True Level 4 Bullet Proof Doors

Surprisingly few bullet proof companies offer fully integrated bullet proof systems. For example, they may be able to outfit a site with Level 4 bullet resistant windows and walls, but only offer a Level 3 door in an unrated frame.

The Level 4 Challenge

To most bullet proof manufacturers and laminators, Level 4 is the hardest nut to crack. In terms of material advancements, many modern bullet resistant barriers see little difference between three shots from a 9mm pistol (i.e., Level 3 security) and 5 shots from an Uzi or M16 (Levels 6 and 7). But Level 4 barriers must stop a .30 caliber round. Popular in hunting and some military sniping, these bullets are large chunks of lead optimized for long-distance accuracy, speed, and impact. The simple material challenge of passing a Level 4 test is further complicated in the case of a door, which has moving parts and unavoidable liabilities at the hinge, jamb, knob, and lock.
Ballistic Doors

 

A True Level 4 Bullet Proof Door in Steel and Aluminum

Total Security Solutions’s steel Level 4 door will verifiably stop shots at the door’s face, its optional glass-clad polycarbonate window, the window’s seam, the door’s seam, the thin gap where the door meets its frame on the hinge side, the gap where the door and frame meet on the knob side, at the lock, and at the hinge itself. The door is skinned in 16 gauge mild steel, with a hybrid core consisting of a Level 3 sheet of half-inch bullet resistant fiberglass backed with a quarter-inch sheet of armor plate steel.

The aluminum Level 4 door is framed in 3/8-inch sheets of aluminum on its front and back (suitable to stop a .44 mag, .357 mag, or 9mm bullets all by itself) then lined with a quarter-inch layer of steel armor plate. The transparency–and most customers favor a large sheet–is again glass-clad polycarbonate. The use of glass-clad polycarbonate for the windows brings the added benefit of forced-entry security along with the ability to stop a shot from a high-powered rifle and shrug off any number of smaller bullets.

A Bullet Proof Door Makes a Bullet Proof System

Either door is a hefty piece of hardware: several hundred pounds on its own, and hung in a UL-rated Level 4 frame composed of ballistic aluminum channel with 3/8-inch tempered front and rear plates backed by strips of half-inch thick ballistic fiberglass panel. Like Total Security Solutions’s other bullet proof doors, these include full-length hinges, industrial closers, and can be outfitted with electric “buzz-thru” strike plates for added security.

“These really compliment our other products,” explains Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards, “Once we had that Level 4 frame–well, it’s kind of hard to talk to someone about a Level 4 frame if you don’t have the door to compliment it.” Total Security Solutions is pleased to provide the level of consistent, end-to-end security that many facilities demand, but is sorely lacking in the market.

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