I miss my L glass...

Sold off my 17-40 and 24-70 lenses in order to help pay off some of my wife's debt and get myself a 50mm.

Well, I really miss my 24-70 especially. I realize that zoom's have their place as do primes. The chromatic aberration from my 50mm 1.4 is KILLING me right now. Never had those issues with my other lenses.

Is there any specific reason why nearly ALL my pictures look pretty good at a glance but once they are zoomed in to 100% or more they become completely distorted and grainy? (Not noise, but almost pixelated graininess)

Example images help a lot

Post sample images with Exif data and let us know what body/lens combination was used to make the shoot, too. Then we can help.

+1 Post some examples

StayLucky wrote in post #13011629
Is there any specific reason why nearly ALL my pictures look pretty good at a glance but once they are zoomed in to 100% or more they become completely distorted and grainy? (Not noise, but almost pixelated graininess)

Short Answer - You answered your own question. Stop pixel peeping, if they look good at a normal view, they will look good on a print.

Also, pictures would be nice, but as for now it just sounds like you're trying to find reasons to dislike the lens.

StayLucky wrote in post #13011629
zoomed in to 100% or more they become completely distorted and grainy? (Not noise, but almost pixelated graininess)

Why would you ever zoom in more than 100%? I very rarely zoom into 100 as it is.