The Problem: Force-fed hoppers + today's undersized paint + original twistlock Automag barrels = double feeding and chopping paint

The Question(s): Does anyone know the specs of the wire used to make the old V-notch wire nubbins (gauge, type of steel, etc)? Or at least have good experiences with a serviceable substitute? The shape is simple enough to replicate with hand tools; it's just a question of using wire that will retain its shape but bend enought to not slice balls.
Or does anyone have any tips for reliably getting the new plastic nubbins to project further into the barrel to prevent double feeding with newer motorized hoppers and undersized paint? I've considered dipping them in plasti-dip or even making impressions of them and casting replacements out of silicone or another moldable rubber.

Related question: Has anyone ever had a twistlock barrel modified to use some other type of detent? I recently bought a cocker thread adapter from Doc's Machine and it uses what I think are old-style Spyder detents (vaguely thumbtack shaped, just a rubber shaft with flat round flared base). The milling is a simple slot (to give the shaft somewhere to lay flat when the bolt pushes it down) with a blind hole drilled about halfway through the thickness of the metal to accomodate the base. It seems simple enough that it might be easy to have an existing barrel machined to do the same. Has anyone tried this?

The background to these questions, for anyone interested to know, is that my buddy and I both returned to paintball this past year after about a 20 year absence. New seals got our old Level 7 classic Mags back in working order quite easily (as you would expect). For Christmas, I bought him a new Empire Halo Too hopper, thinking that solving the problem of outshooting one's hopper would finally let his Mag perform to its true potential. Much to our disappointment, when we tried it out a couple of weeks ago it chopped balls like crazy, presumably because the hopper was overcoming the nubbin. I'll see what I can go about adjusting the stack tension/motor speed, but I imagine that I'll also need to do something to the nubbin. Today's paint just drops right through.