Pics will come later, but for now I wanted to update all of you on the results.
Please note distance for all shooting was at 50 yards.
So, with 100 grain American Eagle in my 20 inch Big Boy was about a 1 inch to 1.125", which is 2 MOA. There did seem to be some issues with diagonal stringing, but some of the groups came in a more normal pattern. Some 3 shot groups were under 1 inch, but my 5 shot groups seemed to be at an inch or slightly more.
Dunno how much was probably on me tho. Not only did I not have much cheek to rest my face on, the Mueller scope has a really poor eyebox; you have to get your face in the perfect spot to get the best picture. Also, every time I worked the lever I had to take it off the rest, so I can't say I had a perfectly repeatable shot every time.
However, I don't expect to ever have that in the field and for taking a deer at 150 yards a 3 inch group is doable for a clean kill.
That said, I think it's time I invest in a better rest. I only have a plastic MTM rest that I bought because it was both for rifle and pistols, the buttstock section can be removed leaving just the front and has a flat spot to rest your hands on when pistol shooting. Shooting with pistols is better than rifles for this rest.
So, I do think the 2 MOA I got can be improved. I don't think 1 MOA is possible, but 1.5 MOA I can see. I do wish some JSP bullets were available in the caliber so I could load my own and I would like to see Federal offer a 115 grain JSP bullet in the future as I've noticed that the .32's tend to like heavier bullets.
Anyway, I'll have to load up some low power/subsonic ammo in the future and see what it does. I would think that the groups will shrink down to 1 MOA, which for small game out to 100 yards is ideal. I also have a 125 grain gas checked LRN that I plan to load in .327 and see what results that gives.
I'm not sure how well 2 MOA is for a lever action rifle in a magnum revolver caliber. I recall reading that 1 MOA is really good, but 2 MOA is about average. For those who shoot .357 lever actions, what MOA are you guys getting?
As for general shooting, recoil is mild, noise is not as loud as some have claimed it is in a rifle, and blast is also manageable. It was certainly a lot better than the guy blasting .308 next to me.
PS: Overall, I'm pleased I finally got this done. I got this rifle in March 2018 and shot it with the iron sights and some .32 Mag ammo I handloaded and was happy with the results at 125 yards on steel plates, but ever since before I bought it I had planned to scope it and something else always came up or I just never got motivated to do it.
Then I had a job interview that looked like I'd be getting a lot of overtime available, looked like I was going to get it and I decided I needed to focus on getting this accomplished, so I blocked out an hour today to mount the base, rings, and scope. Sadly I'm not getting the job, but at least it got me motivated to finally do this, so it's not a total wash.