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Commercial

Plaskolite OPTIX G BR Bullet-Resistant Acrylic Sheet

Monolithic cell-cast acrylic at 1¼ inches for UL 752 Level 1 (three 9 mm rounds) and 1⅜ inches for Level 2 (.357 Magnum), with 92 percent light transmission and an abrasion-resistant coating option. It is what most teller lines, pharmacy counters, and gas-station windows are glazed with, at roughly a quarter the price of a UL-listed polycarbonate laminate and half the weight of ballistic glass. It stops the round by being hard, not by flexing, so it stays indoors and stays away from forced-entry jobs.

4.1
$2,392 to $2,864 for a 1¼ in Level 1 4 × 8 ft sheet; about $75 to $90 per sq ft
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Pros

  • 92 percent light transmission with no tint; the clearest ballistic glazing you can buy, and it polishes to a glass finish
  • Level 1 acrylic at a 4 × 8 ft sheet runs $2,400 to $2,900 against about $9,800 for a UL-listed polycarbonate laminate at the same level
  • Half the weight of bullet-resistant glass at the same UL level (about 7.7 lb per sq ft at Level 1)
  • Cuts, drills, notches, and edge-polishes in the field with carbide tooling; flame polishing works because it is one solid sheet
  • Available uncoated or with an abrasion-resistant coating; the Spartech equivalent adds an ANSI Z97.1 safety-glazing rating
  • Made in the USA by a company that has been casting acrylic in Columbus since 1950

Cons

  • Rigid: it can chip or crack under repeated hits and can deflect a round unpredictably toward the threat side, which is why installers keep it for interior barriers
  • Tops out at Level 2 in pure acrylic; Level 3 (.44 Magnum) exists only as an acrylic-based alloy from Spartech, not from Plaskolite
  • Softer than glass: ammonia or bleach cleaners craze it permanently, and a slipped drill bit leaves a mark
  • Fire class CC2 and a 1.2 in/min burn rate; it is combustible plastic
  • The frame must carry the same UL 752 rating as the sheet, so a finished single-station transaction window starts near $4,000 installed
  • Plaskolite publishes thickness, level, and transmission but not weight, sheet sizes, or a UL file number; those figures come from distributors and the Spartech line

Specifications

MaterialMonolithic cell-cast acrylic (PMMA), clear; UV resistant
OPTIX G BR11.250 in thick, UL 752 Level 1 (three 9 mm FMJ, 124 gr, 1,175–1,293 fps)
OPTIX G BR21.375 in thick, UL 752 Level 2 (three .357 Magnum JSP, 158 gr, 1,250–1,375 fps)
FinishUncoated or AR (abrasion-resistant) coated
Light transmission92%
WeightAbout 7.7 lb/sq ft at 1.25 in and 8.5 lb/sq ft at 1.378 in (Spartech Polycast and distributor data)
HazeUnder 1% (distributor data)
Tensile strengthAbout 9,500 psi (ASTM D638, distributor data)
FireCC2; burn rate 1.2 in/min (ASTM D635), per Spartech and distributor data
Sheet sizeDistributors stock 4 × 6 ft through 6 × 10 ft; 4 × 8 ft is the common sheet
Level 3 optionSpartech Polycast Acryshield L3, 1.25 in acrylic-based alloy, over 85% transmission
PriceA&C Plastics, Sep 2026: 1.25 in 48 × 96 Level 1 uncoated $2,864; 1.375 in 49 × 97 Level 2 uncoated $3,720; 1.378 in 48 × 96 Level 2 coated $5,909. U.S. Plastic: 1.25 in 48 × 96 Level 1 (Spartech) $2,392
MakerPlaskolite, Columbus, Ohio; founded 1950, owned by Pritzker Private Capital with the Dunn family since 2018

Our Verdict

For an indoor teller line, reception window, pharmacy counter, or convenience-store barrier where the threat is a handgun and the customer needs to see the clerk's face, OPTIX G BR is the sensible default: the clearest, cheapest, lightest UL 752 glazing at Levels 1 and 2. Buy the coated version, clean it with soap and water, and put it in a frame rated to the same level. For an exterior wall, a forced-entry threat, or anything above Level 2, move to polycarbonate or glass-clad polycarbonate.

4.1

Overview

The clear barrier between a bank teller and the lobby, between a pharmacist and the counter, or between a night clerk and the gas-station forecourt is very often a single slab of acrylic an inch and a quarter thick. Plaskolite, the Columbus, Ohio acrylic maker whose commodity sheet we reviewed under OPTIX, casts it as the OPTIX G Series BR: BR1 at 1.250 inches for UL 752 Level 1 and BR2 at 1.375 inches for Level 2, each uncoated or with an abrasion-resistant coating. Plaskolite also owns the HYGARD polycarbonate ballistic laminates it bought from Covestro, so it sells both sides of the acrylic-versus-polycarbonate argument and has no reason to oversell either.

Plaskolite's page gives thickness, level, and 92 percent light transmission, and not much else. For the weights, haze, fire class, and safety-glazing rating we lean on the equivalent Spartech Polycast BR and Acryshield line, which distributors publish in full and which sells at the same thicknesses for the same levels; where a number comes from Spartech or a distributor rather than Plaskolite, the article says so. We have not shot at either. The facts come from the manufacturer catalogs, distributor spec tables and price lists, UL 752 ammunition tables, and the fabrication and cleaning guidance of Total Security Solutions, a Michigan fabricator that has built more than 30,000 barrier installations. Sources are listed at the end.

What the levels mean

UL 752 is the standard for bullet-resisting equipment, and its lower levels are handgun levels. Level 1 is three rounds of 9 mm full-metal-jacket, 124 grain, at 1,175 to 1,293 feet per second. Level 2 is three rounds of .357 Magnum jacketed soft point, 158 grain, at 1,250 to 1,375 fps. Level 3 is three .44 Magnum semi-wadcutters, 240 grain, at 1,350 to 1,485 fps. Passing means no complete penetration, no fragments through, and no spalling off the protected side.

Level 1 is what most retail, banking, pharmacy, and general commercial jobs specify; the 9 mm is the handgun most often used in armed robberies. Level 2 shows up in police reception, government service windows, credit unions, and check cashing. Level 3 is for high-risk cashier positions and detention visiting areas. Pure acrylic reaches Level 2. The one acrylic Level 3 is Spartech's Polycast Acryshield L3, a 1.25-inch sheet that distributors describe as a non-laminated cell-cast acrylic-based alloy, at over 85 percent light transmission; Plaskolite does not offer one.

Why acrylic for a teller window

Three reasons, and they are all about the sheet being a single hard piece of cell-cast acrylic rather than a laminate.

Clarity. 92 percent light transmission, under 1 percent haze, no tint. A polycarbonate ballistic laminate is limited to about 80 percent with a visible cast, and it is softer, so it scratches sooner. Acrylic can be buffed to a glass finish. When the point of the barrier is that customers still see the person behind it, that matters.

Weight and cost. At Level 1, acrylic is about 7.7 pounds per square foot, half of ballistic glass at the same rating. The polycarbonate laminate at Level 1 is lighter still, about 5.1 pounds and only 0.78 inches thick, but look at the price: a 48 × 96 inch Level 1 acrylic sheet lists at $2,392 to $2,864, while the same size in a UL-listed polycarbonate laminate lists near $9,800 at a dealer. Acrylic is the budget ballistic material by a wide margin.

Fabrication. Jim Richards, who founded Total Security Solutions with his father in 2004, puts it plainly: you can notch it, drill it, and cut it with a circular saw, because it is a hard, rigid material. His shop uses a 12- to 14-inch saw with a 60-tooth carbide triple-chip blade kept for acrylic only, proper acrylic drill bits (the wrong bit blows out the back face), and flame polishing on edges, which you cannot do to a polycarbonate laminate because the polycarbonate melts first. Thermally broken and stainless frames come in glazing channels of exactly 1¼ and 1⅜ inches for the two acrylic thicknesses.

Why not acrylic

Acrylic stops a bullet by refusing to give. Polycarbonate stops one by flexing and catching it, spreading the energy through its layers. That difference sets the limits. Under repeated or heavy hits, acrylic can chip or crack; a round can deflect off it unpredictably toward the threat side. TSS keeps acrylic for interior teller lines and reception windows and specifies polycarbonate, or glass-clad polycarbonate for exterior work, wherever there is a forced-entry threat, weather, or a level above 2. Anyone shopping this material should read that as the rule, not as marketing. Our acrylic vs polycarbonate guide covers the same trade in ordinary windows.

The second limit is the surface. Bullet-resistant acrylic is still acrylic: ammonia and bleach cleaners open thousands of microscopic cracks in the surface that no polishing removes, and a tool slip leaves a mark. Richards names the biggest customer misconception: because it stops a bullet, people think it is indestructible, and it is not remotely the case. The abrasion-resistant coating is worth its premium on any counter the public touches, and a repair procedure exists for gouges in coated sheet (acrylic lacquer flowed into the scratch, excess lifted with tape), with the caveat that the repaired spot is never as hard as the rest. Our scratch repair guide covers uncoated sheet.

Third, the fire class. Spartech and the distributors rate 1¼-inch BR acrylic as building code class CC2 with a burn rate of 1.2 inches per minute under ASTM D635. It is a combustible plastic and the code treats it as one; the Spartech line adds ANSI Z97.1 safety-glazing compliance, which Plaskolite does not state for OPTIX G BR.

The window is a system

A sheet on its own stops nothing that goes around it. A rated transaction window is three-sided ballistic framing, a ballistic deal tray or package passer at the sill, and the glazing, and the frame has to be tested to the same UL 752 level as the sheet. TSS builds them in baffle style (offset panes that block a shooting lane but pass speech), hole-and-backer, arched, and sliding configurations, up to 8 by 5 feet, every one made to order; a single-station window runs about $4,000 and up, and a multi-station teller line runs into the tens of thousands before shipping and installation. Budget for the frame, the tray, and the installer, not just the acrylic.

There is no code we could find that requires UL 752 glazing at a gas station or pharmacy, and no verified insurance credit for installing it. The one regulation that surfaced pointed the other way: Philadelphia voted in 2017 to regulate and in some cases remove barriers at certain licensed establishments. Check local rules before designing a storefront around one.

Does it work

Every few months a local station runs surveillance video of a clerk behind a barrier while a robber's round flattens against it, in Atlanta, North Philadelphia, Memphis, Houston. The Memphis report adds the useful detail: the glass stopped the bullet, but it left a mark. None of those stories identifies the material or the UL level, so treat them as evidence that rated barriers do their job, not as a test of this product. The controlled evidence is the UL rating itself, three rounds at the listed velocity with no penetration and no spall.

Price and buying

List prices at A&C Plastics on September 15, 2026: 1.250-inch Level 1 uncoated at $618 for a 20 × 65 inch piece, $2,864 for 48 × 96 (about $89.50 per square foot), and $5,369 for 72 × 120; Level 2 uncoated 1.375-inch 49 × 97 at $3,720; Level 2 coated 1.378-inch 48 × 96 at $5,909; Spartech's Level 3 coated 32 × 48 at $2,016, or about $189 per square foot. U.S. Plastic listed the Spartech Polycast 1.250-inch Level 1 48 × 96 sheet at $2,392 (about $75 per square foot), 246 pounds, with 5 to 15 percent volume discounts. Acme Plastics, Professional Plastics, Regal Plastics, and Piedmont Plastics stock it behind a quote or configurator, in sizes from 24 × 48 up to 6 × 10 feet; Acme adds $25 for a custom cut. For a sense of where those numbers sit against ordinary acrylic, see our acrylic window cost guide and the sheet supplier roundup.

Who should buy it

Facility managers, security consultants, and fabricators glazing an indoor barrier against a handgun threat at Level 1 or 2 who want the customer to see clearly through it and the budget to stretch to more stations. Specify the coated sheet and a frame rated to the same level. If the barrier faces the weather, must resist a crowbar as well as a bullet, or needs Level 3 and above, buy polycarbonate or glass-clad polycarbonate and accept the tint.

Sources