Gun Review: Henry Homesteader 9mm Carbine

When Henry launched the semi-automatic Homesteader at SHOT Show this year I was surprised, of course, given the brand's historical focus on lever guns, and I admit that my initial reaction was also a bit "meh." So many 9mm carbines have passed through my hands that I just didn't have it in me to get excited about yet another one. But I was wrong.

The Henry Homesteader is most assuredly not just another 9mm carbine. It's a fantastic firearm of the kind that your grandchildren will own and use one day.

The PCC — pistol caliber carbine — genre has been so dominated by thin aluminum and lightweight plastic that when I heard Henry had made one I assumed it would be in that modern vein. Clearly I should have known better.

As one should expect, Henry's Homesteader is made of blued steel and American walnut. It has a classic, warm, solid feel and look. It drips quality and they-do-make-it-like-they-used-to appeal. In my safe, it like something that's been in the family for a long time, and that's immediately how it felt when I took it out of the box.

Okay, okay, the receiver is hard anodized aluminum. It doesn't look or feel like it though; not like an AR or other, modern carbine. Maybe it's thicker, or maybe it's simply more slab-sided and old school looking.

Whatever the reason, the Henry Homesteader had an immediate familiarity and warmth that made me smile the second I picked it up, and reminded me of the quality "real steel" feel of firearms made half a century and longer ago.

The walnut is quite nice, with what Henry calls "leather-like" texturing.

I see what they’re talking about, at least aesthetically. It doesn't feel much like leather, but it has that sort of pebbled look to it. The texture provides some grip and purchase while staying soft on the hands.

This was going to come later in the review, but I know what you’ve been thinking since the outset so let's just address it already: YES, the Henry Homesteader takes GLOCK magazines (and a couple of others).

By default, the Homesteader is configured to accept Henry's proprietary mags made for the Homesteader. Two come with the gun, a flush-fitting 5-round mag and a slightly extended 10-rounder.

For just a few bucks more, though ($959 MSRP vs. $928 MSRP), you can purchase the Homesteader with a second magazine well and swap it in place of the Henry magazine footprint that's installed in the gun from the factory. These additional magazine wells are currently available for GLOCK G17/G19 mags (seen above), SIG P320 mags, and S&W M&P mags.

While the magazine wells for the other brands’ magazines have a release button on the side and hold the magazine swept rearward at a pistol grip-like angle, the Homesteader magazines are released via a small lever in front of the magazine and they fit vertically into the rifle.

A ball detent holds the charging handle securely into a slot in the stainless steel bolt, yet allows for extremely fast and simple swapping of the handle between left and right sides of the gun. Simply pull the handle perpendicularly away from the receiver until it pops out, then click it back in on the other side.

An adjustable peep / ghost ring rear sight . . .

works with a screw-on front post sight.

Acquisition and alignment is quick and easy, though I’d certainly prefer this setup with a brass bead installed up front. Not only would that be faster and more eye-catching, but a round dot is particularly easy for the human eye to center in a round ring so I’d be more accurate with it. Henry does have other options for different sights.

For those who prefer an optic of some flavor, the top of the receiver is drilled and tapped for a Weaver 63B base.

I have very much enjoyed shooting (and looking at) the Homesteader with its iron sights — it feels natural — but I could see using a red dot or something else for hog hunting in low-light situations.

Shotgun-like in style, the top-mounted thumb safety slides and clicks forward for "fire" and back for "safe." Centrally-mounted, the safety is ambidextrous. Likewise, the central magazine release lever is equally accessible with either hand, and the bolt hold-open levers are mirrored on both sides at the front of the trigger guard.

Out on the range — and with this gun you have to ask, "range as in gun range, or range as in ‘the open range’?" — the Homesteader 9mm quickly brought a smile to my face. It's a smooth, nice-shooting rifle.

While most straight-blowback 9mm PCCs have a sharper recoil impulse than one might expect, the Henry Homesteader tamps that down in multiple ways. Sure, its 6.6-pound weight helps minimize the recoil of America's favorite pistol caliber. So does its nice, soft, rubber recoil pad. Henry took it a step further, though, and added a "reciprocating mass" inside the forearm to help counteract the recoil impulse. Pretty cool.

With its 1/2×28 threaded muzzle, the Homesteader even suppressed nicely right out of the box. The 16.37-inch (how on earth did they come up with that particular length?) barrel leaves less work for a silencer to do compared to, say, a 3.75-inch barrel. It was quiet and smooth with the extremely compact and lightweight AB Suppressor F4 attached (TTAG review HERE).

If I’m honest, I’m more of a minute-of-silhouette guy when it comes to a ghost ring rear and blade front, and I really should have gone through the trouble of mounting a scope to give the Henry Homesteader a true, fair shake at determining mechanical accuracy. Maybe I’ll do a follow-up for that if y’all complain enough.

However, at 50 yards with my elbows resting on the bench, but no other support for the gun, I still shot some pretty decent groups with the Homesteader. I shot 115 grain standard velocity ammo, 147 grain subsonic ammo, and 115 grain +P hollow point rounds. I know the hollow point is the bottom group in the photo above and I think the 147 is the top group but I’m not positive on that.

A little casual in the accuracy testing on this one, then, but clearly there's nothing to complain about. I’m confident that the Henry Homesteader is a straight shooter as we’ve all come to expect from Henry Repeating Arms products.

After a few days of shooting I experienced precisely zero malfunctions from the Homesteader across multiple brands and types of ammo both suppressed and unsuppressed. It's a really fun gun to shoot and it has the feel and balance and warmth and solid quality of a properly-made, American firearm.

Perhaps the only area I’d like to see improved is the trigger. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but it leaves some room for improvement where not much else on the gun does. My Homesteader's trigger breaks at a bit over 6 pounds of pull weight and it has a touch of slightly gritty creep before that imperfect break. It's okay. It's perfectly appropriate for the style and intended use of the gun. But it could be cleaner, crisper, and arguably a bit lighter.

An answer to a question I never asked, the Henry Homesteader proves that there's always room even in a crowded segment for another gun when it's done right. In fact, the Homesteader is such a deviation from the rest of the 9mm carbines available today that it's effectively its own segment.

This is a PCC made like a true classic. It looks, feels, and shoots every bit like a gun that should be handed down to your kids and to theirs, while simultaneously integrating a few modern touches. The Homesteader is a keeper.

Caliber: 9mmBarrel Length: 16.37 inchesOverall Length: 35.75 inchesWeight: 6.6 poundsLength of Pull: 14 inchesCapacity: 5-round and 10-round Henry magazines included. GLOCK, SIG, S&W magazine well adapters available.MSRP: $928 with Henry magazine well only, $959 with additional GLOCK, SIG, or S&W magazine well (about $855 at Brownells HERE)

Overall * * * * * What can I say, I really love the Homesteader. And I didn't expect to. It's gorgeous, it's well-made, it's a great shooter. It looks good and it feels good. It's classic yet modern (I mean, it takes GLOCK mags and I can suppress it!). Done deal. Five-star gun.

Glock mags for the win

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Fun question, just for kicks:

Will this accept the 9mm Magpul pistol drum, since that drum has a different length of neck that has caused issues fitting with other PCCs (so I’ve read in reviews, anyway)?

"Okay, okay, the receiver is hard anodized aluminum."

In that case, it could be made of brass, as well.

That would look really *sweet*.

Even sweeter, a button to push or a lever to flip to lock the action.

With subsonic ammo, just the ticket for eliminating suburban and semi-rural pests without unnecessarily waking the neighbors… 🙂

If/when the NFA is challenged and cut down I wonder how much rejiggering will be needed for 10 inch (or whatever passes for optimum length lately) with a Henry themed suppressor version to be released.

The Haz household uses .22 Shorts for that. And with the 35 inches of rainfall this past season (the long term annual average here is 17) resulting in what's called a "superbloom" with everything germinating heavily at the same time (flowers, grasses, shrubs, trees), we’re going to see a bounty of wascally wabbits very soon.

…and raccoons…

Subs in a long barrel are the way to go for those unable to enjoy the Freedom that NFA ‘toys’ allow.

That is coming for you guys, and the other slave states like NY…

Little River Band – "Hang on, help is on it's way"

Rogue ‘coons are blooming here, all around the wife's birdfeeders. For kicks, I got one of those CMMG 22LR conversion bolts for the AR, and it actually puts CCI Quiet HP Segmented rounds into an inch at 35 yards at night with a light and red dot. Perfect medicine for what ails the feeders. We live near a RR crossing, with trains every 15-20 minutes pretty much 24/7. If I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I peek out the back window. If I see a dark mound under the feeders, I load the rifle and head for the back door. I have the screen removed, so I can shoot without having to open it. I wait for some train racket, press the light button, and if it's a ‘coon out there I pop him. Very effective, and no one hears the shot.

Raccoons are pretty good barbqued .Mom made some Racoon pot pie once, hungry as we were it was pretty hard to swallow. Maybe she didnt make it right? Awful greasy.

My uncle has eaten ‘coon, but I haven't. He likely prepared a younger one, so the flavor would be milder. The spice from BBQ would surely help. Probably the only small critter that has more tallow on it than a ‘coon is an October groundhog. If the zombie hordes were out and I was in a hard spot looking for calories, groundhog & ‘coon would be at the top of my list. And then I’d cross off the ‘coon, because of what/who he probably has been eating lately.

That's kind of funny because I was thinking the lines would be nicer with a tube magazine… If they used both ideas it’d be a pretty cool semi-auto reimagining of their lever actions.

I don't disagree, BUT…this is in the same class at the Ruger Camp Carbine and looks a lot nicer. The benefit is having multiple mags that can be swapped out rather than having to fill a tube when empty. If plinking or doing some hunting a tube would hold plenty of round but for defense or other purposes I’d rather have swappable magazines. This is on my wishlist though to sit alongside my Big Boy in .45 Colt and All weather in 45-70.

I think I’m just jaded. Sure a mag-fed carbine would be more useful, but a new tube-fed one would be an interesting change of pace.

A tube fed one would be also be really cool. Then again, I have both a Marlin 60 and 795. ☺️

Nice gun, Henry reliability and quality (if you use the Glock or SIG mag version ) I wish Henry success but I won't be a customer since that gun is $300 more than a Ruger PC Carbine with same quality and also great customer service.

It looks like a BB gun. And the price, while typical for Henry pricing, is a bit high. And I’d rather a .357 mag (which probably wouldn't work with the magazines) or .45 ACP.

Could probably do a rotary magazine but already enough of a pain in the ass to find lever action 357 couldn't imagine the wait time for a semi auto.

"It looks like a BB gun."

Translation : Non-threatening to those who would freak the fuck out if they see an ordinary AR-15-pattern rifle.

Sounds like something someone in California (meaning, *you*) would want, Mark…

Oh, I would think this is something that is actually legal in California, threaded barrel and all because there is no pistol grip or adjustable stock, so it would not be classified as an "assault weapon." For me, I would like a more svelte, less blocky fore end (and less stippling)—and in .45 acp. I am a big fan of .45s. I have a .45 Colt Winchester ’92 and three .45 Colt 1873s. It’d be cool to have this in .45 acp with a 1911. Sure I could do this and a 1911 in 9mm, but why settle?

"I’d rather a .357 mag…"

Tube fed as noted above by Eric in Oregon, and it could be done in this caliber. Or, chamber it for 357 sig and leave it with detachable mags.

There ya go. Perfect solution and an actual use for .357 Sig a cartridges.

Would love to see it especially with full auto options. Lot of potential fun things in the restricted zone.

…meh, I’ve owned two versions of this for 30 or so years. One is called a Camp 9 carbine, the other is a model 922M, built by Marlin back in the day, also in aluminum, blued steel, and ‘Merican Walnut.Everything old is new again.

I like everything about it except the price with tax, shipping and an FFL buys nice components to assemble an AR-15. For me it would have to be a later down the road low mileage used one.

You could build two basic Palmetto ARs for the price of one of these. Then again, some people don't like ARs, and many of us that do like them already have enough of them. ☺️

It looks classy. With every tom dick and harry making absurdly priced AR9s now this isn't really unreasonable for what you get. It reminds me of something my grandfather would own, and I mean that in a good way. Totally have vibes of his Winchester 290.

I think they have a lot of options they could do with these in the future (brass receiver already mentioned) or a blued steel receiver and cut checkering for the wood.

Even though it "seems" a bit pricey to some people here I bet they sell more than a few of these. They’re differentiated in a market where the average person will go "Why not just get a PSA AR9?"

Henry, offer one in .45 ACP and TAKE MY MONEY… PLEASE!

Well, if they are or would think about making one in 45ACP then they might want to think about making one in 10mm, too.Thing is at this point in the state of Hellinois I can't buy even buy the 9mm because of the threaded barrel. If they without threading I’ll be in line for one.

Could be worse you could need a semi auto rifle permit. Here is to hoping we both lose some silly laws over the next year or so.

Another overpriced rifle from Henry that will be recalled in about 6 months.

for 1000 bucksit should be chambered in 5.56and accept pmagsand be accurateif it did all those thingsit would blow the doors off the mini 14until thenits just (another) overpriced pcc

That would be cool

Palmetto makes AR15s that check all those boxes and come in below half that.

"trigger breaks at a bit over 6 pounds of pull weight and it has a touch of slightly gritty creep before that imperfect break. It's okay. It's perfectly appropriate for the style and intended use of the gun."

Those characteristics are "perfectly appropriate for the style and intended use of" a pistol with no manual safety carried AIWB; maybe for a rifle issued to stacks of doorkickers bunched together under life-and-death stress in a Ramadi insurgent hideout, but this seems about as far from either as possible.

I bought mine for $869, from a place that has Ruger PCC for $699. I think we can expect the prices track about that or a little lower.

I’m wondering if the extra .37″ on the barrel,is the threads, so they can remove that and have an unthreaded version for states that don't like threaded barrels. Still, i like the concept.

The gun grabbers would have a hard time to find some reason to ban this rifle. It is everything not scary. It is not black, synthetic, or tacti-cool looking.

Detachable magazine, threaded barrel, semi automatic. Even with the SAFE compliant version (non threaded barrel) you now need a semi auto rifle license. Never underestimate how asinine they will make the rules to deny your rights.

threaded barrelsemi-automaticaccepts a detachable magazineyep they’d ban it.

Some YouTubers have had problems with this gat. I have no interest whatsoever in this…now I’d love a yellowboy in .357 or 44magnum.

This is the first review I have seen where the reviewer did not have feed issues.

I like it, if it works, for $500. Not for $900

Uh huh, and it jams a lot and blows debri.A friend of got one of these, we took it out shuting and after awhile he looked at me and said " For the price of this pos I got fcked"He took it back to the gunmshop and they bought it back for $300 less then he paid and neither one was happy about it.

Bull. Prove it.

Obviously my review is based on a sample size of one (well, plus briefly shooting another one during SHOT Show), and as with any mechanical product there will be some defective units. I don't doubt the possibility of your friend getting one that didn't run well for some reason, but the severity of the jamming as described by you and the debris blowback (I found it to be noticeably less than other straight blowback guns, likely due to the design of the receiver and ejection port) combined with the crazy assertion that your friend sold it back to the dealer rather than pursuing resolution with Henry is all extremely strange and hard for me to believe. Who in their right mind would do that when Henry is well-known for taking good care of its customers? Plus we all know you don't have friends 😉

.30 carbine.

Best I can do is 30 super carry.

I’m glad it's not a 9mm lever otherwise I’d have to buy it and that Taylor SAA clone.

MY CONCERN IS I WANT ONE OF EVERY ONE OF 9MM CARBINE MADED .

NEVER ENDING BUCKET LIST . HA

YES I WANT ONE OF THOSE ALSO SANTA ..

No to a shoulder fired weapon that chambers a pistol caliber. Unless it's a SMG, or you lived in 1892.

There a plenty of great calibers–depending on need–for shoulder fired pistol caliber rifles, Including .22LR, .38/.357, .45 Colt, and .44mag. The last three, with the right bullets, is perfectly adequate for small and medium game, to include deer out to 100 yards, perhaps 150. Out of a rifle, the .45 will have the same velocity and energy as a revolver at the muzzle. It is not hard to load .45 Colt to 1400 fps with a 250 gr hard cast round nose flat point, as long as you have a modern firearm.

One of the reasons I have a PCC in the safe is so I can practice with a shoulder-fired weapon at an indoor range that's only ~10 mins away. The places I can shoot rifle calibers are at least ~45+ mins away.

This. Pistol caliber carbines that don't have the happy switch are neither fish nor fowl nor good red meat and aren't practical for anything whatsoever, nor have they been since before anyone reading this was born, or your father, or your grandfather. 9mm is too much for small game, not enough for whitetail deer or feral hogs, if hunting with a semiauto is even legal in your state, and costs so much more than .22 that it is not a great choice for plinking either. In the same length and weight you can get a carbine using a real rifle cartridge that, in terms of terminal ballistics and effective range, walks all over any pistol cartridge with hobnailed boots, and has little, if any, more recoil. I understand that if you want a range toy, you want a range toy. I understand that not every firearm has to serve an immediate practical purpose. I own some indefensible dumb stuff I bought just to shoot at the range.

But that's not how this is being marketed. Pistol caliber carbines combine the length, weight, and bulk of a real rifle with pissant pistol cartridge power. Pistols and pistol cartridges exist because if you go to the supermarket with an FAL slung over your shoulder, people are likely to look at you funny and dial 911. They exist because there is a need for platforms that are more portable and more concealable than rifles. Rifles are for fighting, pistols are for fighting your way back to the rifle you shouldn't have put down in the first place, and rifles that use pistol caliber cartridges are a punchline, not a practical category of tool high on the list of things to reach for if you are awakened by the sound of breaking glass at 2am.

AR, AK, FAL, M1A, HK91, AUG, Mini-14 or similar modern semiauto centerfire rifle with detachable box magazine >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> shotgun or lever-action centerfire rifle > pistol-caliber semiauto carbine, and 5.7x28mm and .30 Carbine are pistol calibers > pistol-caliber lever action rifle >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> centerfire handgun > .semiauto 22 rifle > .22 pistol > manually operated repeating .22 rifle > muzzleloader > crossbow > edged weapon, baseball bat, etc. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> gun show taser with built-in rape whistle > harsh language > reliance on the kindness of strangers, i.e., planning to appeal to the better nature of the "rip crew" that kicked your door down in broad daylight and stuck automatic weapons in your face

I would take it in 10mm, double stack mags.

If I had my 5906 on my hip and my Marlin Camp 9 slung, I’d feel ready. Spare mags at the ready too, of course.

It was orginally going to be called The Fudmaster 2000 but they changed it to homesteader.

Can I get one of these with ‘FUDD LIFE’ burnt into the stock? I doubt anyone seriously considering owning a rifle like this will own a can (or anything else nfa). Just get an AR rifle/pistol that accepts glock mags already. Parts, upgrades and manual of arms are more ubiquitous on an AR-15 aligned platform.

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