In a system for electro-optically reading bar code symbols, a movable reflector is rearwardly positioned in a hand-held housing. A sensor receives light reflected off a bar code symbol from the reflector over a scan that extends across the entire bar code symbol. The housing has a window, a front end and a handle for enabling a user to hold and support the housing in one's hand, and to aim the front end of the housing at the bar code symbol during reading. A signal processor in the housing processes an electrical signal from the sensor to generate therefrom data descriptive of the bar code symbol being read. The reflector is positioned at a distance from the front end of the housing, and the length of the scan is proportional to that distance.