Gun related topics by no means have to be political. As a matter of fact, the gun collector and the pinball collector have more in common than you realize.

For example, about 6 years ago, I was looking for a couple of Yugoslavian SKS's. I wanted a good deal, and I was going to give one to my father as a gift. I found a dealer with a pile of what seemed to be some pretty ratty Yugo SKS. So, I went to work. I examined all of the rifles, and ended up picking 2 rifles from the lowest price pile. To the untrained eye, they looked like junk. One was missing the bayonet, the other missing it's cleaning rod. They were both absolutely filthy.

However, the experienced military collector knows that cosmetics can be deceiving. The two rifles I chose had excellent bores, and strong rifling. Most importantly, all serial #'s on the rifles matched, including the stocks. This means that the rifles were well cared for, and never had to have any major parts replaced. I paid $110 for each of them, and the dealer threw in an extra bayonet to replace the one that was missing.

I took the rifles home and completely disassembled them, to include removing all hardware from the stocks. I put the stocks in the dish washer and ran them through the pots and pans cycle twice each. This is the easiest and most effective ways to completely strip and clean an SKS stock. It also steams out all of the small dings and blemishes on the stocks. This is what they looked like after they were stripped (I had not put all of the hardware back on):
<img src="http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q742/nhm11/1354768232767_zps72e34277.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 1354768232767_zps72e34277.jpg"/>

I then applied a beautiful stain and oil that really brought out the beautiful grain of the wood. I reassembled them and gave one to my dad. Astonishingly, the one I gave him shoots MOA at 100yds. I have never heard of an SKS with such a level of accuracy. This is what they looked like in the end:
<img src="http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q742/nhm11/IMG_2137_zpsebbb3994.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2137_zpsebbb3994.jpg"/>
<img src="http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q742/nhm11/IMG_2139_zpsbbba950d.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2139_zpsbbba950d.jpg"/>
<img src="http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q742/nhm11/IMG_2138_zpsb908cc04.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2138_zpsb908cc04.jpg"/>
<img src="http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q742/nhm11/IMG_2141_zps89f7ea60.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2141_zps89f7ea60.jpg"/>

The point I'm trying to prove is that you shouldn't stereotype a subject as "political" when it is not inherently political. They become political when you start talking about politics. Regardless, this is probably the only gun post I will make, I don't come here to talk about guns.