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.
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