Can light firing pin strikes cause accuracy issues??

[Firefour]

Remington 700, 308 cal
Had a bit of a first time problem at the range. Shot five groups of five at 300 and they were crap. Three to four inches. This is a custom built .5 moa rifle at worst for the most part.
Noticed the bolt closed a bit easier than usual, and had 4 primer strikes that did not ignite the round. Looking at the primer strikes they appear to be light compared to the past
strikes. This was with handloads and factory ammo.

Question to those in the know, will a light primer strike affect accuracy??
Thanks

 

[J!m]

I don't know if a light strike would affect accuracy; however INCONSISTENT strikes probably will.

And of course striking too light, so the round does not fire, makes it extremely difficult to get a hit on target. So in that sense, yes, it greatly affects accuracy!

I would check both the spring as well as the pin length. Maybe the pin is broken or undersize/worn for some reason. Taking the bolt apart you will quickly see if you have a bunch of gunk in the pin hole too. If it's an older rifle, gunk can accumulate in there and cause problems. I don't have all the specs for pin length and spring tension but they should be easy to find for a 700 chambered in .308.

If this just came from the shop as a ".5 MOA custom build", I'd be on the phone while at the range with a polite "WTF??" for them...