Savage barrel removal

[Hannibal]

I have a Savage model 10 in .308 that I want to replace the barrel on. I was all eager to do this myself, until I ran into a couple of posts mentioning beads used during the duracoat, of what ever that flat finish they use now is, process.
So. Its a looooooooong story, but this rifle has been back to Savage twice. It started life hot blued. First time it came back from Savage with a hot-blued bolt and a duracoat barrel and action. Second time it came back hot blued again. Never could get them to put a good barrel on it. Which is why I'm thinking of changing it.
Now the question. For those of you who have done it, are these 'beads' a big deal, or much ado about nothing?
Same answer after a second blueing job?

[lefty o]

if your removing the barrel, why are you worried about whatever they did to the finish on it? once its out of the stock, a savage barrel change is about a 10 minute job.

[KLR]

I had some crunchy stuff in the threads on mine. I used penetrating oil liberally and worked the nut back and forth a little at a time to work the oil in and lube the threads. I went slowly and ended up with no damage to the threads.

[Hannibal]

That's what I was expecting myself until today. I could care less what this barrel looks like once it's off. I'm planning to save it simply as an example of a factory barrel that "Meets our specifications".
The question I have is, I have gathered that during the "matte, durocoat, or satin" finish process, Savage apparently uses some sore of microbead media to blast the barrel with. Allegedly, this stuff gets down into the barrel threads and makes barrel removal a 'challenge', to be polite about it.
I've already been fooling around with this thing for months. A 10 minute barrel change sounds great. A 3-week Kroil soak, trip to the machine shop, and special fitting by a gunsmith? Yeah, I think I'll pass.
So, I was wondering if anyone has messed with these "satin finished' rifles Savage is putting out now and if it was no big deal or a nightmare?

[Hannibal]

KLR - apparently you and I were posting at the same time. GREAT! I can deal with what you are describing. I suppose at the end of the day I'll never know until I try and open "Pandora's box".

[tomme boy]

The beads are steel shot that is used to remove the scale on the receiver after heat treat. If the reciever has been apart already, don't worry about it. It has already been removed.

[Hannibal]

The beads are steel shot that is used to remove the scale on the receiver after heat treat. If the reciever has been apart already, don't worry about it. It has already been removed.

Ok. I don't know squat about blueing processes. What are the odds that they removed the barrel from the receiver when they refinished it?

[Iron Whittler]

Chances are pretty good they removed barrel to do blue job. Much easier to remove old finish, polish, and blue.