Class 1 — Explosives
Substances and articles that present a mass explosion, projection, fire or minor blast hazard.
What actually falls under Explosives
Class 1 is divided into six divisions (1.1 to 1.6) graded by the severity of the explosion risk, from mass-explosion material in 1.1 down to extremely insensitive articles in 1.6. Almost none of it is relevant to parcel and e-commerce shipping: fireworks, ammunition and propellant charges move through licensed hazmat freight channels, not UPS Ground or a USPS counter. The one entry a general seller does encounter is UN0012, small-arms ammunition in Division 1.4S, which several carriers accept only under a separate, specifically approved programme rather than an ordinary hazmat agreement. Everything else in this class is outside the scope of a consumer marketplace listing, and a product that seems to fit here almost always turns out to be a different class entirely — a novelty lighter is Class 2.1, not Class 1, for instance. Classify7 has no consumer-facing entries encoded for this class for exactly that reason, not because the data is incomplete.
Carrier acceptance
The published default for this class. A UN-specific rule can override it — lithium batteries and dry ice are both Class 9 and are treated quite differently.
| Carrier | Ground | Air | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | prohibited | prohibited | Explosives are not accepted. Division 1.4S small-arms ammunition is handled only under a separate contracted programme. |
| FedEx | prohibited | prohibited | Explosives are not accepted, other than Division 1.4S under a specific approved programme. |
| USPS | prohibited | prohibited | Explosives are non-mailable. Small-arms ammunition is mailable only between specifically authorised parties. |
| Amazon FBA | prohibited | prohibited | Explosives of any division are not accepted into FBA. |
Carrier positions encode each carrier's published default as of the ruleset date. Tariffs change more often than regulations, and a contracted shipper may hold different terms — confirm against the carrier's current guide before the first shipment of a new item.
Encoded entries (2)
| UN | Proper shipping name | Class | PG | Labels | Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UN0012 | Cartridges for weapons, inert projectile or Cartridges, small arms | 1.4S | II | EXPLOSIVE 1.4S | pax limited·cargo permitted |
| UN0336 | Fireworks | 1.4G | II | EXPLOSIVE 1.4G | pax forbidden·cargo forbidden |
Classify a specific product in this class
The class alone does not give you a shipping paper. Send the actual product to POST /api/classify and you get the UN number, the proper shipping name, the packing group and every carrier position for that specific item.
Carrier rules for this class
Each carrier page sets out its ground and air position for all nine classes.
Other hazard classes
- Division 2.1 — Flammable gas
- Division 2.2 — Non-flammable, non-toxic gas
- Division 2.3 — Toxic gas
- Class 3 — Flammable liquids
- Division 4.1 — Flammable solids
- Division 4.2 — Spontaneously combustible
- Division 4.3 — Dangerous when wet
- Division 5.1 — Oxidizers
- Division 5.2 — Organic peroxides
- Division 6.1 — Toxic substances
- Division 6.2 — Infectious substances
- Class 7 — Radioactive material
- Class 8 — Corrosives
- Class 9 — Miscellaneous
Guides
Questions
- What is Class 1 — Explosives?
- Substances and articles that present a mass explosion, projection, fire or minor blast hazard.
- Does Class 1 — Explosives have a packing group?
- Yes for most entries. Packing group I is the highest danger, II medium, III low. Where an entry's packing group depends on a measured property (a flash point for Class 3, a concentration for Class 8), Classify7 asks for that figure rather than assuming one.
- Can I ship Class 1 — Explosives by air?
- UPS: prohibited; FedEx: prohibited; USPS: prohibited; Amazon FBA: prohibited. These are published carrier defaults, not regulatory limits — a contracted shipper may hold different terms, and the regulation may permit what the carrier declines.