Security & Bullet-ResistantGlazing Selector
Match a real threat to a rated product, without over-specifying by ten times.
- Threat-matched product
- Weight and lead time
- Cross-section of every build-up
Cross-section comparison
UL 752 Level 3 recommendedNominal thickness
1 1/4 – 1 3/8 glass-clad polycarbonate
per the listing
Weight per lite
364 lb
13 psf
Total glazing weight
1,456 lb
4 openings
Lead time
6–10 weeks
After approved submittals
Best fit
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3
UL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots
Glass-clad polycarbonate. This is the cash-handling and pharmacy build.
Good, noticeable thickness at the edges
What this product does not do
The usual specification for cash handling, pharmacies and dispatch windows. Weight is the design constraint — check what the existing framing can carry.A rated lite in an unrated frame protects nothing
You selected reusing the existing framing, but UL 752 Level 3 is a rated assembly. The frame, anchors and any transaction hardware have to carry the same rating or the attack simply goes around the glass. The framing is the job, not a line under it.Weight will drive the design
At about 364 lb per lite and 1,456 lb across 4 openings, the existing framing and its anchors may not carry it. That is a structural review before anything is ordered, and it changes the handling plan on install day.Threat model: Smash and grab
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3
UL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots. The usual specification for cash handling, pharmacies and dispatch windows. Weight is the design constraint — check what the existing framing can carry.
Every option against your threat list
Coverage is scored on the weakest threat you selected, not the average — a product that stops four of your five threats and ignores the fifth is not a solution.
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3
RecommendedUL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots
364 lb per lite 6–10 weeks1 1/4 – 1 3/8 glass-clad polycarbonate thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
1,456 lb
total glazing weight
The usual specification for cash handling, pharmacies and dispatch windows. Weight is the design constraint — check what the existing framing can carry.
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 8
UL 752 Level 8 — 7.62mm rifle, five shots
728 lb per lite 10–16 weeks2 – 2 1/2 glass-clad polycarbonate thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
2,912 lb
total glazing weight
Rifle-rated assemblies are heavy enough to need structural review of the opening. This is a design-team project, not a glass order.
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 1
UL 752 Level 1 — 9mm, three shots
224 lb per lite 4–8 weeks1 1/4 acrylic or 3/4 glass-clad polycarbonate thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
896 lb
total glazing weight
Level 1 is the retail and reception standard. The frame and the counter have to be rated too — a rated window in an unrated wall protects nothing.
Forced-entry resistant glazing
ASTM F1233 Class I–V, or UL 972 burglary resistant
364 lb per lite 4–6 weeks1 – 1 1/4 thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
1,456 lb
total glazing weight
Rated by attack time and tool set, not by a single number. Tell your insurer which class you installed — it sometimes moves the premium.
Laminated security glass
9/16 in laminated, typically 0.060–0.090 in PVB or SGP interlayer
204 lb per lite 2–3 weeks9/16 thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
818 lb
total glazing weight
Also buys you roughly 8 points of acoustic OITC and essentially all the UV. If you are replacing glass anyway, the upgrade is small.
Anchored film system
Film plus structural sealant or batten anchoring to the frame
3 lb per lite 1–2 weeksApplied to existing glass thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
11 lb
total glazing weight
The anchoring is what makes film actually work. Costs about double plain film and performs several times better.
Safety and security film
8–15 mil polyester, tested to ANSI Z97.1 impact
3 lb per lite 1 weeksApplied to existing glass thick
4 openings · 112 sq ft
11 lb
total glazing weight
Film holds the fragments together but the glass still leaves the frame if it is pushed. Without an anchoring system into the frame it buys seconds, not entry resistance.
Build-ups shown are representative make-ups at a common scale; exact composition varies by the manufacturer's listing and the listing is what governs. Ballistic and forced-entry ratings apply to the tested assembly — glass, frame, anchors and any transaction hardware — never to the glass alone. Framing, structural modification and engineering are separate scope and frequently exceed the glazing itself.
Specification sheet
| ProductBullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3 | UL 752 Level 3 |
| StandardUL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots | Rated assembly |
| Build-up1/4 in glass / Urethane / Polycarbonate / Urethane / 1/4 in glass — 1 1/4 – 1 3/8 glass-clad polycarbonate | 1.24 in |
| Weight per lite13 lb per sq ft | 364 lb |
| Openings48 x 84 in each | 4 openings |
| Total glazed area | 112 sq ft |
| Lead time | 6–10 weeks |
| FramingExisting framing must carry the same rating — verify before ordering | Existing |
| Total glazing weight | 1,456 lb |
Send this to your insurer
Carriers respond to tested standards, not descriptions. Quoting UL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots gets a different answer than saying you installed security glass. Ask before you buy, not after.Next step
Get this specified properly
We survey the openings, confirm what the existing framing can carry, and quote the assembly rather than just the glass.
Lead time
6–10 wks
Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3 across 4 openings — 112 sq ft
- Threats
- Smash and grab
- Property
- Retail storefront
- Openings
- 4 at 48 x 84 in
- Area each
- 28.0 sq ft
- Total glazed area
- 112 sq ft
- Constraint
- Glass is coming out anyway
- Recommended
- Bullet-resistant, UL 752 Level 3
- Standard
- UL 752 Level 3 — .44 Magnum, three shots
- Build-up
- 1/4 in glass / Urethane / Polycarbonate / Urethane / 1/4 in glass
- Nominal thickness
- 1 1/4 – 1 3/8 glass-clad polycarbonate
- Weight per lite
- 364 lb
- Total glazing weight
- 1,456 lb
- Lead time
- 6–10 weeks
- Existing frames
- Reusing existing framing
- Location
- Fairfax / Loudoun / PW
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(703) 470-7867 · 24/7 Emergency Service
Security glazing is bought wrong in two opposite directions
The first mistake is buying far too little. A roll of unanchored film on a street-level window feels like a security measure and mostly is not — the film holds the fragments together beautifully, and then somebody puts a shoulder into it and the entire filmed sheet leaves the frame in one piece. It is excellent at stopping injury from broken glass and it is not, on its own, entry resistance. Anchoring the film edge into the frame is what turns it into a delay.
The second mistake is buying far too much, usually because the threat was never written down. A convenience store that has been hit twice for cigarettes does not need a rifle-rated assembly. It needs a forced-entry rated lite on the two openings that were actually attacked, and it needs the frame to be worth the glass. Specifying UL 752 Level 8 for a smash-and-grab problem is specifying on the wrong axis entirely — and it is two and a quarter inches of glazing in an opening built for one.
The frame is the whole job
Rated products are tested as assemblies. The certification belongs to the glass, the frame, the anchors and the sealant working together — remove any one of them and the rating is meaningless. This is why a rated glazing project is rarely a glass order and usually a framing project with rated glass in it, and why the surprise arrives at the framing line rather than the glazing line.
Weight is the constraint nobody plans for
A 48 by 84 inch lite — twenty-eight square feet — weighs about ninety pounds in ordinary quarter-inch glass. The same opening in UL 752 Level 8 weighs roughly seven hundred and thirty pounds, because the build-up runs 26 pounds per square foot. That difference decides whether the existing head and jamb carry the load, whether the anchors are adequate, whether the glass can be walked in or has to be lifted, and whether the sidewalk needs a permit on install day. It is the first number we check and the one most quotes leave out.
Questions people ask
For holding fragments together, film is genuinely effective and far cheaper. What plain film does not do is keep the glass in the opening — push hard enough and the whole filmed sheet comes out of the frame in one piece, which is a wider hole than you started with. That is what anchoring solves: bonding the film edge into the frame with structural sealant or a batten. Anchored film performs several times better than plain film. Unanchored film buys seconds; anchored film buys minutes.
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