I appreciate all the help so far. I have no real use for a flash hider other than maybe it looks better than the thread protector. As for a muzzle brake, I had read that they make things guns significantly louder for the shooter and others standing around them, but I'm not too concerned with noise. I don't shoot at a range, and I always wear ear protection when shooting, especially with a 7mm mag. That's a pretty loud gun on it own. I'm still a little on the fence if I want to spend the money on a muzzle brake, they seem to be pretty expensive and I've gotten by for many years without one. But now that I've been reading on them and claims of reducing recoil by 65% or more is pretty intriguing. I've found one that seems at the lower end of the price scale, but top end of the performance scale. It's made by Precision Armament and they say it's good for anything from .243 up to .338 Lapua.
https://precisionarmament.com/produc...l-compensator/
I would be happy to hear your thoughts on that one, or if anyone has actual experience with it, . They claim 65%-75% reduction in recoil, watched a YouTube video that got results of 64.6% recoil reduction. So anyway, that's where I'm at at the moment.