A 338 is extreme overkill for small whitetails but the choice of scopes does not surprise me at all.Many people try to save money on scopes and many experience no problems but cheap optics due fail much more often than quality optics.I personally won't take the risk of a failure by using a cheap scope.I have never personally seen a leupold,ziess or swarovski scope fail but I have seen simmons,bsa and several tascos fail in one way or another.