With the increased emergence of unpredictable violent crime and gangs armed to the teeth, law enforcement agencies need to ensure officers have meaningful training to respond with precision, no matter the location or type of situation they are faced with.
Realistic scenario-based training is critical for LE, not only to create neural pathways (sometimes referred to as muscle memory) for operating their weapons, but also to build confidence by equipping them with the experience needed to make quick and accurate deployment decisions.
Qualification is not meaningful training
Firearms quals are not meaningful training. And while I like sending lead downrange as much as the next guy, real ammo cannot be used in force-on-force training or in shoot houses.
For the past 30 years most agencies have been forced to choose between paintball or airsoft systems, which lack the realism and fidelity of their duty firearms, or real firearms that have been converted to fire non-lethal marking or non-marking simulated ammunition.
Simulated ammunition, sold by a handful of companies, is used in real firearms by replacing barrels or bolts to prevent the use of real ammo during training exercises. The platform provides realistic recoil, ejects casings and provides more appropriate pain feedback than airsoft or paintball.
However, the cost of simulated ammunition can be as high as a buck a round – more than duty ammo – which means agencies may be forced to limit purchases and cut back on rounds expended during training.
And while converted weapons systems enhance the realism and provide a much more realistic and professional training experience, they also present very real safety and reliability issues.
Safety of simulated ammo
Two of the biggest safety concerns when training with simulated ammo are the use of real firearms and the lead-based primers used to ignite the cartridges. The latter means contaminated ejected casings must be accounted for and disposed of properly.
There are only two choices when agencies decide to use real firearms with simulated ammo: Allocate weapons solely to training or swap out parts before and after each training session.
Swapping parts takes time and requires specialized procedures to guarantee live ammo and the parts of a real firearm replaced for training can never enter the training area. This process can be complicated, requiring multiple staging areas and personnel to manage every step of converting a live weapon into a training weapon and ensuring officers don’t head back to their beat with weapons still loaded with non-lethal training ammo.
The lead-contaminated simulated cartridges used in a community-based active shooter exercise need to be counted, and the number of unfired cartridges and spent casings that come back must be in sync to ensure none are left behind in a school or food court, which could cause a panic the next business day.
Simulated ammunition tends to jam frequently. Almost every law enforcement instructor has experienced a stoppage during training when cartridges get stuck within the weapon.
While officers need to learn to clear stoppages, that is not the purpose of IRL (in real life) training, and jams distract from the training event and add wear and tear to converted duty weapons.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a firearms training system that matched the realism of converted weapons but was safe enough to train with in any environment?
Purpose-built realism: The UNIT Solutions approach
The founders of UNIT Solutions knew they needed to redefine what’s possible in a non-lethal training environment. Their innovative line of products provides officers with training systems that match the heft and realism of duty weapons but are safe enough to use in any location and offer unprecedented training versatility.
The same UNIT Solutions weapon can be used for basic weapons handling, dry fire training, marksmanship training with IR or red lasers, simulated training with video screens and VR headsets, force-on-target, force-on-force and full-blown scenario-based training.
The first system developed by UNIT Solutions is the purpose-built UNIT4 AR-pattern training rifle. This hyper-realistic training weapon comes in 10.5-inch, 14.5-inch and 16-inch barrel lengths and is as close as you can come to an AR-pattern rifle without being classified by the ATF as a firearm.
The parts for this American-made training system are sourced from the same United States-based supply chain as your favorite AR-pattern rifle. Except for the firing components and barrel, you can use the parts already in your armory to customize the UNIT4 to mirror your AR-pattern weapons – buttstock, rail, grip and nearly any other parts you equip your officers with.
Inside the UNIT4: Built for realism, safety and durability
The steel magazine is reloaded using a T-Pak. For safety, the magazine is designed to protect the operator if it is opened while a T-Pak is still charged. From left to right: Push the silver detent toward the bottom of the magazine and rotate the clip outward, releasing any residual CO2. Push the backup black safety detent and release the backup clip (top and bottom of the next column). Finally, remove the T-Pak. A video is at this link.
UNIT Solutions
So why the UNIT4 instead of a paintball or airsoft gun? From the ground up, the UNIT4 was designed as a professional-grade training tool for law enforcement and military and not for playing games. You get more robust parts, more felt recoil and steel-body magazines that won’t break when repeatedly dropped on concrete – like 300 times.
Patrick Fiorilli, executive director of the Ohio Tactical Officers Association (OTOA), is an early adopter of the UNIT4 rifle. He said they use it because “they deliver a level of realism and performance nothing else matches, period. These rifles aren’t just tough – they’re built to take abuse and keep running, which means less downtime, fewer repairs and more reps.”
The OTOA has used 28 UNIT4 rifles for their state-funded Active Shooter Response course since 2023, training more than 1,000 officers over 50-plus courses.
To reinforce the realism, Fiorilli points out they have “fully outfitted every one of our UNIT4 rifles with optics, slings, upgraded buttstocks, white lights and simulated suppressors to elevate the realism.” Most of these items can be moved to the UNIT4 and moved back at the end of the day.
The result? “It’s not about having ‘cool guy gear’ – it’s about proving a point: A well-configured weapon system, outfitted with components that enhance precision and control, increases survivability. Accuracy under stress saves lives, and we train like it.”
When asked to compare the UNIT4 rifles to those using simulated ammunition, Fiorilli said, “We’ve used nearly every weapons conversion platform available that allows the use of training munitions. While some of those systems do prevent live fire, they often come with serious drawbacks – mainly unreliable training ammo that causes frequent malfunctions and clogs barrels. That means constantly stopping to clean guns, losing valuable time and interrupting the flow of training.”
Moving to the opposite side of the country, Saber Tactics, a San Francisco Bay Area training organization, was founded by two law enforcement firearms training officers to offer courses to both other instructors and the rank and file. They bought into the UNIT Solutions vision after seeing them on display at the 2025 SHOT Show.
Instructor Nick Suslow is a former full-time SWAT team member for the San Francisco Police Department and was responsible for teaching CQB tactics for hostage rescue. He said the recoil of the UNIT4 is as close to his suppressed patrol rifle as he has ever seen (see video). Since the art of recoil management is a key part of both CQB and distance training, he says the UNIT4 rifles are a valuable addition to their training arsenal.
What’s next: The UNIT9 handgun
UNIT Solutions is about to release the UNIT9 handgun built on the same principles as their rifle, and Fiorilli is looking forward to its delivery. “If it performs anything like the UNIT4,” he said, “we expect it to become our go-to sidearm for scenario-based and force-on-force training.”
I’m looking forward to it as well and plan to get my hands on one as soon as I can. Stay tuned for a future review.
Nick Suslow runs the same drill twice. Note the nearly identical motions of the operator and the rifle on the top and bottom images.
This video shows how easy it is to train from home. The three-round targets are Laser Ammo’s i-MTTS, and the screen is displaying the Smokeless Range. The “flash hider” on the UNIT4 rifle can be swapped between a solid version compatible with a Laser Ammo IR or visible laser and another that is compatible with marking and non-marking rounds. With the Laser Ammo module in place, a friend or family member can hide battery-operated i-MTTS targets around the house, letting the operator play hide and seek to clear rooms without the danger of projectiles leaving the muzzle.
