[central_va]

Navy and U.S. Marines who carried an earlier version of the Colt as their official sidearm — the Model 1911 .45-caliber automatic.

Assuming that you weren't joking: the terms semi-automatic and automatic mean the same thing when applied to both pistols and shotguns.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Assuming that you weren't joking: the terms semi-automatic and automatic mean the same thing when applied to both pistols and shotguns.

No, I was not joking. That's news to me. I don't know if there is some sort of definitive source for firearm nomenclature, but I'd need to see something to back that up.

[Ratman83]

Assuming that you weren't joking: the terms semi-automatic and automatic mean the same thing when applied to both pistols and shotguns.BS automatic and semi-automatic are different for any shotgun and pistol. Dumb journalist may not understand that, but that does not eliminate the differences.

[USMCPOP]

Assuming that you weren't joking: the terms semi-automatic and automatic mean the same thing when applied to both pistols and shotguns.

There are a few full-auto shotguns. The Glock 18 is a full-auto pistol. Glock 18

Automatic can mean automatic loading of the next shell or cartridge, or full-auto firing as in a machine gun.

[Forty-Niner]

At the turn of the century, when the Model 1911 was being designed, the term “automatic” refered to it’s loading feature, not it’s firing capability. The 1911 was an automatic “loading” pistol. It fired with each pull of the trigger and loaded “automatically” between each shot.