Tamara linked a fellow blogger who bought a Russian SKS carbine. Commenting on the high-quality finish of early post-war versions of the Russian weapon, she said:

the Soviets were able to actually turn out a decently-finished rifle when they weren’t distracted by Jerry tanks crashing through the factory walls. I guess that could kind of put a damper on the ol’ Q.C. effort…

Colour me amused. I imagine current-day software companies would love such an easily understandable excuse for the glaring problems that sometimes make it past their quality control measures.