I've been carrying a 43c since 2017, back when folks ridiculed people for carrying a .22 LR for self defense. I'm glad to see folks listening to Rhett in a manner that they never listened to Claude, because a .22 LR revolver is just as reliable as a centerfire revolver using the right ammunition. I went so far as to keep a range log for over 2000 rounds of bulk ammo versus CCI Stingers. The failure of the Stingers ran at a fraction of a percent. This led me to investigate why the premium ammo failed when it shouldn't have.
The main difference between Rhett's 8000 rounds of no failures versus my couple is that ALL my Stingers fired were carried, sometimes for an extended period of several weeks. So the short answer is that one needs to cycle the carry ammo in a .22 much more often than in a centerfire due to the differences in primer construction and the heeled bullet.
I still carry the 43C, I'm still running the reduced power Wolff spring and still get the same reliability as before. I ditched the 642 because I was underwhelmed with the accuracy and didn't care for the lighter bullets I needed to buy to maintain PoA/PoI. I like the weight of the 43C and the less obtrusive speedstrip.
I get a lot of folks have doubts about the .22 as a defensive tool. It's certainly intimidating to go against peer pressure.
In regards to never having a .38 or .357 fail, while I've never had either fail in a J frame, I have numerous failures in a L frame, L frame, N frame, and an LCR. That's probably a result of tens of thousands of rounds fired during matches and practice.
Men freely believe that which they desire.
Julius Caesar