(I've always heard "full-automatic" as applying to machine guns, "semi-automatic" as applying to handguns, and "automatic" as applying to both. Which is correct?)
Okay, I'll take a crack at this one...
Here's how it was explained to me, many long years ago:
"
full-automatic" and "
semi-automatic" are terms that describe the weapon's
manner of firing.
If you pull the trigger
one time, and it fires only one round before requiring you to release (reset) the trigger and pull it again, it is
semi-automatic
If you pull the trigger and hold it back, and the weapon continues to fire until the trigger is released, it is
full-automatic.
These two terms apply to any firearm.... rifle, pistol, and anything in-between.
The term "Automatic", on the other hand, is sort of a slang term that is applied to a handgun or long arm that, when fired,
automatically reloads the chamber from a magazine of some kind. It's really just an easy way of denoting that you're NOT speaking of a revolver, pump, lever-action, bolt-action, etc.
Well, usually it is.... Then people came up with things like the Webley-Fosbery, Dardic(sp?), and the Mateba Model 6 Unica, which are all a kind of "automatic revolver", and muddied the waters even further...
Anyway, at least around my neck o' the woods, an "automatic" is generally accepted to be a handgun with no cylinder in it's middle. *shrug*
Hope this helps.
J.C.
P.S. Told ya 200 rounds wouldn't be enough.