Mathews TRX 40 Review

Editors' review

Every target archer who has stood on a windy field course knows the trade at the heart of a long-range bow: more axle-to-axle length buys a steadier hold, but the bow gets heavier and slower to swing onto the mark. The 2020 Mathews TRX 40 stakes out the far end of that trade and refuses to apologize for it. At 40 inches axle-to-axle (the tip-to-tip length of the bow) with a forgiving 7-inch brace height (the gap from grip to string), it is the longest, heaviest, most stability-first bow in the TRX target line - 4.93 pounds of dead-straight riser built to sit still on the pin and let the shot break clean. Where the shorter TRX 36 chases IBO speed for outdoor 3D, the 40 chases the hold, and the result is a spot driver: point it, settle, and the arrow goes where the pin was. It shares the redesigned C3X cam and mod system with its shorter siblings, so nothing about the way it draws or tunes is a compromise for the longer frame. For the known-distance, field, and long-range 3D archer who values a rock-steady aim over a fast swing, this is the TRX built for you.

Finish

The TRX 40 ships in the clean, target-oriented palette that suits a bow which lives on a shooting line rather than in a treestand: Black, Blue, Red, and White (Mathews' current catalog lists the light option as Stone). What sets the target line apart is that the riser and limb colors mix and match, so an archer can build a two-tone bow that stands out on the line or keep it a clean, unbroken single color for a disciplined tournament look. The anodized riser finish is the same durable coating Mathews runs across its premium line, holding up to the knocks of case travel and range stands far better than paint - which matters on a bow that carries a fistful of stabilizer weight and gets handled every session. Right- and left-hand builds are offered across the color options, so the palette is not gated to one hand. For a bow that will spend its life bristling with front-and-back bars on a competition setup, the finish choices lean practical and clean rather than flashy.

Riser

The defining feature of the TRX 40 is its riser: an extra-long, twin-bridge aluminum structure - bridged at the top and again down low - that is dead-straight, with none of the reflex or deflex geometry a hunting bow uses to buy speed. That straightness is deliberate and it is the whole point. A riser with no built-in curve stores less energy but resists torque, so it does not twist in the hand when a shooter loads it with the heavy front bar a target setup demands, and the pin stays where it was put. Drawing it back, what struck me first was how planted it feels at full draw - the kind of immovable steadiness you only get from a long axle-to-axle bow, and the 40 has more riser top-to-bottom than almost anything else on the line. Mathews moved the 3D damping to the front of the riser for 2020, out at the limb pockets where it kills post-shot shock closer to the source, and the payoff is a shot with no felt vibration. The stabilizer bushings were enlarged for a more solid contact point, because a weak bushing connection is exactly where a heavily-weighted target bar setup fails. It is the same family of bridged risers that has anchored Mathews' target wins for years, so the reliability story is well established.

Grip

The TRX 40 carries Mathews' Engage grip, but it arrives as a factory choice rather than a fixed part - an important detail for target archers, who are famously particular about the one point of contact that indexes the hand. The Engage itself is a slim, rubberized, lightly-stippled grip with rounded edges, soft and comfortable in the hand and shaped to sit low and repeatable for a consistent, torque-resistant hold. But Mathews also ships flat side plates that pop straight into the same riser mounts, held with a touch of contact cement, for the archer who wants a hard, flat back to the grip instead of the rounded rubber. That choice matters: on a target bow, a shooter who indexes best against a flat back can have it out of the box, and one who prefers the softer rounded profile keeps the Engage. In practice the rounded Engage can feel a little easy to torque for archers used to a dead-flat competition grip, which is exactly why the flat side plates exist - the fix is built in, not an aftermarket afterthought. Either way it is a preference call, not a flaw, and the bow lets you make it without spending a dollar more.

Limbs

The TRX 40 runs Mathews' Parallel Quad limbs - four split limbs set near-parallel so their motion largely cancels at the shot, a big part of why the bow finishes so quietly. They come in three draw-weight modules with peak weights of 50, 60, and 70 pounds, each adjusting about ten pounds down from peak, so a shooter can spec the bow to a comfortable holding load rather than muscling a fixed 70. For a target archer shooting hundreds of arrows a session that choice is real: a 60-pound peak settling under a deep 80% let-off is far easier on the shoulder across a long tournament than a maxed 70. Adjusting peak weight within a module is the usual limb-bolt turn, no press required for small changes. On a 40-inch platform the near-parallel geometry has to work harder to keep the bow quick, and the result is honest - this is the slowest of the TRX target bows, trading raw velocity for the length and hold that define it. The limb pockets have proven rock-solid across the TRX line over enormous shot counts, with no pocket shift reported, which is the durability a bow this heavily used needs.

Eccentric System

The TRX 40 is built on Mathews' C3X Crosscentric cam, the eccentric redesigned for 2020 and shared across the whole TRX target family - the 34, 36, 38 G2, and 40 - with mods that interchange across the line. The redesign was more than cosmetic. The bearing system was rebuilt about three times stronger, with three axle bearings riding a quarter-inch axle, which cured the occasional bearing inconsistency of the prior cam and, according to the pros who tune these for a living, made the whole bow draw noticeably smoother. The 2020 mod story is a clean two-option choice: the 70V and the 80% (let-off being the percentage of peak weight your holding weight drops to at full draw, so an 80% mod on a 70-pound bow leaves you holding about 14 pounds). The 70V leaves more holding weight and a softer valley for the archer who wants to lean into the hold; the 80% floats a deeper valley under a long bar setup, snaps to a firmer back wall, and runs a couple fps quicker - and both mods are available in every draw length, which was not always the case on target bows. Speed tops out at up to 329 fps IBO on the 80% mod off that 7-inch brace, with the 70V reading a few fps lower and Mathews' own materials citing 325 for it - and IBO is a marketing rating, measured at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup. Put a real chronograph on it and the numbers land where the platform lives: at 29 inches and 70 pounds a heavy 400-grain arrow on the 70V mod clocked 279 fps - well under the IBO figure because both the arrow is heavy and the mod is the softer of the two, exactly as expected. Cam position is set with Mathews' top-hat tuning system, swapping tube kits outside the axle rather than adjusting yokes, and its signature is that once it is dialed it does not move - the pros call it foolproof for a reason.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Pulling the TRX 40 is the antithesis of a speed-hunting bow. The C3X rolls up gradually and hands you the valley without a sharp hump to break over - I kept waiting for a peak that never spiked - and the extra length seems to smooth the whole stroke out further, so a long practice session does not grind on the shoulder. The draw runs a touch aggressive for a target bow, carrying more holding weight than a hunting cam would, which is exactly what a target archer leaning into the shot wants. The back wall is where the mod choice shows: the 70V is soft and spongy at the back by design, with no hard stop, so a shooter who wants a wall to pull into will want the 80% mod, which snaps to a firm, defined stop. Then there is the shot, and this is where the 40 earns its keep. At release it is simply dead in the hand - the front-mounted damping and the dead-straight riser leave no felt vibration, and on a heavy bar setup the pin barely flickers. What I keep coming back to is the hold: come to full draw, settle on the mark, and the bow just sits there, wherever you put it, with no urge to drift. That is the entire job of a long-range target bow, and the 40-inch platform delivers it about as well as anything Mathews had built. It is a spot driver - a bow that rewards the archer who has the form to let it sit still and break the shot clean.

Usage Scenarios

The TRX 40 is happiest at distance and on a known line. Field archery, outdoor 50- and 70-meter, indoor Vegas rounds, and the longer 3D stakes are its native ground, where the steady hold and the dead, quiet shot put arrows in the middle end after end. Picture a known-distance shooter working a field course on a breezy afternoon: the 40-inch length and 7-inch brace fight the wind wobble that shortens the shorter bows, the front bar hangs the pin still, and the shot breaks before the aim has a chance to drift. It is the bow the long-draw target archer reaches for - a shooter set at 31 or 32 inches gets a platform built for that length, not one stretched to reach it. Where the shorter TRX 36 makes more sense for the archer who wants IBO speed and a bow that swings faster between 3D targets, the 40 is the pick for the one who will trade that speed for the steadiest possible aim. It is not a crossover hunting rig and it is not built to swing quickly - a shooter who wants a lighter, more maneuverable bow, or one that also mounts a quiver, should look shorter in the line. But for the archer whose scorecard is decided by how still the pin sits at full draw, the length that makes it slow to swing is the length that makes it deadly on the line.

Versions

The TRX 40 is sold as a single bow model configured to the buyer rather than as separate package tiers. The choices are: draw-weight module (peaks of 50, 60, or 70 pounds), let-off mod (70V or 80%), grip (the one-piece Engage or the flat pop-in side plates), finish (Black, Blue, Red, or White), and hand (right or left). Launch MSRP was $1,849 - the same price as its TRX 34, TRX 36, and TRX 38 G2 siblings, so there is no premium or discount for choosing the longest platform. That figure is the bare bow: unlike a Ready-to-Hunt package, the target rest, sight, scope, and stabilizers that define a competition setup are chosen and priced separately. Mathews' QAD Integrate dovetail mount accepts the matching UltraRest TRi target rest for a bolt-free, micro-adjustable attachment, and is the natural companion - but a separate purchase.

Mathews TRX 40 vs Invicta 40 SVX, Reckoning 38

Bow	Mathews TRX 40	Hoyt Invicta 40 SVX	Bowtech Reckoning 38
Version	2024	2022	2022
Picture
Brace Height	7 "	7.25 "	7.125 "
AtA Length	40 "	40.25 "	38 "
Draw Length	25.5 " - 32 "	27 " - 32 "	27 " - 32 "
Draw Weight	40 lbs - 70 lbs	30 lbs - 70 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	325 fps - 329 fps	325 fps	325 fps
Weight	4.93 lbs	4.9 lbs	4.9 lbs
Let-Off	70% & 80%	65%	70% / 75% / 80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$625 to $1400 Compare prices	Not available now. Please check later.	$495 to $1099.95 Compare prices
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At $1,849 the TRX 40 sits in the thick of the premium long-target class, and the two bows most buyers cross-shop against it are the Hoyt Invicta 40 SVX and the Bowtech Reckoning 38. The Invicta 40 SVX is the closest geometric rival: a single-cam 40.25-inch platform with a 7.25-inch brace, a 325 fps IBO rating, and a classic 65% let-off that leaves a pure target archer more holding weight to steer against - it matches the TRX 40 for length and speed class but asks $1,899 and carries a longer 27-inch draw floor, where the Mathews reaches down to 25.5 inches. The Bowtech Reckoning 38 comes at it from the value side: a 38-inch bow with a 7.125-inch brace at $1,699, running a three-position 70/75/80% let-off that hands a shooter more hold options than the TRX 40's two mods - it trades two inches of axle length for a lower price and a deeper menu of valley feels. Against both, the TRX 40 leans on its deep 80% let-off, its dead-in-hand shot, and the foolproof top-hat tuning, and it is the longest and most planted of the three on the line. The decision comes down to priorities: the TRX 40 for the archer who wants a dead-quiet shot and deep let-off on the longest platform here, the Invicta 40 SVX for the shooter chasing the same 40-inch stability with a classic target hold, and the Reckoning 38 for the one who wants more let-off options at a lower price.

Summary

The Mathews TRX 40 is the target bow for the archer who decides the trade in favor of the hold - the known-distance, field, and long-range 3D shooter who would rather have a rock-steady aim than a bow that swings fast. Launched at $1,849, it pairs an up-to-329 fps IBO rating with the smooth, humpless C3X draw and the dead-in-hand shot that is the Mathews signature, all wrapped around the longest, heaviest, most forgiving frame in the TRX target line: 40 inches axle-to-axle, a 7-inch brace, and 4.93 pounds of dead-straight riser. What I keep coming back to is how still it holds - come to full draw, settle on the mark, and the pin simply parks and stays. The two-mod let-off system lets a shooter pick between the higher-holding 70V and the firmer, slightly faster 80%, both available in every draw length, and the top-hat tuning stays put once it is set. It is a bare bow at that price, so budget for a rest, sight, scope, and bars on top. An excellent bow for known-distance and long-range target archers who want the steadiest possible hold in a compact-brand, no-compromise platform, and it is particularly strong for the long-draw shooter set at 31 or 32 inches. Buyers who want more speed and a quicker-swinging bow should look at the shorter TRX 36, and those prioritizing maximum brace-height forgiveness or an adjustable let-off should also weigh the Hoyt Invicta 40 SVX and the Bowtech Reckoning 38.