I recently purchased a 22 caliber and got the same issues at Rehearsals so I contacted EHX direct and received the following reply from a John Pesani at EHX

“This is a design flaw in the 22 Caliber which was then fixed in the 44 Magnum. You should return it and get a 44 Magnum. “

Took it back to the shop, showed them this and they sorted me out a Magnum 44 although I had to pay the extra.

Surprised though that other than discontinuing the 22 Caliber – EHX have not issued a statement or a recall here.