I have a beautiful Krag sporter, but need to replace the receiver which has been drilled to death for various scope mounts and sights. The barrel is just fine - clean and nicely blued. I bought a stripped receiver, but I am intimidated by what I’m reading about the difficulty of removing the barrel. I am an absolute novice at gunsmithing. Everything I’ve read comes from the perspective that the barrel is expendable and the receiver is holy. In my case it’s the opposite. If the receiver is expendable, is there an opportunity to simplify the barrel removal? Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

It should be fairly simple, provided the barrel isn't larger at the receiver ring than a standard barrel.  I use an old pipe vise with thick aluminum shims over the barrel to prevent marring.  Then a wrench that tightens over the receiver, again with aluminum shims.  A barrel with a diameter larger than the original has to be seated to the receiver, and the face of US receivers are often not square.

The one Krag barrel I pulled off was not extremely tight. Krag barrels are evidently more or less interchangeable, with tolerances being what they are some will be a lot tighter to make things line up.
Another forum member that had access to a milling machine built his own tools to replace a barrel also. If you go over this thread:    (You need to Login
Most people do not have access or know how on the milling machine. If you were to get the action removed with a pipe vice and shims to protect the barrel, the barrel going in to the new receiver could be tighter or looser. So you will have another opportunity to really score up the barrel. Also you will need to hold the new receiver so as not to break or ruin the finish while tightening.
If you happen to be near San Antonio you could bring it by here and I would attempt it. If successful I would like to keep the old receiver just to have one in hand when questions come up.

Just a couple of added thoughts. I am not a gun smith and can not legally take in gun smith work. It is legal for a non gun smith to work on someone else's gun if it never leaves the sight of the owner, thus the offer for you to walk in here with it.
  If you do not have access to a milling machine or the skills to make clamps like those described in that thread, it would be easier to take it to a gunsmith that has already worked on Krags. Screwing the barrel off, cleaning the threads and tightening the barrel would likely take less than an hour. If the barrel lines up so the sight is centered, the extractor slot is aligned, and head space is correct, I do not see where that would cost too much more than $50.00. From what I have been hearing here, most likely those 3 things will be OK. If not you will probably need the gun smith's help to straighten things up.
One more thought if you have access to a heavy vice bolted down to something very substantial I could lend you my clamps. On the "HowTo sporterize" thread there are photos of the vice and milling machine I used as well as the clamps.

Thanks to you both. I feel a bit more confident now. But I also see the wisdom of having a pro do it. If I’m not able to borrow the appropriate tools, their cost will probably exceed the gunsmith bill. Just buying the head space gauges gets me close to that $50 mark. Thanks again for sharing your experience and advice!

There are easy ways to check the head space without the usual gauges.