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.
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.