an automatic term refering to a handgun
 

Where did the notion of the term "an automatic" started to refer to semi-auto handguns? You hear it all the time in movies and even in papers and spoken by everyone, but since semi-auto is semi-auto and not "automatic" where did this little habbit started?

As best I know, it was a term used to describe the very first pistols that we now call "semi-automatics" today. My Dad has a book on Colt's history which features re-prints of many of Colt's advertisements. In one of them (from about 1915 or so), the Colt Model 1902 is simply referred to as a "Colt Automatic Pistol". Back then, there weren't submachine guns or assault rifles, and semi-automatic weapons of all types were new. So pistols like the 1902 and 1911 were just called "automatic" pistols, while a machine gun was a machine gun.

The term Automatic came from the pistols mechanical functions. The 1911 loads the round and cocking the hammer in the same operation. The revolver uses an extra operation if not more to complete it's operation. Hence the name Automatic since it is doing the work for you.

Well that makes sense though nowadays ppl do get confused with that terms

I have a Colt 1903 Pocket Hammer and a foreign contract 1911, both made in 1919. They're marked Automatic Colt and Colt Automatic, respectively. I also have a Webley & Scott 1910 marked '38 Automatic Pistol, and while I don't read Czech, I have a CZ-38 from 1940 that I'm fairly sure also says automatic pistol. The term was used quite widely for a long time.

It's because it referred to auto-loader not auto firing, but nowadays people get them confused all the time. As a side note, by 1902 we DID already had full auto firing guns. People forget that we had full autos, semi autos for over a hundred years now.

We can thank Hyrim Maxim and John Browning for those. Kudos to Richard Gatling for trying. :)

On a different note but similiar on weapons terms, the B.A.R. Is it so wrong to call it "Bar" as in the word it spells. I heard some people never call it that. Why is it such a problem? I mean it sounds like calling a BAR "bar" is almost as bad as calling the Desert Eagle a Deagle.

My guess is because it's a fad term, and not a particularly good one at that. Though I could see the potential confusion that could arise from something like this...

*As we see a group of US Army infantry surrounding a seemingly vacant house's door on the French countryside during WWII...*

Soldier 1: Door's shut tight. But I bet I could pry this open if I had something to do it with. Anyone got a bar or something?
Soldier 2: Yeah, I got one. *runs up to Soldier 1 and gives him his B.A.R.*
Soldier 1: :eek: ...

As for Deagle...that just sounds BAD, man. Especially so when you consider how highly video games and the entertainment industry regard the Desert Eagle. Takes away from the potential perceived badassery of the gun.

What about the FAL? I've seen a lot of docs that just spell it out, so do people just pronounce it as it is? A "Fal"