I spend most of my time shooting my AR and .22 Ruger Gov. Target Model, so I am used to near tack driving accuracy.  However, I recently purchased my first centerfire handgun (9mm Beretta) and I was obviously overly opimistic.  I set up a 4 inch target at 50 yards and couldn't even hit the paper.

I guess my question is at what distances should I be shooting my 9mm and what size of spread is considered average shooting at those distances?  Thanks.

i think you mean 50 feet. a 4" target at 50 yards (~150 feet) will be impossible to hit. you wont be able to see the bloody thing.
the beretta trigger on my dads of rougher than the trigger on my Sig 226 9MM. very sweet pistol, expensive to. Target / Home defense pistol. for bigbore I have a 6-shot .357 Magnum S&W model 19(pre turncoat model, gun store had it for some 10 years and never could sell it.) with target trigger and hammer. replaced the target wood-grip (looked nice but was to big) with houge rubber grips.
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when in single action, all i do is touch the smiths trigger and it goes of. very nice for being accurate. all my guns are more accurate than i am.

As the others say, get a larger target & you'll be able to find out where point-of-impact is. Also try several different loads & weights. My 92FS prefers 124gr over 115gr. A trigger job is almost a must-have as they're not the smoothest from the factory.

*cough*Sell the Beretta and buy a Glock*hacking cough*

Sorry, have a cold [:)]

50 yards is target pistol territory.  A 4" group will score 95 or so on a bullseye conventional pistol target.  That's pretty decent.  4" groups at 25 yards during matches are pretty ordinary by bullseye standards.

From a Ransom Rest, a good bullseye pistol will do under 3" at 50 yards.  For most out of the box pistols, 12" to 24" is typical.  Many a good revolver will do 10" with no additional work.  Shooting from your hand introduces too many variables to measure the pistol's performance when you're just starting out.

I've never considered myself a master, but I guess I must be above average.  

There are less accurate rounds than the 9MM, but not many.  The trigger on a stock Beretta feels like two bricks rubbing together.  I fired some of the original issue M9s (AF) in qualification testing back in the 80s.  About the best I could manage was four or five inches at 25 yards.  At the same time I was heavy in IPSC and could easily manage two inch groups with my .45s.  Give an artist a paint roller and he'll do a good job painting your house, but don't expect him to duplicate the Mona Lisa.

Just my nickel.

Eddie

BUT, on TV the good guys routinely shoot the bad guys, ONE HANDED ON THE RUN , at 50-100 yards!!

Sometimes they hit bad guys, gangsta style, shooting the pistol SIDEWAYS, no sights.

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If you're missing the paper entirely, it's either too small or too far away.  I would try again at 10 yards with a bigger target just to get on the paper and see the groups.  

The Beretta 9mms can be accurate pistols, at least by service pistol standards.  Any firearm with a moving barrel that's only supported at one end will have a hard time matching the accuracy of a fixed-barrel .22 pistol.

Some suggestions:

1) Try different ammo.  Fiocchi and Geco work well for me.

2) Blacken the sights.  

3) Replace the Beretta's mainspring with the mainspring from a 1911-style pistol.  This is a cheap and simple way to improve the trigger pull.  If you ever anticipate the need to fire hard-primered ammo under adverse conditions, switch back.

BTW, I talked with someone who shot over 230 (out of 300 possible) points with a stock Beretta in a CMP "leg" match.  That isn't a winning score, but it's better than many people do with accurized 1911-style pistols.