Removing barrel nut without marring finish

Hello all,

For the most part, my Savage rifles to date have had either just naked stainless for a finish, or that black oxide coating that Savage uses on some of their tactical rigs. I've got a rifle on order with a blued finish, and since for me its usually a matter of 'when' not 'if' I end up taking the barrel off for one reason or another and putting it back ;) I'm interested if anyone has any 'no mar' tricks for getting the barrel nut off?

One thing I was wanting to do to the gun (down the road) is have the barrel and action coated with Duracoat... again, kind of something I don't want to ding up with the barrel nut wrench if I can avoid it. I was hoping maybe if I loosen the nut before, and re-headspace it (using gauges) but with it snug, not gorilla-tight, then if I need to bust it loose post-Duracoat it might not be as abusive on the coating...

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Monte

I think you're on the right track with re-installing the barrel nut with chimp torque as opposed to gorilla torque. That will go a long way in reducing the amount of damage caused by the wrench.