Love for Henry’s ‘first’ Semi-Auto?
Before the cart passes the horse, the Homesteader is not Henry’s first semi-auto. That title belongs to the company’s rimfire AR-7 that packs into its own floatable buttstock. The Homesteader is, though, Henry’s first centerfire repeater. So, everything should be sunshine and roses, no?
Well, the Homesteader’s announcement – and the subsequent shipping of thousands of pieces – has Henry’s traditional fans in uproar. As with pretty much every manufacturer these days, demand for firearms outstrips actual production. That holds true for Henry Repeating Arms, although the company recently went online with another new Wisconsin factory. But some shoppers are still waiting on lever guns orders placed a year ago.
Although the company reassures us all that the lever guns are being produced in greater numbers than ever before, when the company announced a whole new firearm, lever-gun folks pouted as a brand new contingent cheered. And those 9mm shooters, PCC enthusiasts, and astute gun buyers are snatching up the Homesteader. Though we can understand the frustration of the traditionalists, after several months with the newbie, it’s difficult not to side with the latter fast-shooting fan base.
Meet the Homesteader
While the design is brand-new, at its heart, the Homesteader is all Henry. It sports American walnut furniture and a 16.37-inch blued steel barrel. Sights are adjustable, with an aperture rear and post front. That receiver is drilled and tapped to accept a standard Weaver 63B base, should an optic be desired.
While the 9mm is not hard recoiling to begin with, the gun uses what the company calls “a reciprocating mass” inside the forearm to counteract recoil and get shooters back on target faster.
Purpose
Henry’s Homesteader tagline indicates the handy little guns use as: “Ideal for home, property, and livestock protection.” While we think some of the target markets may be slightly different, those identifiers are valid.
What shooters may be attracted by such a platform? Our informal discussions with Henry brass indicate a clear call from customers for a 9mm long gun, with many claiming to have an abundance of such ammunition for their CCW pistols. A compact carbine like this is easy to carry, workable in tight quarters, low in recoil, and a range time delight.
Feeding the Homesteader
The Homesteader is versatile in its magazine feeding systems, with options for Glock, SIG Sauer, Smith & Wesson, and Henry’s proprietary mags. While swapping is easy enough, it’s not quite as straightforward as slapping in a different brand’s stick. Adapters are required, with each having its own, though SIG and S&W share an adapter.
Henry catalogs the gun in three different model variants, differentiated only by the adapter inclusion. The first, which accepts only Henry mags and does not include an adapter, retails lowest at $928. The second includes a mag well for Glock mags, while the third ships with the adapter for both S&W M&P and SIG magazines. The latter two, both of which retail for $959, also come standard with Henry’s proprietary magazines.
No matter which variant purchased, buyers will be able to grab adapters from Henry’s online store. At the time of this writing, the adapters were not yet listed, but additional Homesteader magazines and a neat muzzle brake are up for sale.
Our Favorite Features
At just under 3 feet in length and 6.6 pounds, the gun’s overall compact metrics are clear right out of the box but are even more appreciable after sending some rounds downrange. The threaded barrel is a welcome addition, with several quality brakes on the market, as well as the suppressor boom. Trust us, if we had the proper caliber of can, it would already be on the Homesteader.
The removable charging handle is major engineering win. With a simple stout pull, shooters can switch the carbine from right- to left-hand operation in seconds. Though the ejection port remains on the right, this is a thoughtful option for lefties or right-handers who like to run actions with the left hand. Likewise, the bolt-hold-open lever can be actuated from either side, and the top-mounted thumb safety is ambi-friendly as well.
Field Notes
The American walnut furniture offers a fresh take on modern-day PCCs, most of which dress in drab synthetics. Sights are ideal for quick acquisition – not so much for precision shooting, but that’s exactly how the gun is intended. It also plays well with a fast-acting optic like a reflex or red dot, though more than one owner has already mounted lower-powered riflescopes.
As expected, there’s no recoil of which to speak. We wouldn’t hesitate to let a new or younger shooter run this one, though the full-sized LOP may be a tad lengthy for the smallest shooters.
What the company calls “leather-like” texturing on the stocks replaces standard checkering, and after considerable use, it not only works but offers a definitive aesthetic. At 4.5 to 5.5 pounds, the trigger pull is nothing to write home about, but it’s decent enough and practical for a gun not built on precision.
Henry’s proprietary magazines load easily and feed with full reliability. Since we were testing a model that included the Glock adapter, we simply had to give that a run as well. After using both standard Glock factory mags and an aftermarket high-capacity 32-round affair, we’re still smiling.
Accuracy Testing
It’s all for naught if the gun doesn’t shoot. However, the Homesteader holds up its end of the bargain. We headed to the range with an ammo can full of different types of 9mm rounds, including cheap FMJ, decent hollow points, and premium defense styles. When a brand-new platform arises, daring it to fail is a must before it can be trusted in tough circumstances.
We ran Federal Premium Hydra Shok Deep 135-grain Center Post Hollow Point, Hornady Handgun Hunter 115-grain Monoflex +P, Federal 124-grain Military Grade FMJ, Winchester USA Forged 115-grain FMJ, Federal Syntech 115-grain Total Synthetic Jacket, and Federal Premium Solid Core 147-grain Syntech Flat Nose with full reliability.
We set up our accuracy testing from varying distances from 25 to 75 yards with several types of ammunition. Even shooting non-premium food like the Federal Syntech Range, the carbine spit out practical groups that widened slightly as the range increased. By its nature, 9mm is not a distance round. And as expected, this is not a long-range precision rifle, and it’s not supposed to be.
What it is, though, is a fast-shooting, low-recoiling rig capable of pounding 9mm projectiles into fist-sized groups with ease. In fact, we shot our accuracy groups with the factory iron sights. The rear aperture is quite large, which limits the potential for ultra-tight groups but offers rapid target acquisition. There’s no doubt that if we had mounted an optic – a simple task given the drilled and tapped receiver – those five-shot groups would have tightened up even more.
250 Rounds Later…
