THe over sized loop is nicer fora couple of reasons. First it makes if a little more comfortable while shooting the heavy loads, the smaller loop doesn't leave your hand anywhere to go during recoil and can actually be pretty painfull, second it is much nicer for use while wearing gloves and easier to grab quickly. Add to that it just plain looks cool.You can leather wrap theregular lever with leatherand try to file away most of the sharp edges to help with the recoil bite.