[El Gato]

And who would know better what nomenclature to use? Browning or Liddy.

You all need to step away from the keyboard.

You are getting confused. There is no conflict. Libby has no problem calling a semi-auto, like John M. Browning's creations, a "pistol". It's revolvers being termed pistols that gets his dander up. My fahter in law, a little older the G. Gordon, used the terms the same way. He had several of each in his gun safe, but the one beside the bed was a .45 ACP pistol.

[Dead Corpse]

Pistol Pis"tol\, n. [F. pistole, pistolet, It. pistola; prob. from a form Pistola, for Pistoja, a town in Italy where pistols were first made. Cf. Pistole.] The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, -- now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

Are we done now?