A nickname for the two
sniper rifles in Counter-Strike that
don't have to be cocked after every shot.
In the older verions of CS it was a more powerful
gun (the G3, originally available to both teams) that flew under the radar despite people like me dominating with it to the point of disbelief and worship by opponents and teammates. Like the current auto snipers, the G3 was
never accurate on the first shot which made shooting, retreating, and shooting again impossible.
When it was given increased accuracy, people started to complain about it. Then the accuracy was lowered again and another auto
sniper was introduced and the two became team-specific.
It is often banned even when the 'AWP' isn't because people get frustrated when they are killed by an auto
sniper, not because it is an uber
gun like the AWP. The
Scout is never banned, and is "silenced" which is why you can't hear it from a distance.
The auto snipers are more difficult to use than the regular snipers since you have to sit in the same spot and shoot very slowly to be accurate and can easily be killed by someone not in your scope or anyone with a regular
sniper. Because of this it is rarely used and is only good under very specific conditions.