Interruptions In Nickel Full Steps

My coin shop guy recently told me that (at least by PCGS standards), any interruption from left to right does eliminate the FS designation in Jefferson nickels. If that's true, I find that unfair and literally un-reason-able. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the 'specialness' of full steps was about strike quality, not anything that happens after the strike. Granted, post-mint wear can remove steps too, in which case you can't know how many were struck. But if the coin clearly received a sharp 5-6 steps in striking, especially if it's a mint date notorious for lousy strikes, why shouldn't a vertical nick just be figured into the number grade, same as if it was anywhere else on the coin? Using it to deny that an excellent strike occurred just seems like a manipulation to keep FS populations artificially low.#65279;