Hehn hehn hehn, someone else, now. <....sigh> Well, the problem is that the sticks just aren't designed from the ground up for this. I've had some success with P360s, and U360s.
In the case of the former, I replaced the inner plastic pieces above and below the middle point of the base with plastic sleeves of a thicker outer diameter. It's pretty tight relatively speaking, and I can see many wouldn't like it perhaps because of clumsiness. Yoo must be kung foo, yoo seee.
In the case of the U360, I got it down to about two or three millimeters, and for a while the issue was that the mapping software couldn't handle that, but can now because you can input your own values into the ini. However, the other issue is hardware-related, where the shaft isn't held VERY STRICTLY in place by the base (as the P360 is).