Ok. So I have spent the last few weeks researching what I have and evaluating everything, I think. First lesson I’ve learned on this journey is to question what you’re told. I was told by someone I thought was very knowledgeable that I had a tuner on the rifle. It does have a tuner but it also has a radial muzzle brake. I think that was the source of some of the confusion regarding the length of the threaded portion. My apologies for not doing adequate research before I asked questions, second lesson learned.
I plan to continue conversations with some of the suggested places to make a custom brake or discuss drilling and rethreading a 7/16-24 to 5/8-28. Not 100% sure if that will work until I ask some more questions. Everything I have read has said the radial muzzle brake is not very effective. If I decide to get a better brake I can resign myself to shooting away from others at the range. I’m ok with that. The toss up is if I should leave it on in Africa or remove and install a thread protector. I recognize the PHs really don’t like them and you really don’t feel recoil when shooting game but if I have very high confidence on shot placement with the brake that is a significant factor.
There is also the opportunity to begin reloading and work up a load that reduces recoil.
Or, I continue with the current setup, learn to handle the recoil better and gain the confidence in shot placement. At least I have a year or so to get things figured out then a year to practice.