I’ve been shooting every now and then for the last 20-ish years and I’m a decent shot. I’ve shot a handful of different pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Leaning towards getting a pistol, not totally sure what I’d get. It would be for home/self defense but I like to go to the range sometimes. I’m considering:
- Some sort of 1911
- Ruger LC380 (is it even possible to get a CCW in CA?)
Any thoughts/recommendations?
You might not like it, but “automatic” has been a term for semi-automatic self loading handguns. Here is an NRA article written in 2024 repeatedly referring to “automatics”. John Browning himself developed “ACP”- Automatic Colt Pistol cartridges, which were named such at the time, which were used for Colt Automatic Pistols.
Non-Colt pistols have also been referred to by their makers as automatics. A Bauer “Automatic 25” example.. A family of Webley & Scott handguns.
As to use, people still put up listings referring to self loading pistols as “automatics”.
And another listing.
You can buy a 7th edition of book called Gun Digest Book of Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly which was refreshed in 2022 and still kept the name.
And for good measure, this isn’t even a pistol but shows historical willingness to consider self loading as automatic, the Browning Automatic-5 shotgun.
You can disagree if it is a good term, you can use other terms, but it is a thoroughly established and used term.