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mike_baram · 26 August 1999, 07:57 PM

Michael,
The bandying about of the terms "automatic" and "semi-automatic" can cause dizzy spells in the most normal of crania. Except for full-fledged machine guns, every hand-held automatic is also a semi-automatic. It just depends which position the safety is. If one pull of the trigger can fire multiple rounds, it's automatic. If one pull fires one bullet, it's semi-automatic (assuming that the action also positions the next bullet for firing).
As far as I'm concerned, the only weapon that doesn't fit either description is one that can only hold one round, and has to be re-loaded, or have the bullet chambered by operating the bolt for each shot. That includes Springfield 1903s, and flintlock muskets.
Regards,
Mike

26 August 1999, 07:57 PM	#34 (permalink)
mike_baram Forum Ace Contributor Join Date: Sep 1998 Location: Kyle, TX Posts: 2,019	Michael, The bandying about of the terms "automatic" and "semi-automatic" can cause dizzy spells in the most normal of crania. Except for full-fledged machine guns, every hand-held automatic is also a semi-automatic. It just depends which position the safety is. If one pull of the trigger can fire multiple rounds, it's automatic. If one pull fires one bullet, it's semi-automatic (assuming that the action also positions the next bullet for firing). As far as I'm concerned, the only weapon that doesn't fit either description is one that can only hold one round, and has to be re-loaded, or have the bullet chambered by operating the bolt for each shot. That includes Springfield 1903s, and flintlock muskets. Regards, Mike __________________ "Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down." Fredrick Douglass "I'm an optimist, the kind of optimist that falls off a ten story building, and as I pass the 5th story, think 'So far, so good'."