To confuse matters, several common self-loading pistol designs use cartridges labelled "Automatic Colt Pistol", including the venerated Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1.
Which brings up another point: for a long time, self-loading pistols were called "automatic pistols", even though they were (under the terminology you describe here) only semi-automatic. There have been a few fully automatic pistols made, but when someone speaks of "an automatic" in the context of handguns, they are almost always referring to a semi-automatic. They may not know that, however.
Oh, even more confusing: I have a borrowed Iver Johnson's Arms & Bicycle Works Safety Automatic top-break .32 revolver. The "safety" is because of the transfer bar, a brand-new technology at the time. The "automatic" was because it helpfully ejects the shells from the cylinder when you open it, instead of having to push a push-rod or something. So it's not even a semiautomatic weapon, but it has "automatic" right there in the model name!
(Note that this is one of those "might legally be a gun, might legally be not-a-gun" items, depending on which side of the dividing line this particular serial-number was made. The exact same weapon -- same model -- exists on both sides of that legal divide. Ammunition for it is a little hard to find, but is still being manufactured.)
So yeah, between at least four models of I-J Safety Automatics from 100-120 years ago, and the Colt ACP cartridges, and the casual shorthand of "automatic pistol" for semi-auto that you've described (I haven't heard that usage from people who know what they're talking about, but it's quite likely that you've been in far more conversations where it could occur than I have -- I have heard it from people who are unclear about the difference), there's room to get a little confused, but I think that it's still important to speak carefully in gun-control debates/blogging/political-ads/etc. so that we're speaking the same language.
automatic pistol
Which brings up another point: for a long time, self-loading pistols were called "automatic pistols", even though they were (under the terminology you describe here) only semi-automatic. There have been a few fully automatic pistols made, but when someone speaks of "an automatic" in the context of handguns, they are almost always referring to a semi-automatic. They may not know that, however.
Re: automatic pistol
(Note that this is one of those "might legally be a gun, might legally be not-a-gun" items, depending on which side of the dividing line this particular serial-number was made. The exact same weapon -- same model -- exists on both sides of that legal divide. Ammunition for it is a little hard to find, but is still being manufactured.)
So yeah, between at least four models of I-J Safety Automatics from 100-120 years ago, and the Colt ACP cartridges, and the casual shorthand of "automatic pistol" for semi-auto that you've described (I haven't heard that usage from people who know what they're talking about, but it's quite likely that you've been in far more conversations where it could occur than I have -- I have heard it from people who are unclear about the difference), there's room to get a little confused, but I think that it's still important to speak carefully in gun-control debates/blogging/political-ads/etc. so that we're speaking the same language.