I love big objectives, although I tend to stick to 40mm on my "mountain rifles". North America is actually pretty unique in having hunting curfews and you have to remember in much of the rest of the world, much of the hunting occurs at times outside of hunting hours over there. Probably a majority of hunting in my part of the world is done in low light - we often won't head out the door until late in the day, and there is no doubt the most productive part of the day to hunt is around sun up and down. We also hunt at night under light frequently. That being the case, large objective scopes designed for low light performance are an invaluable tool. The big objective European scopes with coatings optimised for low light performance and illuminated reticles simply kick arse in this environment - they can literally extend the duration of your hunting day by as much as an hour, and it is the best hour of the day. It is very common here to see a $500 rifle with a $2000 scope on top, especially in the hands of professional shooters.
It does produce difficulties, and nobody likes high scope mounts. The ability to get big objectives into low mounts and close to the bore line is one of the biggest advantages of the Blaser R93/8 design. Heavy barrels exacerbate the issue. The argument that large objectives necessarily result in significantly heavier scopes though is nonsense. A 50mm vs 40mm objective and larger bell only adds about an ounce in weight for the same lens material. However, when going up to the larger objectives, frequently the manufacturer will choose a heavier LD lens system, which it makes for a much heavier scope. But you can get very lightweight 50mm objective scopes - the Swarovski Z3 x50 being a great example.
