Nerf N Strike Elite Triad

I already own a triad that I bought years ago. I figured I would pick up another one because it shot hard, accurately, and was just good fun: everything just worked really well. No hiccups with the intelligent AR; it held even worn darts that I've fired probably over 50 times in place without popping out. And even the 3rd (weakest) shot hit hard and went far with no noticeable degradation in fps or range. When I opened up the new one I ordered and fired the first 3 shots, I could immediately tell something was off. The first 2 shots seem on par with my old triad, if not a little down on velocity, but the 3rd shot was significantly down on velocity and range. In some cases it was really bad to the point where my jolt was outshooting it. Not only that but the inner barrel was noticeably looser so darts that were snug in my old triad, popped out with ease due to the AR springs. I did end up opening up the new triad and noticed that the ARs were a different design and the prongs were a little too long where they did not fully recess. The AR also had excess material where it seemed like it was blocking off airflow. And to top it all off the seal in the ARs were very poor due to uneveness in the plastic that the rubber pad presses up against when a dart is not loaded. This uneveness allows air to escape. Darts not fully loaded in the barrel will still be pushed out slightly by the escaping air. This does not happen in my old triad. There is nothing I can reasonably do to fix it since the AR system is a sealed unit. This was evident due to the fact that the piston seems to have no damping and slams back up hard even when no darts are loaded. My old triad has a very noticeable damping effect. Overall, I'm not sure if I got a dud, or if I just happened to get a super well built triad the first time, or if QC is slipping. It would probably be best to try to buy a used one for $5 or so.