
Photo courtesy UL
By Louis Chavez
When specifying, designing, or building with ballistic-resistant products and/or assemblies, it is important to use safe, high-quality products that have not only been tested to accepted industry standards, but also certified. There is some confusion in the marketplace about testing and certification. Contrary to what some may believe, one does not necessarily mean the other.
There are many organizations offering testing services for ballistic-resistant equipment, but very few offer certification services. When a product is certified by UL, it has not only undergone testing to determine compliance to the appropriate standards (as shown below), but it is also covered by a rigorous follow-up program to determine continued compliance. UL’s testing and certification program, includes periodic retesting and regular followup visits to the manufacturing place. During the followup service visits, UL staff will inspect random samples to verify the manufacturer has the ability to produce products in compliance with the testing standards used during the original product investigation. Only after this is completed is the product authorized to bear the UL mark.
If a ballistic-resistant product is tested to UL standards, but is not certified, there is a risk it may fail to perform as it did during original testing. For example, a ballistic-resistant product is tested at a lab and passes the UL 752, Standard for Bullet-resisting Equipment examinations. Subsequently, one of the raw materials used in the product is substituted for another believed to be equivalent. Under UL’s certification program, this substitution would be flagged and the appropriate steps taken to assess the impact of the change. Often, this can only be determined through reevaluation or retesting.
Some may try to encourage sales of their products by using terms such as “meets,” “evaluated to,” “tested to,” or “complies with.” These statements signify the ballistic-resistant product may have only been tested once and is not subject to UL’s ongoing followup services. It leads to the question: “Will the product still pass testing today?” Without the UL mark, one can never be certain whether it still passes or not.
On the other hand, when a company chooses UL certification and its ballistic-resistant product bears the UL Mark, the end user can trust it to continue to meet exacting standards.
For the purposes of rating assignment, the ammunition specifications given in the following table apply to UL-certified bullet-resisting materials.
Ratings of bullet-resisting materials and test parameters
Rating | Ammunition | Grain | (g) | Minimum velocity, | Number of shots | UL 752 Paragraph reference | |
fps | (m/s) | ||||||
Level 1 | 9 mm full metal copper jacket with lead core | 124 | 8.0 | 1,175 | 358 | 3 | 4.3 |
Level 2 | .357 Magnum jacketed lead soft point | 158 | 10.2 | 1,250 | 381 | 3 | 4.4 |
Level 3 | .44 Magnum lead semi-wadcutter gas checked | 240 | 15.6 | 1,350 | 411 | 3 | 4.5 |
Level 4 | .30 caliber rifle lead-core soft point | 180 | 11.7 | 2,540 | 774 | 1 | 4.6 |
Level 5 | 7.62 mm rifle lead-core full-metal copper jacket, military ball | 150 | 9.7 | 2,750 | 838 | 1 | 4.7 |
Level 6 | 9-mm full-metal copper jacket with lead core | 124 | 8.0 | 1,400 | 427 | 5 | 4.8 |
Level 7 | 5.56 mm Rifle full-metal copper jacket with lead core | 55 | 3.56 | 3,080 | 939 | 5 | 4.9 |
Level 8 | 7.62-mm rifle lead-core full-metal copper jacket, military ball | 150 | 9.7 | 2,750 | 838 | 5 | 4.10 |
Level 9 | Armor piercing .30 caliber rifle steel-core lead-point filler full-metal jacket | 166 | 10.8 | 2715 | 828 | 1 | 4.11 |
Level 10 | .50 caliber rifle lead-core full-metal copper jacket military ball | 709.5 | 45.9 | 2810 | 856 | 1 | 4.12 |
Supplementary shotgun | 12-gauge rifled lead slug and | 437 | 28.3 | 1,585 | 483 | 3 | 4.11 |
12-gauge 00 lead buckshot (12 pellets) | 650 | 42 | 1,200 | 366 | |||
NOTE – Maximum velocity is 110 percent of the minimum velocity. |
Lou Chavez is UL principal engineer, responsible for the technical oversight of physical and electronic security categories and the technical relevance of UL’s related security standards. He has 30 years of experience with national and international standards development, regulatory, code development, and conformity assessment areas. Chavez can be reached at louis.chavez@ul.com.
Your article is very nice, thank your for sharing this article broe
Thank you for the article was very helpful, I liked his discussion and hopefully a lot of other people who may read this article …
i’m sure the different is, if it’s tested i already proofed that it worked but haven’t certified by standard
does the list of standard is valid for all of country?
Thank you for this great information. I have found something on this
I really love this post I will visit again to read your post in a very short time and I hope you will make more posts like this.
This blog provides useful information about new techniques and concepts.very impressive lines are given which is very attractive.
Great article a lot of good information