Why larger objective bells????

[jon lynn]

I was sifting through my pile of scopes, dying for me to get them a rifle to mate with, and noticed that every scope thet was older had an objective bell that was very small compared to the newer ones, except for Leupold and Bushnell Elites.

In my younger days I never had a problem with Bushnell scopes, except for those big objective bells, can't mount low and still clear the bolt handle. But in the slightly higher price/quality scopes, like the Fullfield II, and the new line of Swifts, the bells are getting bigger.

When I talked to the rep for MEADE (Simmons) at the Nuernberg Gun Show (IWA), he said that it was in the fact that you needed a bigger bell for the 'fast focus'..............I don't think he was lying, but okay.....is that true? Or is that a save money thing?