Henry Homesteader 9mm PCC: Full Review

The American dream is founded on the principle of personal liberty. Our right to armed self-defense is guaranteed by the Second Amendment, and most Americans share a spirit of self-reliance that sets us apart from other nations. Whether it’s a cattle rancher in Arizona, a logger in Alabama, or a farmer in Iowa; Americans are, by and large, capable and tough people.

Perhaps that’s why Henry’s Homesteader rifle has been so successful over its relatively short lifespan. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Henry name is synonymous with American firearms and that its namesake—Benjamin Tyler Henry—developed the first reliable repeating rifle and forever changed the nature of combat, but the Homesteader’s very name evokes a sense of self-reliance. It’s a capable gun built for capable people.

Modern Classic

The Homesteader is a blowback-operated semiauto 9mm carbine. The 9mm blowback design is very reliable, but with so many different 9mm loads in varying grain weights and at wildly different velocities it can be hard to tune a blowback rifle to serve as a one-size-fits-all 9mm carbine that functions with a full range of ammunition. Henry did an exceptional job with the Homesteader’s blowback operating system, though, and I was impressed that it refused to fail even when I pulled dirty tricks on the gun. I’d stack up ammo of varying weights and velocities to try and derail the Henry’s system. No luck. It simply digested every 9mm cartridge I threw at it, whether a 147-grain subsonic load or a high-velocity 115-grain defense round.

The Homesteader I tested was the new-for-2025 M-Lok Brushed Bronze version. The unique distressed finish looks very cool, but it’s also practical and protects the rifle’s metalwork against abuse and damage. The version I tested also came threaded ½ x 28, and that makes it easy to add a suppressor or flash hider to the rifle.

Two Henry polymer magazines (5- and 10-round) come with each gun, but an interchangeable Glock magazine well is also included with this version. Replacing the Henry mag well with the Glock simply requires knocking out three bi-directional pins, inserting the magazine well, and reinserting the pins. It’s worth noting that the Glock mag well’s mag release is located on the side instead of up front as with the Henry magazines. If you’re a Glock fan—and there are millions of you—you can swap the mag well and use the G17 and G19 mags you have laying about in the Homesteader. There are also other magazine wells for Homesteader rifles that accommodate SIG or Smith & Wesson M&P mags. You can use with the supplied Henry magazines, of course, and they work perfectly well. Shipping the rifle with 5 and 10-round magazines that makes the Homesteader legal in jurisdictions that restrict higher capacity magazines, too.

The Homesteader’s square-top steel receiver is reminiscent of classic autoloading American firearms of the past like the Browning Auto-5 and Winchester’s Iconic Model 1907 autoloading rifle. The Henry’s round steel barrel has the same Cerakote Brushed Bronze finish as well and is outfitted with a rear adjustable aperture sight and a black blade front sight. It’s a quick, easy-to-use sighting system that’s a favorite for fast work with carbines (many lever guns and even some dangerous game double rifles use a similar setup). It’s also a very rugged system. The sights are also tall enough to work in conjunction with most suppressors, but if you prefer to add a red dot, thermal, or magnified scope to the rifle that’s no problem since Henry’s receiver is drilled and tapped to accept Weaver 63B scope bases.

The Homesteader comes with a 16.37-inch barrel, and that keeps the overall length to just 35.75 inches. However, that’s a foot longer than the average barrel on a 9mm carry pistol and that added barrel length offers some benefits. For starters, you have a longer sight radius for improved accuracy. Many shooters find it difficult to make accurate shots with a 9mm handgun, but it’s much simpler to make good shots with the Homesteader. The added barrel length also increases the velocity of some 9mm loads, flattening trajectories and increasing kinetic energy.

There’s an old saying that says if you see me fighting with a handgun, it’s only in an effort to reach my carbine. The implied message is that a carbine is a more effective weapon, which in most cases is true, and if your handgun happens to be a 9mm that means the Homesteader carbine can use the same ammo, and depending on the magazine well, the same magazines. This is a huge advantage when you’re buying large quantities of ammunition. The 5.56/.223 has become very popular for personal defense, but most deadly encounters occur at close enough range where the 9mm Luger is a highly effective round—especially when fired from a carbine.

The Homesteader truly is an ambidextrous self-defense carbine. The safety is tang-mounted and is easy to access with either your right or left hand. The mag release button on the Henry mag well is located at the front of the magazine and the bolt hold-open levers (located on the right and left side of the trigger guard) are also ambidextrous. Even the bolt handle can be removed and swapped to the left side. You shouldn’t have to compromise when purchasing a self-defense carbine, and the Homesteader is suitable for both left and right-handed shooters with minimal modifications and no special equipment.

Polymer is popular, and while I understand there are benefits to polymer stocks (durability, modularity) I simply prefer the look and feel of a walnut stock. I grew up shooting Citoris and Remington 700s, not M4s, so a walnut stock like the one on the Homesteader is not alien to me. I can shoot if fast and comfortably, especially with the dense recoil pad with a radiused (rounded) heel which prevents the pad from hanging up when mounting the gun quickly.

The Homesteader weighs 6.6 pounds, which is perfect for a home defense/truck gun. The weight, operating system, and recoil pad reduce 9mm recoil to virtually nothing, so even the most recoil-sensitive shooter will enjoy ringing steel targets with the Homesteader.

At the Range

The Homesteader is a superb option for personal defense for several reasons. The modest recoil makes this gun fun and easy to shoot for anyone, and the ambidextrous layout and simple controls allow for anyone—even new shooters—to master the operation in a hurry.

As stated, the aperture sight is fast, but it’s also surprisingly accurate. From 50 yards offhand I could consistently hit a torso target shot after shot, which is very tough to do with a compact 9mm pistol. In fact, I did pretty well making head shots on targets at 50 yards with the Homesteader, which I could never claim with a pistol.

As stated, reliability was excellent. Even when I tried to clog up the works by tossing a mixed bag of 9mm ammo in the mix the rifle still ran without issue. Trigger break weight is right at 5.5 pounds, which is lighter than many striker-fired 9mm pistols. It’s not target-rifle crisp, but that’s not the Homesteader’s primary objective. And even though this is a traditional rifle at heart with its wooden stock and patinaed bronze metal finish (which is very eye-catching, by the way) this rifle isn’t afraid of modern technology. The M-LOK attachment points are ideal for adding a flashlight to this rifle. Attach a suppressor and a top rail with a LPVO and a clip-on thermal and this gun transforms into a high-tech modern self-defense machine—albeit one with a walnut stock and classic American lines. Speaking of America, this rifle—like all Henry guns—is proudly built in the United States—Rice Lake, Wisconsin, to be exact.

Blending classic gun designs with modern features is a specialty of Henry, so it’s no surprise that the Homesteader is a semiauto rifle with old-school charm. Whether you’re in search of a handy home-defense rifle for your cabin, a do-anything truck rifle or a capable 9mm rifle for personal defense in the ‘burbs the Henry Homesteader has you covered.

Henry Homesteader M-LOK Brushed Bronze

• Type: Blowback Semiauto
• Cartridge: 9mm
• Capacity: 5 rds., 10 rds. (with supplied stock mags)
• Barrel: 16.37 in.; Steel, 1:10 twist, Brushed Bronze finish, threaded ½ x 28, capped
• Length: 35.75 in.
• Weight: 6 lbs.,9 oz.
• Stock: Walnut, M-LOK attachment at 3, 9 o’clock on forearm
• Finish: Brushed Bronze
• Sights: Adjustable aperture rear, screw on blade front
• Trigger: 6 lbs., 8 oz. (tested) 
• MSRP: $1,149
• Manufacturer: Henry Repeating Arms, henryusa.com