A Homesteader, by definition, is a person who lives a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. The term is also an intelligent name for a new rifle from a traditional company. Henry first showed the Homesteader at SHOT 2023, and we were all a little surprised. Looking back, it seems a little odd to be surprised because Henry makes tons of PCCs. They just aren’t semi-automatic. The Homesteader isn’t their first semi-auto, but I’m pretty sure it’s their first semi-auto, centerfire rifle.
The Homesteader is a 9mm carbine. Henry is known for wood furniture and blue steel lever guns. The Homesteader keeps the real walnut furniture and does have a blued barrel, combined with a finely hard anodized finish on the aluminum receiver. The overall design certainly looks like something Henry would produce. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and it packs some impressive looks.
At First Glance
The Homesteader uses a direct blowback action which is nothing new. It works and is remarkably simple. However, the downside is often the harsh recoil that blowback guns pack. Henry took a novel step to help reduce this harsh recoil by adding a reciprocating weight under the forearm to counteract the recoil of a blowback-operated gun.
The barrel is threaded, and adding a can is a natural step. A suppressor and some 147-grain subsonic ammo pair perfectly with the Homesteader. Across the top, the weapon is set up for an optic rail — specifically a Weaver 63B rail.
The Henry Homesteader comes in three configurations that vary around magazines. The Homesteader uses Henry’s own magazines, as well as extra mag wells for Glock and SIG P320/M&P magazines. You can pick and choose which model you want, and if you ever want to swap Magwells, Henry sells them for about $30 on their website.
Swapping the magwell only requires you to punch out three pins and pop one in and then the others.
Specifications
- Barrel Length: 16.3 inches
- Overall Length: 35.75 inches
- Weight: 6.6 Pounds
- Caliber: 9mm
- MSRP: $928 (Price varies slightly by magwell)
Overall the Henry Homesteader is standard in the specifications department. It feels heavier than 6.6 pounds, and I can’t say why. Maybe it’s that heavy is good, heavy is reliable, and high-quality items are often heavy. It doesn’t feel bad for the weight by any means.
Ergonomics Abound
A good weighty gun doesn’t both me. I love the look and feel of the Homesteader. I’m also pretty happy with its ergonomics. It’s not perfect, but it comes pretty close to excellence. Let’s get my complaints out of the way. I have the standard Henry magwell installed, and the magazine release is ambidextrous but a bit awkward. It’s a small lever that needs to be pulled forward.
You have to dig your finger in to hit the release, and it’s just awkward to me. The Glock and SIG/M&P variants have a more traditional push button.
The Homesteader uses an ambidextrous bolt lock in front of the trigger that makes it really easy to lock the bolt open. The bolt locks don’t release the bolts, they just lock it open. This isn’t a complaint, but it does seem like an odd feature.
The safety is ingenious. It’s a tang-mounted safety, much like a Mossberg shotgun. This makes it ambidextrous and easy to engage and use. I really love the safety, and it fits with the traditional style of the Homesteader oh so perfectly.
The charging handle can be reversed for right or left-handed shooters. It’s a brilliant move, and I run mine on the left-hand side for easy off-hand engagement.
The stock and forend are highly textured and feel great. You won’t have any grip issues with the gun, and little details like this make the Homesteader so dang great. The little things are what make Henry’s products a little different.
At the Range
I typically don’t watch or read other reviews of guns prior to obtaining one for Test and Evaluation. I made an exception for the Homesteader. After SHOT, I was hooked and wanted more. I wrote Henry to obtain one for T&E quickly, but the line was already quite long. As I waited, I watched the Honest Outlaw review of the gun and saw he had a few issues. I got a little apprehensive.
Luckily, his model must have been a lemon. I hit the range hard with my Homesteader, and it cycled absolutely everything without complaint. I had two failures to fire, but the primer is clearly indented, and they wouldn’t fire in alternative platforms, implying it was an ammo issue. I shot brass, steel cases, and some new production Remington JHPs, and they all cycled and fired without issue.
My Homesteader is filthy now, and the gun doesn’t seem to mind. My second concern was blowback recoil, but the reciprocating counter mass design works. It’s super soft shooting, and the soft rubber recoil pad seems to be unnecessary. My son handled the Homesteader without issue and enjoyed shooting it. With that said, the length of pull is a bit long for smaller shooters.
Ringing Steel
The sights are interesting. With a 9mm carbine, speed is a bit more of a concern. The sights are mounted to the barrel, and the rear sight is a peep sight. This reminds me of safari sights, and like safari sights, they are fast and easy to get on target.
The front sight is a black blade. It works, but it is huge. There would be two ways to improve it. First, if it’s going to be big, make it high visibility. On the flip side, I wouldn’t mind a smaller front sight for more precise shots. It is a PCC, but I like hitting small targets.
At 25 yards, I couldn’t see a two-inch dot target because the front sight covered it up. I’d prefer a thinner sight, but I get that it’s a gun made more for speed than to punch dots on paper. In terms of speed, it is fast. Going from low ready to on target and switching targets takes no time. Getting a sight picture and effective shots on target won’t be a strain.
I was able to consistently hit a four-inch circle at 25 yards in a standing off-hand position over and over. For defensive shooting, that’s certainly accurate and capable. The trigger isn’t a two-stage, but it kind of feels like one. There is a tactile feeling when you beat the takeup, then a nice break with a hair of overtravel. Overall, it’s a good trigger — not remarkable, but quite nice.
Blasting Away
I shot plenty of defensive drills. This includes the traditional failure to stop drills, hostage targets, and running through a plate rack. The Homesteader always proved to be more than capable. I got my failure to stop down to almost 1.25 seconds at the end of the day and never hit the hostage target.
What’s most important is that I had fun the entire time. The Henry Homesteader is a blast to shoot. I even found a trick to reloading the Homesteader and its odd magazine catch design. I held the longer 10-round mag between my ring and pinky finger. When reloading, I could strip the smaller mag and then replace it quickly with the 10-rounder. Longer mags would make reloading easy. However, the five-rounder helps the Homesteader get the sleek, old-school look.
Henry seems to market the Homesteader as a light and handy carbine. Something could ride the fences on an ATV and sit beside the nightstand for home defense. They aren’t wrong. It could do those tasks and does so with an old-school, easily appreciated style.
