Bead blasting will really strip paint quickly. But you need to be very careful around close point work like slide serrations and the serrations along the top. The paint will hold better in the grooves and you can easily damage the edgework of the cuts by going after it.
A commonly applied stripper to thoroughly deal with polycoat and epoxy finishes is a product called Aircraft Stripper. I think Kleen Strip is one mfg of this but it is some really nasty stuff that thoroughly eats the finish and is the one advised on this forum for complete stripping. Don’t use it on aluminum as there is a hydroxide component that will cause damage to Al. Use eye and skin protection. And the one that seems similar isn’t the right stuff. Aircraft Stripper.
After stripping, if you want to do some bead blasting to provide a nice, matte finish, go for it. The exposure will be quick and won’t be sufficient to erode sharp peaks. I’ve done this to contoured surfaces for refinishing and it really looks nice (after any rust removal with sandpaper, of course). After this I resand the flat areas to give a nice two-tone appearance. One of these days I’m gonna just blast the whole thing before rebluing to give kind of a pseudo park/gray.
