAG-7 (Counter-Strike)

Information
The MAG-7 is a South African shotgun manufactured by Techno Arms PTY since 1995. It is unique for having a relatively compact shape for a shotgun and fires a specialized 60mm 12 gauge shell, which is rather uncommonly produced. In real life, the weapon is quite infamously ineffective and unreliable; ergonomics are poor, the trigger pressure needed can be a staggering 7.7 kg (later reduced to 3.5 kg), and the specially designed chamber for 60mm 12 gauge shells meant that standard 70mm 12 gauge shells are a poor fit. Newer models rectified many of the issues, but the infamy remained.

In-game, the MAG-7 is a very cost-effective and high-damaging CT-exclusive shotgun. It inflicts very high damage at close range, able to kill instantly to any bodypart as long as all pellets hit, and has better armor penetration than the Nova or XM1014, so not as many shots need to land to instantly kill even if the enemies are armored. It is somewhat more accurate than the other shotguns, with a good accuracy even while jumping and moving, but damage dropoff is more significant. It is also the lightest shotgun in Global Offensive, though still very slow compared to many other weapons.

Being a pump-action shotgun, it has a very low rate of fire, and has the lowest magazine capacity out of all shotguns, meaning that it is more suitable for an ambushing playstyle instead of direct combat, where the player can create a close-range engagement against one enemy player and guarantee a kill. Like other shotguns, surface penetration power is low.

The MAG-7 uniquely has a detachable magazine instead of a fixed magazine like on other shotguns. Whereas other shotguns require individual shells to be loaded through the loading gate, the MAG-7 can replace its magazine entirely in one go, giving it a fast general reload time and fastest reload time when compared to emptied shotguns. It also means that it cannot perform reload cancel and fire mid-reload like other shotguns. It holds 5 shells per magazine and has carries 32 shells in reserve.

Like other shotguns, it has a 3× kill award ($900 in Competitive) for neutralizing an enemy target. Combined with its relatively low cost and high power, the MAG-7 is a good eco round weapon for killing an enemy, claiming $900 and picking up their weapons.

A common fan term for the MAG-7 is "SWAG-7", due to its performance compared to other shotguns.