The R8 Revolver, known in real life as the Smith & Wesson Model 327 Performance Center M&P R8, is the third pistol to be introduced to Global Offensive since the game's retail release.

It can be switched out for the Desert Eagle in-game. The revolver has a very low capacity, holding 8 rounds per cylinder and only one cylinder worth of ammo (8 rounds) in reserve. It is currently the heaviest handgun available, even heavier than many primary weapons. The revolver deals extremely high damage, able to instantly kill with a headshot to a very long range and regardless of armor due to its low damage dropoff and high armor penetration. It can also kill enemies without armor in one shot to the abdomen and pelvis region. Surface penetration is on the same high level as the Desert Eagle at 200, better than average pistols.

Uniquely, the Revolver has two separate attack modes, used with the primary and secondary attack keys respectively: the primary attack draws the hammer back before firing. As the hammer is drawn back, the accuracy of the revolver increases, movement speed drops to 180 units per second and then the gun fires after a 0.2 second delay (the hammer cocking back is also audible to anyone close enough to hear it, thus risking giving away the user's position). If the player releases the primary attack key during these 0.2 seconds, the hammer will return and the weapon will not fire. This firing mode reduces its overall rate of fire.

The secondary attack is a quick shot using the fanning technique, resulting in a much faster but far less accurate shot. This firing technique has no firing delay, increasing the firing rate to a more respectable 150 RPM, but the accurate range drops down to around 2 m, making it more suitable for close-range combat. This mode is also functionally automatic, as the player character will repeatedly fan and fire the weapon if the player holds down the secondary fire key.

In comparison to the Desert Eagle, this weapon deals more damage and is capable in killing a full health unarmored player at close range instantly when shot at opponent's guts. In addition, the R8 does much more damage through walls, able to one-hit kill to the head through them, which the Desert Eagle does not always do. The R8 is also $100 cheaper than Desert Eagle (but still quite expensive for a pistol round). The primary fire is more accurate and can fire one shot more before reloading. On the downside, primary fire is much slower, requires to lower the hammer before able to fire a shot, the movement speed is lowered to 180 (220 when not firing which is still slower than the Desert Eagle), and has much lower ammo in reserve which forces the player to fire sparingly. The rate of fire in secondary mode is still lower than the Desert Eagle.

This weapon was not available in Competitive Matchmaking mode after the March 24, 2017 update but it was added back to Competitive matchmaking, along with the Negev following the April 12, 2017 update.